Ohio State freshman forward Kaleb Wesson (34) squares up to the basket in the first half of the game against Iowa on Feb. 10 in the Schottenstein Center. Credit: Jack Westerheide | Photo Editor
No. 14 Ohio State (22-5, 13-1) continued its win streak with a 82-61 win over Iowa (12-15, 3-11) at home on Saturday to improve to 13-1 in conference play.
The Buckeyes shot 41 percent from 3 compared to 30 percent from the Hawkeyes. Ohio State scored 18 points off 12 turnovers from the Hawkeyes. Iowa finished the game shooting 8-for-10 from the line, while Ohio State struggled, going just 15-for-21.
Freshman center Kaleb Wesson led Ohio State players with 18 points and was 5-for-8 from the field with seven rebounds, but struggled from the line, making just 8-of-11 attempts. Redshirt junior Keita Bates-Diop also had 14 points and eight rebounds, while junior guard C.J. Jackson had 14 points.
Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said he was pleased with his team’s offensive effort overall in the game, even if the defense lacked behind at times.
“We moved the ball, shared it, made the right pass at the right time, had a few too many turnovers but I thought offensively we were really good,” Holtmann said. “I give our guys a lot of credit for responding from an emotional game the other night, I’m proud of them.”
Freshman forward Jack Nunge led the Hawkeyes with 18 points.
A steal by Bates-Diop led to a layup from Jackson that sent the teams into the under-8 timeout. The Buckeyes went on an 8-0 run over 1:18 to take a 23-18 lead. A quick turnover from Iowa’s sophomore forward Tyler Cook led to a dunk on a fast-break chance from senior forward Jae’Sean Tate to put the Buckeyes back on top 19-18. They never relinquished their lead.
Ohio State pulled away on an 18-2 run with 18:25 left in the second half that kept the Hawkeyes at bay the remainder of the game.
Iowa had cut the Ohio State lead down to just 44-36 before the Buckeyes went on their run, but it was unable to get any momentum going to get back in the matchup. Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said things just spiraled out of control for his team.
“As much as anything it was bad offense by us,” McCaffery said. “Good defense by them, they were up into us but I don’t think we moved the ball. I didn’t think we executed, they got some transition opportunities, we were missing. When you’re missing you need to get some back, we didn’t get enough back and credit them for that.”
The teams traded buckets early. The Hawkeyes went on a 7-0 run over 1:57 with 9:40 remaining in the first half to put Iowa ahead 18-15.
A 3-pointer from redshirt senior guard Andrew Dakich put the Buckeyes up 10 with 3:05 remaining in the first half. Jackson hit another 3 on the next possession for the Buckeyes.
A dunk from Wesson and a 3-pointer from Jackson, followed by a layup from Tate, gave the Buckeyes their largest lead of the game to that point coming out of the half. The Hawkeyes were held scoreless for over three minutes and did not make any of their last six field goals by the under-16 timeout.
