Ohio State sophomore forward Devin Royal (21) drives toward the net during the game against Rutgers Saturday at the Schottenstein Center. Royal tallied a career high 22 points to help the Buckeyes defeat the Scarlet Knights 80-66. Credit: Sandra Fu | Photo Editor
The Buckeyes are back in the win column.
After falling to Pittsburgh and suffering a blowout loss to Maryland, Ohio State bounced back thanks to a career-high 22 points from forward Devin Royal.
“I always love playing physical,” Royal said. “Since high school, I just love doing that. That’s one of the big strengths to my game, I can play physical and finish through contact.”
The Buckeyes (6-3, 1-1 Big Ten) powered past Rutgers (5-4, 0-1 Big Ten) 80-66 thanks to 44 combined points from Royal and guard Bruce Thornton, plus 46 points in the paint Saturday at the Schottenstein Center.
“Going into this game, we felt like protecting the paint and really owning the paint on the other side — that real estate on both ends was gonna be critical to the outcome,” head coach Jake Diebler said.
Despite allowing an and-1 from Rutgers forward Emmanuel Ogbole to open the game, the Buckeyes converted on 66.7% of their field goals, compared to the Scarlet Knights’ 46.7% mark, but still only led 22-20 through the first 10 minutes of action.
With just over five minutes left in the first half, the Buckeyes capped a 7-0 run as Thornton converted his fifth straight score in as many attempts.
After its run, Ohio State went cold — but Rutgers was colder.
The Scarlet Knights went into the half shooting three of their last 13 from the field while the Buckeyes heated up before the break.
First Thornton drilled a 3-pointer, which was soon followed by a high-arcing 3-pointer by guard John Mobley Jr. to give Ohio State its eighth straight point with 1:07 left in the half.
The Buckeyes went into halftime with a 39-31 advantage after being led by Thornton, who had a game-high 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field.
“Me, waiting around trying to shoot the ball in this league with these [types] of players, you can’t do that,” Thornton said. “I figured it out, I learned from it. Now today, I was aggressive in there, and it helped us a lot today.”
Out of the break, Rutgers guard/forward Ace Bailey scored six points in just over two minutes to help cut its deficit to 41-39.
But an offensive putback by Royal, followed by a steal and an emphatic right-handed slam at the other end from Thornton pushed Ohio State’s lead back up to eight with 15 minutes remaining.
The dunk was the second of Thornton’s career, which brought a celebratory shoulder flex underneath the basket.
“I’ve given him a hard time about his lack of dunks, there was some years of banter behind that celebration in that moment,” Diebler said. “It was a big defensive play certainly, but yeah, we have a little inside thing going when he gets dunks, which was good to see.”
Royal continued to dominate, scoring 16 of the Buckeyes’ first 24 points in the first 12 minutes of the second half to help keep a comfortable lead.
With three Rutgers turnovers down the stretch, Ohio State guard Micah Parrish stopped a Buckeyes 0-for-4 shooting spell as he drained a corner 3-pointer to put them up 66-56 with five and a half minutes to go.
Then, Ohio State guard Meechie Johnson found center Austin Parks under the basket for a wide-open dunk to put it up 12, forcing a Rutgers timeout.
The Buckeyes finished the game hitting five of their last seven shots to cement their 80-66 victory.
“I think our crowd, specifically in the second half, was impactful in helping us get separation,” Diebler said. “And then our execution at the end of the game was where it needed to be.”
Ohio State will next take on No. 2 Auburn Saturday at 1 p.m. at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
