Malaki Branham probed the lane, drew a triple-team and tossed the ball back to a wide-open shooter over his right shoulder.
Jamari Wheeler knocked down a three with 5:39 to play against No. 2 seed Villanova, cutting the Wildcat lead to just two points after the Buckeyes had trailed by 15 less than 11 minutes prior. Momentum swung palpably in Ohio State’s direction, and the scarlet and gray comeback appeared all too fitting in a tournament that’s never short on madness.
But after that Wheeler 3-pointer, Ohio State hit just one more shot from the floor, scored three points total and missed six of its final seven attempts from the field. The wheels fell off at exactly the wrong time, and even if Ohio State connected on a few haymakers down the stretch, it couldn’t land the knockout blow to punch a ticket past the second round of the Big Dance – for the third time in Chris Holtmann’s five years with the program.
“Obviously a painful loss. I hate it for our players, but let's give Villanova credit, particularly how they started both halves, I thought those were critical stretches for us,” Holtmann said after the 71-61 loss. “Give them credit. Congratulations to them for moving on. Obviously love this group and loved the fight they showed here in this game and obviously in the last week.”
Ohio State looked out of its depths early on. The Buckeyes trailed by 11 points at halftime following a period in which it hit just two of its first 10 shots and finished with a 38.5 percent clip from the floor. Besides E.J. Liddell and Malaki Branham, the Buckeyes scored just eight points on 3-for-12 shooting, and Ohio State lost both the rebounding battle and points in the paint differential by significant margins.
The Buckeyes needed to resemble a different team entirely in the second half, and for a while, they did.
Ohio State opened the final frame hitting seven of its first 11 shots, but even that couldn’t get them closer than a 12-point deficit with less than 12 minutes to play. But while Villanova struggled for the next seven minutes, hitting just two of its 12 shot attempts during that stretch, Ohio State came on strong.
The Buckeyes knocked down five of their seven field goals from 9:40 to 5:39, and Branham nailed four of them, including two 3-pointers. The freshman guard scored 15 points in the second half alone during a 23-point day to lead Ohio State, and his scoring spark allowed the Buckeyes to outscore Villanova 15-5 as they made it a one-possession game on the aforementioned Wheeler shot.
But just as they have at multiple other points in the season, with many resulting in disappointing losses, a cold spell befell a Buckeye offense that made too many mistakes to pull out an upset win. Ohio State had three turnovers in the last 3:08, with two from Liddell alone, and the Buckeyes also missed two free throws in the final 4:08 of game time.
“I thought we had – we needed to be better in that stretch,” Holtmann said. “That stretch was critical.”
On the other end, the Wildcats outscored Ohio State 11-3 over the final 4:36, shooting 3-for-6 from the floor during that stretch and knocking down four of their five free-throw attempts to close out the contest.
“Credit to Villanova, they're a really good team. They've got a lot of older guys and they were composed,” Liddell said. “Gotta take care of the ball a lot more and credit to them. They played hard. I thought we went out there and played hard but we've got to take care of the ball a little bit more.”
Liddell, who picked up his third foul before four minutes had elapsed in the second half, shouldered some responsibility for the loss in what is likely to be his final game in a Buckeye uniform. Liddell finished with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting and pulled down six boards, but scored just five points in the second half while Branham did most of the heavy lifting on offense.
“My teammates were picking me up, they needed me, I started out the second half and felt like I let them down on the defensive side of the ball but over there reflecting on the bench I felt like I came back in and did better than what I did,” Liddell said. “I was trying to do my best to help this guy (Branham) out right here. He was having a really good game and some shots weren't falling for me tonight.”
Branham agreed with the assessments of both Liddell and Holtmann, and said the beginnings of each half – in which Villanova was able to build a double digit lead – got the Buckeyes off track.
“(We needed to) take care of the ball a little bit more and we should have came out with a little more bite as Coach (Holtmann) said,” Branham said. “First and second half we gotta come out more aggressive than they did.”
Aside from the tandem of Branham and Liddell, who combined to score 40 points for the Buckeyes, no other player had more than six points. All Buckeyes not named Liddell or Branham shot just 8-for-25 for Ohio State.
“We have been searching for that third and fourth guy, it's been Kyle (Young) a lot, other guys at times but it's been Kyle when we have been at full strength, sometimes Zed (Key),” Holtmann said. “I thought he gave us a good lift on the glass, he missed a couple of baskets but I thought he gave us great lift on the glass. We have been kinda searching for that and we have missed that third, fourth and sometimes fifth option.”
Ive loved every minute I got to play in a Buckeye uniform and I am so grateful I had the opportunity to compete for this university. Im going to miss this with all of my heart but want to say thank you for all the love and support over the years https://t.co/Uo7oZbthAC
— Kyle Young (@kyle_young25) March 20, 2022
The Buckeyes will be searching for more than that in the offseason to come, as Ohio State figures to lose at least one of its two top stars and a large swath of the nine seniors that populated its roster in 2021-22.
But if Ohio State expects to get past the second round of the NCAA Tournament – the barrier it just can’t seem to break under Holtmann – it will have to find answers, and just coming close won’t be enough.
