CHICAGO — With 1 minute, 41 seconds remaining and Ohio State clinging to a four-point lead over Minnesota, D'Angelo Russell found himself with the ball in his hands on the right wing with the shot clock winding down.
The smooth-left hander called for a ball screen from Amir Williams, raised up and buried a 3-pointer to give the Buckeyes a 72-65 advantage.
Russell's teammates swear he didn't see the clock ticking down as it had gotten down inside five seconds, but the Buckeyes' star freshman guard from Louisville claimed otherwise.
"I didn't think he saw it," Ohio State senior forward Sam Thompson said.
"Come on, man, I see everything," joked an exuberant Russell inside Ohio State's locker room following the game against the Gophers. "I’m just playing. Coach was saying, ‘Flat’ and I just wanted to capitalize on the ball screen and Amir set a great screen, I just pulled up and it went in.”
Russell made it sound so simple, but it was really anything but. That's just the way he plays, though. Things that are difficult for other players look effortless for Russell. And on a night when the Buckeyes weren't shooting well from behind the 3-point line, his smooth triple helped seal a 79-73 win for Ohio State on Thursday night in its opening game in the Big Ten tournament at the United Center.
“He’s probably the best guard in the country," Thompson said. "We know he’s gonna make plays like that, we know late-game, late-clock he can get his shot on anybody in the country so it’s huge having a guy like that.”
And while it was Russell's late-game heroics that saved Ohio State, it was one of the team's more well-rounded performances in recent weeks. The Buckeyes put three guys in double-figures — including Shannon Scott, who had a career-high 21 points — and shot 50 percent from the field.
Ohio State was just 1 for 12 from behind the 3-point line in the first half, but still found itself tied with the Gophers at 35-all at intermission. The Buckeyes responded with a much-improved 4-for-7 effort from downtown in a second half where they shot 57 percent from the floor.
Ohio State moves on to play No. 3 seed Michigan State at 9 p.m. on Friday.
“We knew eventually our shots would start falling," freshman forward Jae'Sean Tate said. "We just talked about picking up the intensity and playing harder and drawing the line in the locker room at halftime. We went out there and got the win.”
The win was even sweeter for Ohio State head coach Thad Matta as it was the 298th of his career with the Buckeyes. That number is more than any other coach in Ohio State history.
“You know, I think from the standpoint of and I've said this — nobody ever remembers the past. Nobody remembers when we came in or what we took over in this program with sanctions and visits and postseason bans and all that stuff," Matta said. “I think, personally, for me, the people it probably means the most for me is my wife and my two daughters because I've gone probably, well, going on eight years with a disability, and they're the ones that have suffered the things that I can't do as a father – I can't do as a husband. And they've never wavered. I have some really, really bad days in terms of coming home after games and they've got to help me get my shoes and socks off, and for them to stay the course with me, it means a heck of a lot more to me for them than it does for myself.”
Ohio State led the Gophers by as many as 13 midway through the second half before Minnesota clawed its way back. But as soon as it became a game again, Russell was there to save the day for the Buckeyes. Again.
"Coach Matta thought I was playing around," Russell said. "I give a lot of credit to him. He told me — he pulled me to the side and, he said, ‘Yo, it's time.’"
Matta and Russell sat on the back of a golf cart together in the halls of the United Center following the win. Each had smiles on their face. The two may be having very similar conversations in the near future.
