Ohio State had missed three consecutive front ends of one-and-ones down the stretch of Thursday's game at Northwestern when the Buckeyes' prized freshman guard, D'Angelo Russell, stepped to the free-throw line with 6.4 seconds remaining.
Ohio State was ahead, 66-64, at the time as Russell calmly approached the charity stripe. He bounced the ball at his feet, came to a set position, then released a pair of smooth, left-handed shots.
He made the first. Then made the second. Neither one hit the rim.
And why not? He made just about everything else he put up toward the basket in the Buckeyes' 69-67 win over the Wildcats.
Russell scored a career-high 33 points to lead Ohio State, which won for just the second time all season away from Columbus. He did it while attempting just 17 shots, making 12. Russell was also 6 for 11 from 3-point range. Oh, he even had seven rebounds and six assists without committing a single turnover.
Not a bad day at the office.
Ohio State needed a performance like that, too, because the Buckeyes couldn't afford a loss to one of the Big Ten's bottom feeders. Not at this point in the season when they don't yet have a quality win on their NCAA tournament resume.
Ohio State started slow again, and so did Russell. Northwestern scored the game's first eight points and led by as many as 11 points in the first half. Russell didn't score until seven minutes had passed in the game, but once he got going offensively, the Buckeyes rode him the rest of the way.
Sam Thompson was the only other Ohio State player in double figures as he scored 11 points. Outside of Russell, the Buckeyes shot just 16 for 36 from the field, 3 of 8 from downtown and 1 for 4 from the free-throw line.
It wasn't pretty — road wins in the Big Ten usually aren't — but it still counts as a win in the Big Ten standings.
Ohio State isn't a great basketball team right now. But it has a great player and more often than not, in college basketball that's all you need.
