The Ohio State men's basketball team huddles before its game against Michigan Sunday. The Buckeyes fell to the No. 20 Wolverines 86-83. Credit: Sandra Fu | Photo Editor
Sixteen seconds left, down by two.
The Buckeyes had one final chance.
Bruce Thornton stood atop the Ohio State logo, setting up a play.
Running across the court, John Mobley Jr. fell after colliding with a defender.
Chaos.
Thornton scrambled, drove the ball to the hole, shot faked and sent a Wolverine to his knees.
Thornton, wide open, short-armed a floater from inside the paint.
Michigan secured the rebound as time drained out — its bench erupted.
“Frustrated, angry, disappointed — this game means a ton,” head coach Jake Diebler said. “This loss hits different.”
For the fifth time this season, Ohio State (15-11, 7-8 Big Ten) lost a one-possession game, falling to No. 20 Michigan (20-5, 12-2 Big Ten) 86-83 behind an insurmountable 46 Wolverine rebounds — including 19 on the offensive glass.
“Offensive rebounding and miscommunication, you can’t beat a top team without doing those two things,” Thornton said.
It was a back-and-forth first half, which saw twelve lead changes.
Thornton – the junior guard — hit the team’s first field goal on a pull-up transition three to give the Buckeyes an early 4-2 lead.
It did not take long for the Wolverines’ seven-foot duo of Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin to make an impact, as Wolf assisted on Goldin’s first three buckets down-low, including a dunk to put Michigan up 12-10 heading into the first TV timeout. Goldin led all scorers in the first half with 12, with Wolf assisting on four of his six buckets.
Ohio State hit five of its first nine 3-pointers and hung with Michigan early. Buckeyes forward Devin Royal stepped up and scored five straight points early, while guard Ques Glover provided a spark off the bench.
But Ohio State struggled from the free-throw line, missing five of its first eight attempts. A flagrant foul on Wolverines forward Will Tschetter turned an empty possession into four points, briefly swinging momentum.
However, Michigan held Ohio State scoreless for the next four minutes as Michigan ripped off a 7-0 run to take a 35-29 lead going into the last TV timeout.
Parrish halted Ohio State’s scoring drought with a dunk off a Michigan guard Roddy Gayle Jr. turnover to cut the Wolverines’ lead to two with 2:35 left in the half. Gayle — a Michigan transfer from Ohio State — was met with a slew of boos from the home faithful at every touch of the ball.
The Buckeyes, facing a seven-point deficit, responded by scoring four straight before the break, including an acrobatic and-1 from Glover. Despite the late push, the Buckeyes entered the locker room facing a 44-39 deficit.
The second half opened with an offensive explosion as both teams combined for 39 points before the first timeout.
Forward Aaron Bradshaw scored his first points of the game with a put-back and-1. However, shortly after he went to the bench when he picked up his fourth foul. It was at the midway point of the second half with Bradshaw eventually fouled out of the game, opening the door further for Michigan’s frontcourt.
“A lot of fouls in a short amount of minutes; we anticipated to be able to play him more,” Diebler said. “We have a few guys here that [have] got to grow in this foul issue.”
Thornton and Royal scored the following nine points for the Buckeyes before Mobley hit back-to-back threes to pull Ohio State within two.
The Buckeyes then took their first lead in nearly 20 minutes of game time as Thornton finished an and-1, high-fiving a fan courtside as the Schottenstein Center exploded.
“This was a great atmosphere,” Diebler said. “Our fans showed out, and they were great.”
After 11 lead changes in the middle of the second half, Michigan held a three-point lead with seven minutes to play.
Royal put the Ohio State offense on his back; he was the only Buckeye to convert a field goal for nearly eight minutes down the stretch and notched a team-high 26 points, including an and-1 to pull Ohio State within three with 3:48 remaining.
After a Stewart dunk brought the Buckeyes within two, Thornton tied the game at 80 with 2:06 to play, forcing the Wolverines to call a timeout.
The last two minutes seemingly promised to be a phenomenal finish.
Gayle silenced the rowdy home crowd out of the timeout, converting inside to take a two-point lead. Then, off the back of two offensive rebounds, Goldin finished inside to give Michigan a four-point lead with 52 seconds left.
Out of a Buckeye timeout, Mobley assisted Parrish on a 3-pointer to cut their lead to just one.
However, the Buckeyes ultimately failed to convert on their final possessions, as Thornton’s floater missed, sealing Ohio State’s fate as three-point losers.
“I just shot it short,” Thornton said. “I would shoot the same shot over and over again – my confidence will never dwell.”
The Buckeyes will return home on Thursday to take on Northwestern at 6:30 p.m. The game will air on FS1.
