Throughout Ohio State’s nine-game Big Ten win streak, the Buckeyes pulled out games in almost every conceivable way. They won when some of their stars had slow starts. They won when their 3-pointers weren’t falling, and when their opponents’ deep shots were. They won despite facing double-digit deficits, and they overcame foul trouble to their starters.
Thursday night in Columbus, when all of those things happened at the same time, Chris Holtmann finally suffered his first conference loss as Buckeye head coach, 82-79. But it took the full 40 minutes, and a miraculous final-second shot to do it.
Penn State came out of the locker room on fire, draining their first five 3-point shots, and six of their first seven. They built a 12-point lead before Bates-Diop hit his first shot from the field.
The junior forward was listed as questionable to even play the game due to an illness and started slowly, before he eventually got going. He scored nine points in an eight-minute span as the Buckeyes roared back to tie the game at 30.
The Lions responded with an 8-3 run before the Buckeyes cut it back to a one-point game at the half.
After the break, it was more of the same. OSU had a 43-42 lead early, but PSU continued to rain in buckets from deep. A five-minute field goal drought from the Buckeyes helped the Lions build a 13-point lead with eight minutes to play.
Making things even worse for OSU, Bates-Diop spent time on the bench with four fouls, and then had to play cautiously on the defensive end after returning.
Still, the Buckeyes battled back. Bates-Diop hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 77-71 with 2:07 to play, then hit another to trim it to 77-74 with 1:15 on the clock.
Tate, also playing with four fouls, drove the baseline and hit a reverse layup to make it a one-point game with 20 seconds left. After Penn State hit a pair of free throws to extend their lead to 79-76, Bates-Diop drilled a 3-pointer from well outside the arc with just five seconds to play, tying the game at 79-all and sending the Schottenstein Center crowd into a frenzy.
But a night when it seemed the Nittany Lions couldn’t miss from deep ended on an appropriate note. Tony Carr banked in a shot from close to half court as the buzzer sounded, sending the Lions home with an 82-79 win.
Overall, Penn State shot 58% from the field, and hit an incredible 11-for-14 from behind the arc.
Ohio State falls to 9-1 in conference play and 18-5 overall. With Purdue’s win over Michigan earlier in the evening, OSU has now fallen out of first place in the Big Ten.
Great game – especially if you didn’t care who won. The wrong team (from a Buckeye standpoint won), but OSU put on a nearly incredible rally to tie the game with 5 seconds left. Considering Bates-Diop had been ill and wasn’t even certain to play, he did an outstanding job.
The Buckeyes deserve credit for scrapping back, only to lose on Penn State’s “Look what I found!” winning shot at the buzzer.
Unlike football, in college basketball a loss doesn’t equate to calamity. Looking on the brighter side, they don’t have to play trying to protect a long winning streak. They can now rest up and start a new winning streak against Indiana.
You don’t lose to really bad teams on your home court.
Have you never watched CBB before? Great teams lose to bad teams on their own court ALL THE TIME*
*See NC Tarheels, defending NCAA National Champs
*See Purdue Boilermakers
*See Kansas Jayhawks
I repeat. You don’t lose to really bad teams on your home court. Spare me your duffousness.
Hilarious that you a) resort to name-calling rather than address my examples, and b) called me a ‘duffous’ by misspelling dufus.
How do you figure, a visiting team shooting 11 for 14 from 3-point range, one of which came with 5 seconds left from mid-court and a bank shot at that! Unbelievable! Under the circumstances, the Buckeyes made a fingernail biting comeback game to tie the game with only 5 seconds to go. Buckeyes go to overtime, right? Wrong! What a heart-breaking loss that should not have been at least in regulation time! Buckeyes no doubt are tired, but made too many turn-overs and missed shots which a championship team must not make. But the season surely isn’t over with Indiana coming to Columbus next week. A win keeps them in the running for the BIG regular season championship! Get rest this weekend Buckeyes and come back strong next week! Beat Indiana!!
Against a very bad team. Moral victories are just stupid. The right hand column emphasises that.
I heard a chant from the Buckeye faithful after the MSU game. JUST LIKE FOOTBALL. PSU can proudly proclaim the same chant. Seems like PSU is making a habit of building their resume’ on the ashes of Buckeye sports. What’s next? Wrestling?
I think the wins need to happen in the same year. Maybe you consider coming back to win a loss?