Not Georgia, not Purdue
The Ohio State Buckeyes #3/#2 (8-0) resume action Wednesday evening by hosting the Bryant University Bulldogs of the Northeast Conference. This game is part of the Gotham Classic series, where participating teams play preliminary games off-site (not in NYC), then head to Madison Square Garden. For the Buckeyes, in addition to Wednesday’s game, they will host North Dakota State on Saturday evening, host Delaware on December 18th, then go to NYC to face Notre Dame for an evening game on Saturday, December 21st.
Bryant University (6-4) played their second game of the Gotham Classic Monday at Notre Dame. After inexplicably losing to North Dakota State in the first round of the Gotham Classic. This was fairly close throughout, and with 2:41 left, Bryant was within 4 points, 52-56, but then then traditional hack-a-thom ensued, Notre Dame made their obligatory free throws and won the game 70-59.
Here’s their Profile:
Coach Kevin’s crew hosted the 24th ranked Gonzaga Zags with a noon tip off today. Ohio State entered the game 6-4 record while Gonzaga entered with a 6-1 record.
The first minute and a half went well for the Buckeyes, as they moved out to a 4-0 lead, then things went sideways for Ohio State. During the next seven and a half minutes, OSU went scoreless, while Gonzaga scored 22 points, going up 22-4. The Buckeyes would chip into the Zag lead, and with 4 minutes remaining, had narrowed the gap to 28-16. The teams would hold serve, with Gonzaga taking a 32-20 lead into the half.
Ameryst Alston ked OSU in 1st half scoring with 9 points, while Darryce Moore had 4 points and 4 rebounds. This first half deficit was caused by two main issues; poor shooting (8-27, 30%) and even poorer ball handling (9 turnovers). Meanwhile, the Zags were led by 6’4″ forward, German native Sunny Greinacher with 8 points and 7 rebounds, along with Haiden Palmer’s 6 points & 6 boards and Lindsey Sherbert’s 6 points.
Thad is pleased
Sorry for running late with this recap. I gad some technical difficulties last night.
As expected, Thad’s Buckeyes provided the afternoon appetizer as a prelude to the main course this evening. The Buckeyes, as expected, beat the outmatched Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) Blue Devils 76-54. The 5th ranked Buckeyes had little trouble moving to 8-0 this afternoon, with an all around solid performance, led by a career high 23 points by LaQuinton Ross.
In the 1st four minutes OSU jumped out to a 13-2 lead, driven by 5 points by LQT and 4 points by Amir. But, as we’ve seen with the football team, fast starts often precede a flattening and at the 10:22 mark OSU’s lead was 22-10. Not expanding the lead, but merely holding serve during the 6 minute interim.
At just under the 8 minute mark a jumper by Shannon Scott put the score at 26-17, somewhat reversing a “cooling off” of OSU’s shooting, which at this point was ‘down’ to 52&. Which gives you some idea how well the Buckeyes had started the game. Also, at this point, both teams were doing much better with interior shooting, as they’d combined for 2-11 from 3-point range. Not good.
The Buckeye malaise continued for the next four minutes as CCSU pulled to within 23-28 on a layup by Khalen Cumberlander. At the 3:37 mark, a 3-pointer by Lenzelle moved the margin up a bit, the the teams traded turnovers to slow things down. At a little over two minutes left, LQR reasserted himself wit a basket +1 to move score to 36-23. However, the Blue Devils surged a bit at the end of the half, capped by a layup by Kyle Vinales to pull CCSU to within 38-29 at the half.
We’ve got a double header coming up for Buckeye Nation!
First up are the OSU Shooty Hoopers, who are set to take on Central Connecticut at 4:30 PM Eastern Time on the Big Ten Network.
Following that game (and a quick dinner) the Buckeyes will face the Michigan State Spartans in the B1G Championship Game. That game is scheduled to kick at 8:17 PM on FOX.
Go Bucks!
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Fifth ranked Ohio State (7-0) gets back into action after taking care of the Maryland Terrapins Wednesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. They host the Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) Blue Devils. The game is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, so this will be a nice appetizer prior to the football game at 8:00 PM.
Here’s a profile on OSU’s next opponent:
School: Central Connecticut State University Blue Devils
Location: New Britain, CT
Founded: 1849
Student Population: 9,942
School Type: Public, coed
Division: D-I
Conference: Northeast Conference (NEC)
Arena: Detrick Gymnasium
Seating: 2,654
Built: 1965, renovated 2005
Head Coach: Howie Dickenman
Year: 18th
At least Maryland’s women’s basketball uniforms aren’t as ugly as their football ones.
After facing the number one team in the country on Sunday, things didn’t get easier for the Ohio State women’s basketball team as they traveled to College Park to face 8th ranked Maryland in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge; yes, someone decided that OSU and Maryland would play each other in both the men’s and women’s challenges and both games would occur at the same time. The Terrapins have done very well in the challenge for the ACC over the years and were looking to conclude their participation on the ACC side with a win while the Buckeyes were looking to improve on their 2-4 record in the challenge.
Maryland opened the scoring and jumped out to a 5-0 lead but Ohio State quickly responded with four straight points to make it a 5-4 game two and a half minutes in. The Terrapins used a 7 to 2 run to extend their lead to six points but the Buckeyes quickly responded and used an Ameryst Alston three pointer to cut the deficit to 13-11 with just over six minutes run off the clock. From there the two teams traded baskets for the rest of the first half with Maryland unable to get more than a four point lead and OSU unable to take the lead despite chances. Neither team shot well in the first half, both going around 30% from the floor. The Terrapins dominated the boards early on but as the half went on, OSU evened that out a bit and at halftime Maryland held a 26 to 21 advantage in rebounds. The Buckeyes did a great job taking care of the ball early while forcing Terrapin turnovers but just like in rebounds, those numbers pretty much evened out by the end of the half.
The number 5 Ohio State Buckeyes proved on Wednedsay night against Maryland in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge that if there’s spark – there’s fire.
Despite battling foul trouble in the first half, the Buckeyes burned the Terps from beyond the arc, in transition, and on the defensive side of the floor to help pace a 76-60 victory at Value Center Arena in non-conference play.
The Buckeyes were led early by LaQuinton Ross, who started the game 4/4 from three point range. His jump shot was a weapon early as his offensive play set the tone in the first five minutes of the game. He scored a total of 20 points, 17 in the first half, as the Buckeyes shot 60% from long range in the first frame. After an Aaron Craft drive to the paint turned kick out to the nearside corner three from Sam Thompson, Amedeo Della Valle checked into the game with 11:30 to play in the first half and drained a spot up three to give Ohio State a 24-12 lead nearly halfway through the first.
It was the trey that got the fired started, but there is no doubt that the ignitor was the transition play of Shannon Scott and Slam Thompson, who nearly connected on three straight alley-oops with five minutes to play in the first.
The Buckeyes take part in the ACC/B1G Challenge this evening, taking on future conference foe Maryland!
The game is scheduled to tip at 7 PM Eastern, followed by Michigan State at 9 PM. Come join the liveblog at 6:30 PM and chat with all your favorite Buckeye bloggers and friends! Make sure to stick around for the MSU game so we can boo and hiss at them to get ready for Saturday!
Go Bucks!
