Ohio State men’s basketball team huddles up during their game against Purdue March 12. Ohio State won 87-78. Photo Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Despite entering March Madness with high expectations, Ohio State’s offense was unable to find a rhythm in an opening round upset to Oral Roberts.
No. 2 Ohio State (21-10) struggled to find consistency throughout Friday’s contest, resulting in an 75-72 loss at the hands of No. 15 Oral Roberts (17-10). The Buckeyes become the ninth No. 2 seed to lose to a No. 15 seed in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament as a last second, game-tying three-pointer from junior guard Duane Washington Jr. fell short.
“I think we had no illusions that this was going to be, by any stretch, anything but a really challenging game, and it obviously was that from the jump,” Holtmann said. “Ultimately, too many missed shots, too many missed free throws, but give them credit for making the plays.”
Redshirt junior forward Kevin Obanor sank a pair of free throws with 14.9 second remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime, where the Golden Eagles prevailed.
Obanor dominated the extra period, scoring Oral Roberts’ first five points of the period, leading the Golden Eagles to an 11-8 advantage in overtime.
Sophomore guard Max Abmas and Obanor catalyzed the upset as the two combined for 59 points — with 10 coming in overtime.
“Obviously we gave them too many clean looks throughout the game, both guys,” Holtmann said. “So that’s ultimately my fault, they just had too many clean looks.”
Ohio State had their hands full with the nation’s leading scorer Abmas, who netted 18 points in the first half. The Texas native led Oral Roberts’ first-half three-point scoring barrage, hitting five of their seven threes in the opening half.
Abmas finished with 29 points on 5-of-10 from beyond the arc.
Abmas first-half scoring efforts were supported by fellow Texan Obanor, who dropped 10 points in the game’s first 20 minutes.
Obanor wasted no time to get going in the second-half, hitting back-to-back threes to open the frame. The Houston native closed the game with 30 points alongside a team-high 11 rebounds.
Although the Buckeyes came into the matchup averaging 77.3 points per game, they were unable to put together an efficient game against one of the worst defenses in the country.
Entering the tournament surrendering 75.8 points per game — making them the 293rd-ranked scoring defense in the country — the Golden Eagles held the Buckeyes to 72 points on 43.3-percent shooting.
The Buckeyes also turned the ball over 16 times in the contest.
As the Buckeyes struggled to get into a rhythm offensively, Holtmann pointed to a few key factors that doomed Ohio State on that end of the floor.
“They weren’t guarding some guys and we had some careless turnovers,” Holtmann said. “We missed some open looks that we’ve made. I think that combined with some of our sloppy, careless turnovers.”
After a 3-of-16 shooting display against Illinois Sunday, sophomore forward E.J. Liddell produced a bounce-back performance by utilizing his advantage in the paint.
Liddell finished the game with 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go along with 14 rebounds and five assists.
The Illinois native’s effort on the glass helped push the Buckeyes to an 49-32 rebounding advantage.
Coming off a Big Ten Tournament in which he scored a record 92 points in four games, Washington took less than five minutes to tally 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field, but the Buckeyes’ top scorer did not score another point the rest of the half.
Washington finished the game with 18 points on 7-of-21 shooting. The Michigan native also tallied three assists and 10 rebounds.
“Maybe there were things I could have done better to kinda relax him because I thought he played uncharacteristically maybe a little too wound up,” Holtmann said. “I just thought he had some clean looks that he missed and then he had a couple poor decisions, but again, Duane’s a guy that has been such a terrific player for us all year, but he’ll use this as a learning experience.”
Redshirt senior guard C.J. Walker found a rhythm in the second half, scoring 9 of his 12 points in the final 25 minutes.
The Golden Eagles advanced to play No. 7 Florida Sunday. The Gators downed No. 10 Virginia Tech 75-70 in overtime Friday.
“By and large it was a special year with a conclusion that is one we’ve got to lean into, and it’s incredibly disappointing,” Holtmann said.
This story was updated Friday, March 19 at 6:53 p.m. with quotes from Chris Holtmann.
