Month by month, week by week, day by day, the state of Ohio is only getting better.
Chris Holtmann’s team entered on Thursday after winning six of its last seven matches, including three wins against teams ranked in the top-15 when the matches were settled, and it has only achieved its best victory yet.
The Buckeyes’ seventh position falls to Iowa City, Iowa, for a top-10 game with the No. 8 Hawkeyes and wins 89-85 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. They improved to 15-4 overall and 9-4 within the Big Ten.
|
Team |
1 |
2 |
FINAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| # 7 OHIO STATE | 42 | 47 | 89 |
|
# 8 IOWA |
45 |
40 |
85 |
The game was tied 75-75 with 5:23 left, and from there Ohio State fueled a 13-6 run through three Justin Ahrens 3-points, after missing its first four of the night. The last triple Ahrens series put the Buckeyes ahead 88-81 with 2:39 left. More than two countless minutes from the state of Ohio allowed Iowa to narrow the gap to 88-85 by 37 seconds.
Four Buckeyes – EJ Liddell (16 points), Kyle Young (16 points), Duane Washington Jr. (16 points) and Justice Sueing (12 points) – scored in double figures.
Iowa, behind an offense that has achieved the fourth best position of adjusted efficiency over the past two decades, threatened to pull away from the middle of the second half.
A few tries from Joe Wieskamp and Luke Garza put Fran McCaffrey’s team ahead by 11 points with 14:29 left. At that point, the Buckeyes had only made one shot from the field since they left the locker room when halftime ended. Still, 3-pointers from Duane Washington, along with a free throw from Zed Key, reduced the deficit to four points, and a subsequent run of 10-5 put Ohio State ahead 67:66 with 10:12. The rest of the night they exchanged blows and responded quickly every time the opponent tackled something offensive.
|
OHIO STATE |
STAT |
IOWA |
|---|---|---|
|
89 |
MARKS |
85 |
|
31-65 (47.7%) |
FGM-FGA (PCT.) |
30-68 (44.1%) |
|
14-32 (43.8%) |
3 PM-3PA (PCT.) |
14-32 (43.8%) |
|
13-19 (68.4%) |
FTM-FTA (PCT.) |
11-17 (64.7%) |
|
6 |
TURNOVERS |
6 |
|
43 |
TOTAL RETURNS |
36 |
|
11 |
INDICATIVE REFUNDS |
11 |
|
32 |
DEFENDIVE REFUNDS |
25 |
|
20 |
Bank points |
26 |
|
4 |
BLOCKS |
0 |
|
4 |
STEELS |
4 |
|
20 |
ASSISTANT |
20 |
The first half between these two teams met all expectations, especially offensively. They both shot at least 47 percent from the floor and 40 percent from the three-point range.
They went back and forth, with the state of Ohio leading 20-12 after eight-and-a-half minutes behind six points from Zed Key. Still, a quick 10-0 Iowa run ended with Chris Holtmann timed out after 71 seconds of action, putting the Hawkeyes in the lead and drawing a competitive series late in the first half. No team had a lead of more than four points in the latter part of the first half, and Iowa was in the locker room after 20 minutes and maintained a 45-42 lead.
Three Iowa players – Luka Garza, Jordan Bohannon and Jack Nunge – each scored 11 points in the first half. Bohannon and Nunge scored six tries together. One of the bigger boosts for the Hawkeyes was the difference in offense. They equalized nine fouls versus just three fouls by the Buckeyes in the first half. This resulted in a difference between 10 and 2 in the throw as the teams regrouped in their locker rooms.
The Buckeyes got ten points from the first half from Justice Sueing. Duane Washington Jr. and EJ Liddell also added seven pieces. Meechie Johnson’s six points and Key’s six also helped the Buckeyes offensively.
Following: Ohio State goes to College Park, Maryland, on Monday for its only game against the Terrapins (10-8, 4-7 Big Ten) of the regular season. It will kick off at 21:00 on FS1.
Other notes
-
Chris Holtmann stuck with his first five: Duane Washington Jr., Justin Ahrens, Justice Sueing, EJ Liddell and Kyle Young. CJ Walker continued to come off the bench.
-
The state of Ohio was without two of its 13 bursary players. Jimmy Sotos has been ruled out for the season after tests on his shoulder separation showed he needed surgery, and Ibrahima Diallo remains out with a sprained MCL. Before the game, Holtmann referred to how he wanted Diallo available for the game with Iowa’s foreland.
-
Iowa does not have starting guard CJ Frederick available. The team’s fourth leading scorer (8.7 points per game) was ruled out with a lower leg injury. He is a 50 percent shooter of 50 percent.
-
It was Young’s 100th career game as a Buckeye. The senior forward averaged eight points and 5.9 rebounds in 19 minutes per game during his four-year career.
-
The Buckeyes entered the overall series with the Hawkeyes 79-76 that day, and they were 51-25 behind on Thursday when they played in Iowa City.