Can't say I ever really expected to be writing such a hoops-heavy Skull Session the week of the Big Ten Championship game, but I guess we're a basketball school now!
Ships in the night. pic.twitter.com/8cLJOH2qfE
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 1, 2021
Word of the Day: Stupefy.
DROPPING NO. 1s. Here's a stat some of you might have liked to know before 82 percent of you picked Duke to win and cover:
Ohio State has won 8 of its last 11 games against AP No. 1 teams, and improves to 2-0 against Duke as the AP No. 1 team (won in Dec. 1978). pic.twitter.com/bnmS31QnPI
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 1, 2021
For context, that win percentage (.727) is significantly higher than the team's overall win percentage (.614). So basically, Ohio State has a much better chance of winning a game against the No. 1 team in the country than it does just a normal game.
Wild!
And it doesn't seem to matter that the Buckeyes are particularly good, either.
Most wins vs. AP No. 1 as unranked team, all time:
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) December 1, 2021
8, Ohio State
7, Maryland
6, Florida State, Georgia Tech, UCLA & Vanderbilt pic.twitter.com/3dcE7cKDMY
Ohio State's got current No. 2 Purdue on the slate for Jan. 30. The Boilermakers might want to go ahead and lose a game or two between now and then if they want to have any shot against the Buckeyes!
BASICALLY DWAYNE WADE. If you're going to knock off the top team in the country, you're going to need your best player to play his best basketball. I think it's probably safe to say E.J. Liddell did just that.
E.J. Liddell tonight for @OhioStateHoops against No. 1 Duke:
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) December 1, 2021
14 points
14 rebounds
6 assists
3 blocks
He's the first player to have 10+ points, 10+ rebounds, 5+ assists and 3+ blocks against the AP No. 1 team since Marquette's Dwyane Wade in the 2003 NCAA Tournament against UK.
(... with the exception of the free-throw line, but we can forgive that, just this once)
At the half, Holtmann told Liddell "nobody out here is better than you," which is an amazing thing to be able to honestly tell your player facing a team of five-star prospects led by a five-star freshman who will likely be a top-five pick.
And the thing is, he wasn't wrong! Liddell was the best player on the court, and it showed.
GOOD OMENS? After Ohio State had officially vanquished Duke last night, Notorious SVP hit us with a pretty wild stat that gives some extremely good omens for the rest of the season.
The last time Ohio State lost to Michigan (2011 – you were literally 10 years younger), the Buckeyes also beat Duke in Columbus the following Tuesday. That 2011-12 team? It went on to go to the Final Four.
To be clear, no part of me would ever voluntarily trade a loss to Michigan for a Final Four appearance. But I'll tell you what, it would be a fine consolation prize.
FUNNY HOW THINGS GO. Y'all remember a few years ago when everyone was losing their minds that the Buckeyes had to settle for Chris Holtmann after missing out on Archie Miller?
Well, Holtmann just slapped the top-ranked team in the country out of Columbus. Meanwhile, Archie's interviewing Holtmann's top scorer on a podcast after the game.
Ohio State leading scorer tonight, Zed Key joins us right now from Columbus after the Buckeyes win over #1 Duke https://t.co/S87cf2xUmn
— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) December 1, 2021
Going from coaching against Zed to interviewing Zed in a few short months – absolute gold.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Heart of Glass" by Blondie.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. Psychedelic telemedicine has arrived... New York City allows the nation's first supervised consumption sites for illegal drugs... This house in San Francisco's Mission District has millions of tabs of LSD on the walls... A snowstorm trapped 50 people in a remote pub with an Oasis tribute band for three days... Kim Jong-un bans leather jackets in North Korea to keep his look safe from posers... Did my uncle drown, or was he murdered?...
