Ohio State Overcomes Slow Offensive Start, Poor 3-Point Shooting to Defeat UCLA, 67-60

That was indicative of a defensive nip-and-tuck game that saw nine ties and 18 lead changes before its conclusion.

Ohio State (9-2) managed to find more offense down the stretch, however, grabbing the game's first lead of more than four points with 2:47 to play and hanging on for a 67-60 victory over UCLA (5-4).

Roddy Gayle Jr. led the way with 19 points for Ohio State. Bruce Thornton collected 13 points despite a 4-of-15 day from the field to go with a team-high four assists. Jamison Battle and Felix Okpara also hit double figures with 14 and 10, respectively. Okpara added two blocked shots.

Three players scored double figures for UCLA in a losing effort, those being guard Sebastian Mack with 14 points, guard Dylan Andrews with 13 and forward Adem Bona with 12.

Despite the rough shooting effort from outside, the Buckeyes did manage to shoot 56% from the field in the second half against the nation's No. 5 defense in opposing field goal percentage – the Bruins allowed their opponents to make only 36.5% of their shots entering Saturday.

First half

Saturday's game was nip-and-tuck from the jump.

Through the first 12 minutes, both sides combined for 22 points. UCLA opened 4-of-18 from the field and Ohio State turned the ball over 10 times in the first half.

The Buckeyes shot 0-for-10 from three-point land in the opening 20 minutes. They entered the game leading the Big Ten in three-point shooting at over 40% on the year.

Gayle shouldered the offensive load for the Buckeyes early. He drew first blood in the contest with a strong floater in the lane, then cashed in a layup that made it 6-2 Ohio State less than two minutes into the contest.

Over the next eight minutes, the Buckeyes scored just two points. It wasn't all bad, though, as the Bruins also managed a meager six during the same stretch to result in an 8-8 ballgame almost 10 minutes into the action.

Gayle broke out of that cold streak with a mid-range jumper and a drive and finish thanks to a couple of nice screens to free him up. UCLA knotted things at 12 two minutes later, then Battle got on the board with a turnaround fadeaway jumper.

Then UCLA nudged in front. Brandon Williams knocked down two layups, then after Okpara stuck back a miss, Bruins guard Lazar Stefanovic hit a jumper and forward Adem Bona made a free throw to create the closest thing the first half had to a run, a 7-2 stint for UCLA that put it ahead 19-16.

Thornton shot 0-for-9 in the first half but finally broke through for points when he was fouled on a three-point shot and made two of three at the line before UCLA guard Will McClendon knocked down a pull-up mid-range jumper to give the Bruins a 23-22 lead at halftime.

Neither side led by more than four points in the first half.

Second half

At least relative to the first half, the second half saw things open up a bit offensively.

Thornton broke through for his first field goal of the game, UCLA guard Sebastian Mack converted a couple of baskets and Battle finished an and-one opportunity to make it a 29-29 ballgame.

A seesaw battle started to engage. Gayle scored the next six points for Ohio State but UCLA countered with a McClendon triple – the first made three of the game – and a dunk from center Aday Mara. OSU guard Dale Bonner got involved with a short jumper, but an old-fashioned three-point play from guard Dylan Andrews gave the Bruins their first two-score lead at 41-37 with 10:40 to play.

Then Thornton started to heat up from mid-range.

He elevated for an and-one layup that set the stage for Bonner to knock down an open baseline jumper and give the Buckeyes a 42-41 advantage.

Bona scored six points in a row for UCLA sandwiched around made jumpers from Battle and Bonner, but Thornton hit mid-range shots over defenders on back-to-back possessions, then made a pair of free throws to cap six straight points for him for Ohio State and the Buckeyes led by two possessions at 52-48 with 6:01 to play.

With the lead now at 55-51, Thornton lobbed a perfect pass from the top of the key over two defenders into the waiting arms of Okpara for a massive alley-oop slam and the first advantage of more than four points for either side.

Then Okpara, completing a clutch performance before fouling out with 1:54 to play, stuck back a missed shot through a foul to maintain the lead at 59-53 with 2:08 left.

UCLA cut its deficit back to 59-56 thanks in part to a baseline Mack jumper only for Battle, finally, to hit Ohio State's first three-pointer of the game and make it 62-56 with 46 seconds left. It took 15 tries for the Buckeyes to hit one, but the one they hit effectively sealed their key nonconference win.

Just to put a bow on things, as Ohio State led the contest 65-60 with 19 seconds left, Gayle got a steal, got fouled and hit two free throws to make it a three-score margin for the Buckeyes.

What's next

Ohio State returns to Value City Arena for its final mid-major opponent of the year in New Orleans on Thursday. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. on B1G+.

Game notes

• Each of Ohio State's final five points came off free throws from Gayle, who went 5-of-6 from the charity stripe in the last 30 seconds of the game.
• Ohio State shot 14-of-17 as a team at the free throw line in the second half, a mark of 82.4%.
• Defensive rebounding still persists as an issue for the Buckeyes as they allowed 12 offensive boards and 13 second-chance points against UCLA, though it should be noted the Bruins start two players 6-10 or taller.
• Chris Holtmann is now 3-0 at Ohio State against UCLA, with wins in 2018 and 2020 joining Saturday's.