Purdue buried Ohio State on Saturday with a barrage of made shots in the first half. The Buckeyes proceeded to essentially bury themselves by not making shots with any sort of consistency against Northwestern on Wednesday.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| OHIO STATE (18-12) | 17 | 33 | 50 |
| NORTHWESTERN (13-17) | 28 | 40 | 68 |
Andre Wesson missed his team's first shot of the game. Ohio State followed that up by missing again, and again, and again, and again, not making a single field goal until C.J. Jackson hit a layup after 8:49 had elapsed. The Buckeyes had more air balls than made field goals for the first 16 minutes of the game, managing just 17 points in the first half.
After not leading for the entirety of the game despite pulling within five points in the second half, Ohio State suffered a devastating 68-50 loss to Northwestern at the Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois.
The Buckeyes remain in contention for an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament, but the loss that ended the Wildcats' 10-game losing streak did significant damage to their case.
| OHIO STATE | STAT | NORTHWESTERN |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | POINTS | 68 |
| 17-64 (26.6%) | FGM-FGA (PCT.) | 26-58 (44.8%) |
| 4-26 (15.4%) | 3PM-3PA (PCT.) | 5-20 (25%) |
| 12-17 (70.6%) | FTM-FTA (PCT.) | 11-13 (84.6%) |
| 9 | TURNOVERS | 5 |
| 45 | TOTAL REBOUNDS | 39 |
| 18 | OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS | 7 |
| 27 | DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS | 32 |
| 20 | BENCH POINTS | 20 |
| 2 | BLOCKS | 7 |
| 2 | STEALS | 6 |
| 8 | ASSISTS | 15 |
Ohio State pulled within five points of Northwestern when Duane Washington Jr. hit a 3-pointer with 8:54 remaining, but the Wildcats proceeded to go on a 10-0 run aided by five points from Dererk Pardon to end the Buckeyes' hopes of a comeback win.
After hitting just 4-of-28 shots from the field and 1-of-12 3-pointers in the first half, Ohio State found more scoring in the second half but finished the game shooting 26.6 percent from the floor.
Pardon led Northwestern with 20 points, scoring all but two in the second half when he took advantage of Ohio State's shorthanded frontcourt. Vic Law and A.J. Turner also finished in double figures with 10 points each.
Keyshawn Woods led the Buckeyes' shaky offense with 15 points. Washington added 11 points.
With Northwestern pulling off the win, the Buckeyes and Wildcats split the regular-season series. Ohio State beat Northwestern, 63-49, on Feb. 20.
Next up: Ohio State heads back to Columbus to take on Wisconsin at 4:30 p.m. Sunday in its final regular-season game of the season. The game will be shown on CBS.
Game Notes
- Chris Holtmann pulled C.J. Jackson out of the starting lineup, instead opting to use him off of the bench.
- The Buckeyes started Luther Muhammad, Keyshawn Woods, Justin Ahrens, Kyle Young and Andre Wesson. It was the first time this five-man lineup opened a game this season.
- Young exited the game late in first half after banging his right knee with the knee of a Northwestern player. He headed to the locker room a couple minutes before halftime then returned to start the second half. However, Young had a clear limp at times in the second half.
