For the first time in 1,460 days, the Ohio State men’s basketball team (21-13) took the floor for a real life, first round NCAA Tournament game. The 8-seed Buckeyes took on the 9-seed TCU Horned Frogs in Greenville, South Carolina with the winner advancing to play the winner of No. 1 overall seed Duke and 16-seed Siena on Saturday.
TCU’s defense was disruptive enough to keep Ohio State off-balance early, with the Buckeyes hitting just one of their first six shots and falling behind 8-5 at the first media
timeout. The Buckeyes were settling for difficult shots, while TCU was getting easy looks inside against Christoph Tilly, Amare Bynum, and Ivan Njegovan.
After taking an early 5-2 lead, Ohio State went 4:36 without scoring. The Horned Frogs scored eight straight points during that stretch, turning a three-point deficit into a five-point lead just over six minutes into the game until John Mobley Jr. dropped in a baseline floater to make it 10-7. The Buckeyes were starting to get better shots as the first half wore on, but weren’t always connecting — they missed three of their first four layup attempts.
The Horned Frogs, who were the fourth-best offensive rebounding team in the Big 12 this season at 12.4 per game, grabbed five offensive rebounds in the first 10 minutes Thursday afternoon, which put them on pace for about 20 offensive rebounds. However, the Frogs were only able to turn those early offensive rebounds into two second-chance points.
Back-to-back layups by Tilly and Devin Royal brought the score back to 14-13, but then the Buckeyes went another 3+ minutes without scoring, and the Horned Frogs got some three-point scoring from unlikely sources. Micah Robinson, who shot 31.7% from three during the regular season, buried one to put the Frogs up four. On the very next possession, TCU’s center Xavier Edmonds, who only attempted 51 three-pointers this season, knocked one down as well, giving the Horned Frogs a 20-13 lead over the Buckeyes with 8:33 remaining in the first half.
TCU closed the first half on an 11-0 run to take a 39-24 lead into the halftime break, including multiple three-pointers from Robinson, and Harding’s second of the game. The Horned Frogs were the second-worst three-point shooting team in the Big 12 this season, but torched the nets to a 53.8% in the first half, going 7-for-13. Robinson outscored his season scoring average (10.5 PPG) in the first half alone, dropping in 13 points. The Buckeyes, on the other hand, were 2-for-11 (18.2%) from three in the first half.
Ohio State came out of the halftime break and scored on each of its first two possessions, cutting the TCU lead to 39-28 within 46 seconds. The Horned Frogs missed their first five shots of the second half, but Ohio State really did not take advantage, missing their next four shots. Punch scored for TCU with 17:05 remaining in the game — TCU’s first basket of the second half — making it 41-28.
After looking lethargic for the entire first half, Ohio State blitzed TCU with a 10-0 run out of nowhere, and it only took 2:43 to do it. Mobley hit back-to-back three-pointers, Tilly got fouled and hit both free throws, and Royal scored off of a great pass from Mobley to cut TCU’s lead to 43-30 with 12:42 remaining in the game. Pierre knocked down a three pointer at the end of the shot clock to push it back to 46-40, but with 12 minutes remaining, Ohio State had made it a game again.
Ohio State ripped off an 11-1 run a few minutes later, capped off by an extremely difficult layup from Bynum, to take its first lead of the second half, 51-50. The Horned Frogs were struggling to make shots in the second stanza, and Mobley’s three-point shooting was opening things up for Bynum and Tilly below the basket.
The Buckeyes pushed their lead to a game-high five points, 55-50, with 6:19 remaining in the game, but Edmonds and Punch teamed up to go on an 8-2 run over the next 2:21 to give the Horned Frogs the lead back, 58-57, with 3:45 left in the game. Ohio State called timeout with the ball, down one point.
After Thornton tied the game 64-64 with a triple with 34 seconds remaining, Edmonds got the best of Bynum beneath the basket, scoring to put the Horned Frogs up 66-64 with four seconds remaining. Thornton’s half-court shot at the buzzer was no good, and the TCU Horned Frogs knocked out Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament’s first round, 66-64.
Ohio State’s season is over. Here are a few key moments from the Buckeyes’ final game of the season.
Punch on the glass
Seconds after Bruce Thornton’s floater cut the TCU lead to 12-9, David Punch collected a missed three by Tanner Toolson and passed it to Robinson, who scored in the paint to push the lead back to 14-9 with 12 minutes remaining in the first half.
Tilly, Royal get it back within one point
After Robinson put the Horned Frogs up five, Tilly and Royal each dropped in a layup in Ohio State’s next two possessions, bringing the score back to 14-13 with 10:58 left in the first half.
Ohio State goes cold, TCU gets hot from beyond the arc
After getting within one point, Ohio State went over three minutes without making a basket. In the meantime, TCU started getting hot from deep. The Horned Frogs got back-to-back triples from Robinson and Edmonds to push their lead to 20-13. The dry spell was finally snapped when Bynum tipped in a Mobley miss with 7:50 left in the first half to cut it back to 20-15.
TCU closes first half on dominant 11-0 run
With 3:45 left in the first half, it was a two-point game, with Tilly slip to the basket and score cutting TCU’s lead to 28-24. The Buckeyes would not score again the rest of the half, as TCU finished the next 3:45 on an 11-0 run that put Ohio State in a deep hole at the halftime break. Robinson buried two more three-pointers and Harding hit his second three of the game, as the Horned Frogs started feeling good about their long-range. On the season, both Robinson and Harding shot it below 32%, but in the first half Thursday, the two of them combined to go 5-for-8 from long range.
Frogs start 2nd half 1-for-10, keep double-digit lead
TCU shot 46.9% in the first half of Thursday’s game and was 54% from three-point range, which helped them build a massive lead at halftime. The Horned Frogs came out in the second half and hit one of their first 10 shots, which let Ohio State cut the Frogs’ lead from 15 to 10 points within the first six minutes of the second half.
Ohio State’s 10-0 run makes it a game again
Down 43-30 with 15:08 left in the game, Ohio State ripped off a 10-0 run in under three minutes to make it a one-possession game again with over 12 minutes remaining. Mobley hit multiple three-pointers during the 10-0 run.
Ohio State grabs first lead of the second half
Punch’s and-one layup gave TCU a 49-40 lead with 10:54 remaining, but after that Ohio State went on a 15-1 run over the next 4:35 to take its first lead of the second half, 55-50, with 6:19 left in the game.
Punch puts TCU back up with 4 minutes left to play
TCU sophomore forward David Punch responded to the Buckeyes’ big run with multiple big buckets in the final few minutes. After meeting Tilly at the rim and blocking him at one end, he ran the floor and scored at the basket to put the Horned Frogs up 58-57 with 3:58 left in the game.
Thornton’s half-court prayer is no good, the season is over
After Edmonds gave TCU the lead with four seconds remaining, the best Bruce Thornton could get was a half-court prayer, as the Buckeyes fell to the Horned Frogs in the first round, 66-64.
