Ohio State moved to 8-0 in Big Ten play and 17-4 overall with a 67-49 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers (14-8, 3-6).
OSU was led in the box score by fourth-year junior forward Keita Bates-Diop with 17 points, but he did it on 7-of-21 shooting, including 0-of-6 from three-point range. Bates-Diop never found his touch, but Ohio State was undaunted because of the play of everyone else around him, particularly front-court partners Jae’Sean Tate and freshman center Kaleb Wesson.
Wesson scored 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting and had great chemistry with Tate in the paint, as evidenced by Tate’s five assists — many of which occurred in the post.
Ohio State shot just 27-for-66 (.409) from the field and 4-for-20 (.200) from three-point range. But their defense held Minnesota in check as well, as the Gophers made just 18-of-47 (.383) attempts from the field.
Somewhat ironically, the Buckeyes got the scoring started on Keita Bates-Diop’s first field goal attempt — a dunk. He would then spend the rest of the game mostly missing his jump-shot attempts.
After a dunk by sophomore center Micah Potter to bring OSU to within one point at 11-10, the Gophers would score the next nine points to take a 10-point lead on the Buckeyes. And that is when Ohio State woke up.
A jumper by Jae’Sean Tate was followed by a three-pointer by C.J. Jackson, which was then followed by a layup from Kaleb Wesson. A basket by Minnesota swingman Amir Coffey stopped OSU’s run, but Jackson recaptured the momentum with another three-pointer to cut the lead to 22-20.
Less than one minute later, Jackson’s third three gave the Buckeyes a 23-22 lead. From that point on, Ohio State remained in control despite not having a good day shooting the ball. Jackson scored 11 points and was 3-of-7 from three-point range.
The Buckeyes built up a 12-point lead in the first half and extended that lead to 21 points in the second half. The bulk of their success can be attributed to defense, especially in the second half when OSU held the Gophers without a made field goal from the 11:39 mark of the second half until a layup by Coffey with 2:06 remaining in the game. The basket cut the Buckeyes’ lead to 16 points, but was much too little, way too late.
Like Keita Bates-Diop, Jae’Sean Tate did not have a great day shooting, hitting just 2-of-9 shots from the field. He scored 10 points, but also added six rebounds to go along with his aforementioned five assists.
With the 17 wins, the Buckeyes have now matched last year’s win total with at least a dozen games yet to play.
Up next for OSU is a Monday night tip against Nebraska at 8:00 pm on BTN from Value City Arena.