Nebraska’s last-place standing in the Big Ten didn’t stop it from knocking off a short-handed Ohio State team at home on Tuesday.
The 23rd-ranked Buckeyes, who were without Zed Key for the entire game and Kyle Young for the second half, dropped 78-70 to the Huskers at the Schottenstein Center. Ohio State hadn’t suffered back-to-back defeats all season before Tuesday, but have now lost consecutive games to two of the bottom four teams in the conference.
| Team | 1 | 2 | FINAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| #23 OHIO STATE | 39 | 31 | 70 |
| NEBRASKA | 43 | 35 | 78 |
Nebraska freshman guard Bryce McGowens led the way with 26 points on 8-for-15 shooting as the Huskers led at halftime and mounted a double-digit advantage over the Buckeyes early in the second half.
Ohio State cut Nebraska’s lead to just four points with 55.9 seconds to play, but the Huskers hit a free throw at the other end and E.J. Liddell missed a subsequent 3-point attempt that could’ve made things even closer.
Ohio State entered as a 15-point favorite, but most Buckeyes aside from Liddell and Malaki Branham struggled to score as things got away from the scarlet and gray through the middle of the final period. Liddell led the Buckeyes with 27 and Branham added 16, but Ohio State shot just 38.6 percent from the floor for the game.
First Half
Nebraska shot 55.6 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range as it mounted a 43-39 lead over the Buckeyes through 20 minutes.
Ohio State looked as though it would begin taking control around the midway mark, as three straight threes from Malaki Branham, Jimmy Sotos and Justin Ahrens put the Buckeyes up 26-19 with 9:28 to play in the first half. But Ohio State hit only two more field goals from then until the halftime buzzer sounded.
An 8-0 run by the Huskers from 6:30 to 4:34 took Nebraska from down five points to up three, and it went up by as many as seven points in the final minute of the opening half.
| OHIO STATE | STAT | NEBRASKA |
|---|---|---|
| 70 | POINTS | 78 |
| 22-57 (38.6%) | FGM-FGA (PCT.) | 27-55 (49.1%) |
| 7-24 (29.2%) | 3PM-3PA (PCT.) | 9-23 (39.1%) |
| 19-24 (79.2%) | FTM-FTA (PCT.) | 15-18 (83.3%) |
| 8 | TURNOVERS | 4 |
| 39 | TOTAL REBOUNDS | 28 |
| 14 | OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS | 4 |
| 24 | DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS | 24 |
| 13 | BENCH POINTS | 22 |
| 7 | BLOCKS | 1 |
| 2 | STEALS | 5 |
| 10 | ASSISTS | 12 |
Branham hit the final shot of the half, a 3-pointer to help close the gap on the Huskers, but that was a full eight minutes after the last field-goal make for the Buckeyes. Ohio State missed eight of their final nine shots to end the half, and shot 15 percent worse than the Huskers from the floor.
Liddell led Ohio State with 13 points in the opening half and Branham added 10 of his own, but the rest of the Buckeyes shot just 5-for-16 from the field.
Second Half
Ohio State opened the half with two free-throw makes by Liddell, but Nebraska fired back with a 6-0 run to take an eight-point lead and force an Ohio State timeout just 2:30 into the period.
McGowens, who scored 12 points in the first half, stayed hot in the second and gave Nebraska a 53-43 lead with a dunk at the 15:36 mark. McGowens scored 12 of the first 21 points of the half for Nebraska, and an and-one by the first-year wing kept the Huskers up nine points with 9:06 to go.
Three straight free throws from Liddell made it a six-point game with 7:15 to play, but Nebraska’s Alonzo Verge snuffed out that momentum with a stepback three on the very next sequence to put the Huskers back up nine. Liddell was whistled for a goaltend on a Verge layup with 4:09 to play, and the basket kept Nebraska up nine points.
Verge scored nine straight points for the Huskers during a crucial late stretch, and a pair of free throws at the 3:33 mark put Nebraska up 11 points on the Buckeyes.
Ohio State cut it to a four-point game with 55.9 seconds to play, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Husker lead. McGowens hit a pair of free throws with 36 seconds left to put Nebraska up seven, which all but iced the game in the end.
Verge finished with 13 points and 11 assists for the Huskers. who outscored Ohio State 30-24 in the paint.
What’s Next
Ohio State stays in Columbus to take on Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Game Notes
- Zed Key missed his first game of the season for Ohio State due to an ankle injury he suffered in the second half of Sunday’s loss to Maryland and wore a walking boot on the sideline.
- Meechie Johnson was medically cleared to play without a mask on for the first time since Jan. 9. Johnson missed three games in January due to a facial fracture and concussion that caused him to have to wear the mask.
- Kyle Young made just his second start of the season in place of Key at the center position for the Buckeyes. The start was the 67th of Young’s career.
- Nebraska pushed the Buckeyes to overtime in Lincoln in the Jan. 2 matchup between the two programs, but Ohio State escaped with an eight-point win in the extra period.
- Tuesday’s matchup was originally scheduled to take place on Jan. 22, but was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the Husker program.
