As the final horn sounded Sunday afternoon signaling Ohio State’s first Big Ten win of the season, Buckeyes redshirt junior guard Kam Williams ran toward center court and repeatedly clapped his hands together as an ear-to-ear smile flashed across his face.
Sophomore point guard JaQuan Lyle was right behind him — skipping. Junior center Trevor Thompson untucked his jersey and raised both fists high into the air. Players from the bench rushed onto the floor to congratulate and high-five their teammates.
This was the scene in the immediate aftermath of Ohio State’s 72–67 victory over Michigan State.
What wasn’t seen was the collective sigh of relief — from everyone.
“It’s a good feeling,” Lyle said afterward. “I mean, we hadn’t won since Dec. 22 so it’s a wonderful feeling. I think it’s a great start and we’ve just got to keep fighting for the rest of the Big Ten season.”
Sunday was so much more than just a win over the Spartans.
Thad Matta’s team — his program — was in quite the rut. The Buckeyes were 0–4 in conference play for the first time in nearly 20 years and were just blown out at Wisconsin three days prior. At 10–7 overall, it certainly looked like Ohio State was going to miss the NCAA tournament for a second-straight season.
After Sunday’s win over Michigan State, the Buckeyes by no means put themselves back in the field — they’re still a long way away from that — but finally breaking through for a win could spark something going forward. Matta certainly hopes that’s the case.
“I just told the players, ‘Look, just keep playing,’” he said. “We got dealt a blow here a couple of weeks ago losing Keita [Bates-Diop]. We’ve had a tough go. Maybe there’s a couple of teams that wouldn’t be 0–4 going into today’s game, but there’s probably some that would be. As I told our guys the other day, I was 10–9 at Xavier and four weeks later we were playing in the Elite Eight to go to the Final Four.”
“Just keep fighting, man. Just keep fighting.”
In three of Ohio State’s four conference losses, the Buckeyes were in the game in the final minutes with chances to win but they’d come up short. Against the Spartans, that was once again the case, as the two teams were tied at 56-all at the under-8-minute media timeout.
But something clicked for Ohio State down the stretch in this one and it rode the shoulders of Lyle to claim a victory. The sophomore point guard finished with a team-high 22 points and six assists. He was 8-for-12 from the field and 5-for-7 from behind the 3-point line.
“I was just flowing away and my teammates were finding me,” Lyle said.
But Ohio State certainly gave Lyle some help. The Buckeyes’ other four starters — Williams, Thompson, Jae’Sean Tate and Marc Loving — all reached double-figures. Meanwhile, Michigan State freshman Miles Bridges was the lone Spartan to crack the double-digit mark as he finished with a game-high 24 points.
Perhaps, though, more than anything, what carried Ohio State down the stretch was the fact it was tired of losing. The players and coaches continued to say the outside noise surrounding the program does not affect the team, but any group that loses four-straight games would be bothered by losing.
From the jump Sunday, it was clear the Buckeyes wanted to win. Players were diving on the floor for loose balls left and right. After Thompson swatted a shot from Michigan State’s Alvin Ellis into the Columbus suburbs, the Buckeyes’ big man pounded his chest with a fire and a passion not many had seen yet. After backup point guard C.J. Jackson nabbed a steal in the backcourt then proceeded to drive and get fouled, the junior college transfer popped up off the floor and urged the crowd to get behind his team.
Not only did Ohio State want this game, it needed it.
The only question remaining now: Was this a flash in the pan and a sign of desperation or can the Buckeyes actually sustain this type of effort going forward to potentially turn this season around?
Lyle thinks it’s the latter.
“Overall, I think it was a great win for us,” he said. “We have no choice but to build off of it. I feel like these past four games we’ve been at the lowest of the lowest that we can be and the only way now is to go up.”
“We have to keep holding each other accountable, keep pushing each other every day and it will all come together.”
