The No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes (8-0) went on the road for the first time this season and put the boots to the No. 7 North Carolina Tar Heels, holding UNC to just 27.4% shooting, outscoring them 30-10 in the paint, and ultimately defeating the home team 74-49.
A North Carolina program known for its ability to run under head coach Roy Williams, scored just five fast-break points against the Buckeyes on the night.
Ohio State put four scorers in double figures, lead by sophomore guard Duane Washington’s game-high 18 points. Freshman forward EJ Liddell scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting in 16 minutes. Junior forward Kaleb Wesson and junior point guard CJ Walker each scored 10 points.
The Buckeye guards also held UNC freshman phenom point guard Cole Anthony to 15 points on 4-of-15 shooting in 30 minutes of play.
North Carolina actually opened with a 5-0 lead, but a trio of Washington threes gave the Buckeyes a 12-8 lead with 14:22 remaining in the first half.
A two-minute stretch a bit later on saw Liddell hit two jumpers and throw down a dunk thanks to a pass from Luther Muhammad, giving Ohio State an 8-point lead at 22-14 with 11:05 to play.
Anthony sandwiched a Washington three-pointer with two of his own, cutting the lead to three points. The Buckeyes eventually closed out the first half with a 29-27 halftime lead.
Kyle Young’s layup with 16:49 left in the game gave the Buckeyes a 9-point lead, but Anthony quickly cut that lead to three points with back-to-back three-pointers from long distance.
Following the second Anthony three-pointer, Ohio State spent the next three minutes going on a 9-0 run, buoyed by three-pointers from Andre Wesson and DJ Carton. The Carton basket made it 48-36 with 12:43 to play.
Dunks by Liddell and Young over the next minute gave the Buckeyes a 14-point lead, which eventually got cut down to 10 points when Roy Williams emptied his bench and tried to change the tenor of the game.
A three-pointer from Carton woke the Buckeyes back up and started a 14-0 run that essentially ended any hope for North Carolina.
Inside that run, Young had a pair of layups, CJ Walker had a three, and Liddell had a pair of free throws. Walker added another three a couple of minutes later to give the Buckeyes a 25-point lead at 74-49 with 1:56 to play, and that is where the scoring ended for both teams.
Ohio State had 13 offensive rebounds on the night, which led to 16 second-chance points.
The Buckeyes led for 34:52 of the 40 minutes.
Senior wing Andre Wesson scored five points, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out a game-high five assists, and had a +/- of 28.
DJ Carton led the team with a +/- of 32.
Duane Washington, who led the Buckeyes with 18 points, had a +/- of zero.
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