The No. 23 Ohio State Buckeyes (19-9, 9-8) went into Lincoln, Nebraska and put a hurt on the Huskers (7-21, 2-15), walking away with a 75-54 win thanks to some balanced scoring and some absent Nebraska offense.
Kaleb Wesson led all scorers with 16 points and also posted a game-high 18 rebounds. CJ Walker added 15 points and Duane Washington dropped in 14. Luther Muhammad and Andre Wesson just missed the double-figure party, both scoring nine a piece.
The Buckeyes started out hot, making nine of their first 11 field goals. Over the course of the rest of the game, however, they would make just 16 of their final 51 shots (.314). It’s a good thing they held the Huskers to 21-of-59 shooting (.356) for the entire game.
Ohio State outrebounded Nebraska 48-33. The Buckeyes led for all but the first 45 seconds of the game.
The Buckeyes trailed 2-0 before Duane Washington drained three three-pointers in the first three minutes to give Ohio State a 9-4 lead early. A layup from Cam Mack made it 11-8, but the Buckeyes responded with a jumper from Kaleb Wesson and a three from Luther Muhammad.
Following a layup and free throw from Liddell to give OSU a 19-10 lead with 13:47 to play, he went down on the defensive end and blocked a pair of shots. Three minutes later, he followed up a CJ Walker three with a layup to make it 26-12 with 10:50 to play.
Ohio State then went almost five minutes without a field goal, missing 11 shots in a row. Walker stopped the drought with a layup, giving the Buckeyes a 32-18 lead with 6:05 remaining. Andre Wesson and Duane Washington added layups the next two times down the court to make it an 18-point game.
A three-pointer from Duane Washington made it 39-18, but Nebraska then responded with a 7-0 run that forced a timeout from Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann. CJ Walker ended the run with a pair of field goals and then followed a Haanif Cheatham layup with one of his own to make it 43-27 at the half.
The Buckeye backcourt was strong in the first half, with Duane Washington leading all players with 14 points, followed by 11 from CJ Walker.
The teams traded baskets for the first couple of minutes of the second half before the Buckeyes went on a bit of a run.
Layups by Andre Wesson and Luther Muhammad boosted the lead to 18 points. Two minutes later, a steal by Washington and a layup by Muhammad gave the Buckeyes a 55-34 lead with 14:07 to play.
With a three and a layup from Jervay Green, the Huskers cut it to 59-43 at the 10:43 mark. They would get no closer, however. The Buckeyes quickly went on a 5-0 run to end any Nebraska hopes.
Walk-on point guard Danny Hummer gave the Buckeyes their biggest lead of the game at 73-50 with 54 seconds to play. Freshman center Ibrahima Diallo also dropped in a basket at the end of the game.
Ohio State went 0-12 from three-point range in the second half and missed 18 of their final 19 three-point attempts. This was after starting 5-of-6 from deep.
The Buckeyes are now over .500 in Big Ten play for the first time since the conference opener against Penn State, which they won 106-74.
Box Score
