Ohio State has a 13-0 record this season against 12 of the other 13 teams in the Big Ten. Against Penn State, however, the Buckeyes are 0-2.
Ohio State suffered its second loss to Penn State of the season, this time in convincing fashion, on Thursday night at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa., where the Nittany Lions defended their home court and thumped the Buckeyes, 79-56, also handing Ohio State just its second loss of the season in conference play.
Tony Carr, who beat the Buckeyes on a buzzer-beater and scored 28 points in the previous meeting in Columbus on Jan. 25, scored 30 points to lead the Nittany Lions to another victory on Thursday.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| #8 OHIO STATE | 21 | 35 | 56 |
| PENN STATE | 45 | 34 | 79 |
Ohio State fell into an early hole in Thursday's game – much like it did in its first meeting with Penn State and many of its other Big Ten games – as the Nittany Lions put together a 12-0 run that gave the home team an early 14-4 lead.
Unlike all of those other games, however, Ohio State fell into a hole that it couldn't claw its way back from.
The Nittany Lions scored more than twice as many points than the Buckeyes in the first half of Thursday's game, taking a 45-21 lead into the break, as the Nittany Lions made five-of-10 shots from three-point range while the Buckeyes went 0-for-7 from beyond the arc. Kaleb Wesson led the Buckeyes with seven first-half points and five first-half rebounds despite missing part of the first half with an ankle injury, as no other Ohio State player found early offensive rhythm; Keita Bates-Diop, the Big Ten's leading scorer going into Thursday's game, scored just four points before the break.
| OHIO STATE | STAT | PENN STATE |
|---|---|---|
| 56 | POINTS | 79 |
| 21-54 (38.9%) | FGM-FGA (PCT.) | 26-54 (48.1%) |
| 2-15 (13.3%) | 3PM-3PA (PCT.) | 9-20 (45.0%) |
| 12-17 (70.6%) | FTM-FTA (PCT.) | 18-27 (66.7%) |
| 10 | TURNOVERS | 19 |
| 30 | TOTAL REBOUNDS | 38 |
| 8 | OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS | 10 |
| 22 | DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS | 28 |
| 17 | BENCH POINTS | 6 |
| 3 | BLOCKS | 7 |
| 7 | STEALS | 8 |
| 9 | ASSISTS | 14 |
Penn State extended its lead to 30 just over two minutes into the second half as Ohio State missed its first three shots after the break. After Ohio State's C.J. Jackson and Penn State's Shep Garner traded threes to bring the score to 54-24, however, the Buckeyes finally put together a run after that, scoring 11 unanswered points to cut the Nittany Lions' lead to 19 with just under 13 minutes to play.
Ohio State built that into a 21-7 run, cutting Penn State's lead to 58-42 with 10:32 to play. That, however, was as close as the Buckeyes would get to a comeback.
While Penn State's offense wasn't as sharp in the second half, and the Nittany Lions didn't control the action the way they did in the first half, the Buckeyes simply couldn't make enough shots to cut the Nittany Lions' lead to less than 16, and the home team ultimately won by 23.
Jackson led the Buckeyes with 13 points in defeat, while Bates-Diop finished the game with 10, but no other Buckeye finished the game with more than seven, as Ohio State made just 39 percent of its total shots for the game and just two-of-15 attempts from three-point range.
Kam Williams, in his first game back after a three-game suspension, scored just two points for the Buckeyes off the bench.
The No. 8-ranked Buckeyes, who are now 13-2 in Big Ten play with a 22-6 overall record for the season, will look to get back into the win column against their rivals on Sunday at 1 p.m., when they play Michigan in Ann Arbor.
