Second-year guard Bruce Thornton (2) surveys the floor during Ohio State’s 73-51 win over Rutgers Sunday in Piscataway, NJ. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics

Taking down the fourth-best defense in the country, the Buckeyes have now won four straight games, making them one of the hottest teams in the nation heading into the Big Ten tournament.

The Ohio State men’s basketball team (19-12, 9-11 Big Ten) used a strong second half to propel them to a 73-51 victory in its regular-season finale Sunday against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (15-16, 7-13 Big Ten) at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Ohio State was led by sophomore guard Roddy Gayle Jr., who scored 14 points. But it was a complete team effort for the Buckeyes as they had four double-digit scorers and 10 players contributing to the 73 total points.

“Ohio State’s very good. They’re playing really well,” Rutgers head coach Steven Pikiell said.

Ohio State’s defense wasted little time before establishing itself. On the first possession of the game, sophomore center Felix Okpara poked the ball away from Rutgers and secured the ball while dropping to the deck. On the other end, fifth-year forward Jamison Battle splashed home a corner three, giving the Buckeyes a quick 3-0 lead just 30 seconds into the game.

On their next offensive possession, Gayle drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing, giving the Buckeyes the early momentum.

Ohio State’s defense continued to dominate early as the Buckeyes tallied three blocks in the first five minutes of action, which featured two from Okpara and one from senior forward Zed Key. 

Interim head coach Jake Diebler had high praise for Okpara following the game.

“I thought [Okpara] was really good on both sides,” Diebler said. “He’s an anchor defensively. His ability to make up for mistakes or drives is really important, but he’s communicating at a high level and I think offensively he’s a threat.”

On the other end, the Scarlet Knights couldn’t get any shots to fall. Their first three points came from the charity stripe. It took the first 7:28 of the game for Rutgers to see a field goal go through, as the team’s sophomore center Emmanuel Ogbole hammered down a two-handed dunk against Key.

With 5:18 left in the first half, fifth-year guard Dale Bonner’s three rimmed out. Okpara collected the offensive rebound and layed it in, giving Ohio State a 25-15 lead, their largest of the half.

The Buckeyes were never able to quite pull too far away from Rutgers in the first half though, as Ohio State turned the ball over nine times, three of which came off the hands of sophomore guard — and leading scorer — Bruce Thornton.

The Scarlet Knights connected on five of their last nine shots of the first half, while outscoring the Buckeyes 8-2 in the final 2:53 before halftime.

Even with the giveaways and late Rutgers run, on the heels of eight different first-half Ohio State scorers, the Buckeyes went into the break holding onto a mere 30-28 lead. 

The second half was all Ohio State.

Despite the Buckeyes turning the ball over two additional times in the first 3:27 of the second half, Ohio State cleaned it up and only had four turnovers throughout the final 16:33 of the game.

While Rutgers was shooting one of their last seven from the field, Thornton drove down the lane, and kicked the ball out to Gayle who got a corner three to fall, extending a second-half Buckeye run to 8-0. The run gave Ohio State a 44-33 lead with about 14 minutes to play, which was the largest Buckeye lead of the game at the time. 

Freshman guard Scotty Middleton then stripped Rutgers fifth-year guard Noah Fernandes and took the ball coast to coast for the layup on the other end. On the next offensive possession, Thornton made a corner three, which was then followed by a Middleton 3-pointer of his own, pushing Ohio State’s run to 16-2 and increasing its lead to 52-35.

“To their credit, [the Buckeyes] were making their free throws and they were banging home threes,” Pikiell said.

The Buckeyes shot 57% in the second half, beating Rutgers 73-51

Ohio State will now travel to Minneapolis for the Big Ten Tournament. Its seed and opponent are still to be determined.