The Ohio State men’s basketball team returned to their home court on Monday night, three days after dispatching in-state foe Youngstown State, 89-65, for their first win of the new season. The Buckeyes’ tangoed with Marshall for the third time ever, with the last game against the Thundering Herd coming back on November 25, 2016. That game was during Thad Matta’s final season at the helm of the program, and Ohio State won that game, 111-70.
The Buckeyes stuck with the same starting lineup they used
in the first two games of the season — fan favorites John Mobley Jr. and Amare Bynum were flanked by three new faces — Anthony Thompson, Justin Pippen, and Andrija Jelavic.
Unlike Friday night, it took Ohio State less than seven minutes to open up a double-digit lead on the visiting team on Monday. After Marshall’s Luke Rasmussen split a pair of free throws to get the Herd back within 10-9, Ohio State went on a 12-0 run over the next 3:07 to open things up and take a 22-9 lead. By the time the second media timeout rolled around with 10:47 left in the half, the Buckeyes had a 25-11 lead.
During that run, Jimmie Williams came off the bench and knocked down his first three-pointer of the season, and also slithered into the paint through several Marshall defenders to drop in a very difficult layup off the right side of the glass. Thompson also hit his first three-pointer of his college career during that massive Ohio State run in the first half.
With Thompson and Williams lighting it up, the Buckeyes tried to push their lead to 20 points by halftime, but didn’t quite get there. Ohio State took a 45-27 lead into the locker room at halftime, and shot 43.8% as a team. They likely would’ve been ahead by a whole lot more if it wasn’t for Marshall’s Noah Otshudi, who was doing major work for the Thundering Herd on the other side. The senior guard from Ontario, Canada scored 22 points in Marshall’s last game (a loss to Toledo), and followed it up by scoring 15 points on 7-for-12 shooting in the first half alone on Monday. Unfortunately for Otshudi, the rest of his team combined to shoot 29.4% (5-for-12) in the first half.
Otshudi kept torching Ohio State to start the second half, scoring three times in the first 91 seconds of the second half to help Marshall cut the Buckeyes’ lead to 48-36. Diebler called a timeout, but it didn’t change much as the Thundering Herd came out of that timeout and scored seven straight to cut the lead to 48-43, forcing Diebler to call his second timeout in less than three minutes. The duo of Otshudi and Bryce Slay were causing problems for Ohio State, and the Buckeyes were not taking care of the ball on the other end as their lead withered away at a rapid pace.
Once the lead was cut to five, Bynum dug in and scored on back-to-back possessions for Ohio State, giving the Buckeyes a double-digit lead once again. Last year, you’d likely see Bruce Thornton as the go-to option when the game appeared to reach a breaking point. On Monday night, it was Bynum who came up with two big baskets when the Buckeyes had their backs against the wall. Williams then followed up Bynum’s five points with a floater, turning it into a 7-0 run that put the Buckeyes ahead 55-43 with 14:30 remaining.
Marshall kept hanging around, and two free throws from Fazl Oshodi cut the lead back to six points, 68-62, with 6:43 left in the game. The teams went almost two minutes without anyone scoring until Curtis Givens knocked down a corner three to put Ohio State up 71-62,
The Thundering Herd never went away, fighting Ohio State until the very bitter end, with Jelavic’s pair of free throws giving Ohio State a double-digit lead once again, 81-70, with one minute left in the game. That was the final dagger for the Thundering Herd, as Ohio State escaped with an 84-74 win.
Ohio State does not return home again for a week — they welcome the Prairie View A&M Panthers next Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Schottenstein Center. Between now and then, the Buckeyes will travel to Hartford, Connecticut to tangle with the No. 4 UConn Huskies. That game is the front of a two-year home-and-home series, with the Huskies coming to Columbus next season.
The Buckeyes picked up their second win of the season Monday evening, making Ohio State a perfect 3-0 against Marshall all-time. Here are a few of the moments that mattered from the 84-74 victory:
Anthony Thomson & Jimmie Williams get it going in the first half
You could argue that Ohio State had gotten essentially zero production out of two of the top six guys in their playing rotation through two games, with Thompson and Williams combining for 14 points on 2-for-21 shooting while going a perfect 10-for-10 at the free throw line.
Thompson and Williams both knocked down their first three-pointers of the season in the first half of Monday nights game, with Williams finally seeing one go through at the 14:38 mark to give Ohio State a 13-9 lead, and Thompson connecting from deep three minutes later to make it 25-11 Buckeyes.
Thompson and Williams were Ohio State’s leading scorers in the first half, with Williams scoring 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting and Thompson chipping in 10 on 3-for-6 shooting.
Otshudi does his part for Marshall
Marshall’s struggles in the first half could not be blamed on the Thundering Herd’s senior guard and returning leading scorer from last season. The 6-foot-4 guard from Ontario had 15 of Marshall’s 27 points in the first half, while the rest of the Thundering Herd combined for 12 points on 5-for-12 shooting.
Otshudi came into Monday’s game averaging 19 points per game, and surpassed that less than two minutes into the second half. He scored Marshall’s first six points of second half to get him to 21 points with 18:29 left in the game.
Bynum stops the Marshall run
After the Thundering Herd stampeded out of the locker room and opened the second half on a 16-3 run to cut the lead from 18 to five points, someone had to take a stand for Ohio State, and on Monday it was sophomore forward Amare Bynum.
With Ohio State clinging to a 48-43 lead with 15:07 left in the game, Bynum backed down his defender and scored below the basket, pushing the lead back to seven points. After Marshall’s Vasilije Kuridza was called for an offensive foul, Mobley brought the ball down and dumped the ball off to Bynum, who scored while being fouled. Bynum hit the free throw to complete the three-point play, capping off a mini 5-0 run by himself and putting Ohio State ahead by 10 again, 53-43, with 14:47 left in the game.
Ojianwuna makes a winning play
After a Manyuon jumper cut the lead to 58-49, Josh Ojianwuna was fouled going to the basket. He hit both free throws, putting Ohio State ahead 60-49 with 12:09 let in the game. On the very next Marshall possession, he cleanly picked Manyuon’s pocket, and Thompson was able to jump on the ball before he was fouled by Manyuon. It went down in the box score as a steal for Thompson, but Ojianwuna very much created the havoc that led to the steal.
Jelavic free throws clinch it
With the Buckeyes up 79-70 and 1:04 left on the clock, Mobley tried to knock down a three-point dagger to ice the game. He missed, but Jelavic was there to clean up the mess, and was fouled by Marshall’s Luke Rasmussen. Jelavic hit both free throws to give Ohio State an 81-70 lead — the first time they’d been up double digits in almost three minutes.
