I mentioned in my last Ohio State basketball article how good Minnesota Guard Marcus Carr is, and how full Ohio State’s hands would be with him. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, it was a different Golden Gopher who torched the Buckeyes in this game. 7’0″ Center Liam Robbins had 27 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and five blocks against the Buckeyes, and a dominated second half by Minnesota was enough to pull off a 77-60 win in a ranked Big Ten matchup.
Offense
Duane Washington was the only Buckeye to show up offensively for the Buckeyes. Washington had arguably his best game of the season, finishing with an efficient 21 points (7-12 shooting, 5-7 from three). Other than him, the next best performance for Ohio State was EJ Liddell’s 10 points on horrible efficiency (3-11 shooting, 0-3 from three, 4-6 on free throws). Overall, the Buckeyes shot 19-61 from the field (31%), 7-27 from three (26%), and 15-21 on free throws (71%). The shooting splits were atrocious, and Ohio State was lucky to be down only 6 at halftime. Without Washington, they would have been ran out of the gym early on (which happened anyway, Ohio State was down 16-5 before storming back).
Defense
Teams with size are going to give Ohio State problems all season long. Liam Robbins had a dominant performance that ultimately won Minnesota the game. Marcus Carr came into the game averaging over 23 points, and managed just 15 points (3-12 shooting, 1-3 from three, 8-11 on free throws). Robbins shot 7-13, which included 1-4 from three. However, he shot 12-17 from the free throw line by himself. Ohio State needs to find a solution to defending much bigger players, or else this season will not go far, or end well.
Summary
Turnovers and rebounds were nearly identical, but efficiency was the determining factor. Tough loss, terrible offensive performance. Ohio State has to rebound quickly from this one because this schedule even tougher.
Next Game: 1/6 vs Penn State (3-4) at 6:30 PM ET on Big Ten Network
Image: Nick Hudak
