Big Ten defense…Rutgers did all they could do to get a body (or two) on Bruce Thornton, but the Buckeyes’ point guard never faltered, and finished with 24 points. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
They proved Wednesday that it’s both how you start, and how you finish…the Buckeyes use miraculous three-point shooting early and stingy defense late to beat Rutgers.
Columbus, OH – You’re aware of the adage…it’s not how you start, but how you finish?
Well, it’s a fact that if the Ohio State Buckeyes had not started like they did Wednesday they would not have won, 76-72, over Rutgers; but the way they finished did have a lot to do with it.
And a year ago it might well have been a different outcome, and as Chris Holtmann would later allude to…chalk one up to a year’s growth and experience.
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The Buckeyes shot a sizzling 53% in the first half Wednesday, and a red-hot 60% from three point range in the first half to burst out to a 17-point lead at one point…and a 45-32 halftime lead.
At one point they were 9 of 11 from behind the arc, led by the unconscious effort of Jamison Battle who racked up 17 points for the half, hitting 5 of 7 three-point attempts.
He had help.
While Rutgers sent the house trying to stop Battle, sophomore point guard Bruce Thornton was quietly torching the Scarlet Knights in the backyard, hitting 6 of 7 from the field and 2 of 3 from behind the arc, accounting for 15 first half points.
Difference makers…OSU’s Bruce Thornton (24 pts) hustles after Rutgers’ Derek Simpson for a loose ball in Wednesday’s 76-72 Buckeye win. Simpson would lead the Scarlet Knights with 23 points.
And yeah, five other Buckeyes cracked the scorebook, as well, but it was Battle and Thornton’s show, a veritable duet act, while the other five just played harmony and kept rhythm. And with shooting like that, how can you lose, right?
Well, halftime happens for a reason…to break that rhythm, for one, and for opposing coaches to make corrections and adjustments.
And the adjustment that Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell chose was to get physical – far more physical – on defense and make the other five Buckeyes, the guys in the band, beat them in the second half…if they could beat them, at all.
It worked.
Rutgers would cut into the Buckeyes’ 13 point lead with a 10-6 run to open the half, and had a defender of equal size stick to Jamison Battle like white on rice. Battle would only attempt two three-pointers in the second half, and hit one.
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They put a body, best as they could, on Bruce Thornton, and attempted to disrupt him in any way possible – handling the ball, shooting, and his ability to find open teammates.
The Scarlet Knights would slowly cut the lead to 63-57, largely on the strength of their own point guard, sophomore Derek Simpson, who ignited in the second half to score 12 points and finish with 23 for the game…while perhaps losing sight of another sophomore, Ohio State’s Roddy Gayle, Jr. who had scored 30 points just five days earlier in the Saturday win over West Virginia. Gayle was held scoreless Wednesday in the first half.
Roddy Gayle was scoreless in the first half…a difference maker in the second, scoring 11 points down the stretch.
But at the quarter point of the second half Gayle finally got on the board with a baseline dunk off a pass from Thornton. It seemed to give him the start he needed, and while Rutgers kept their focus on Thornton and Battle, Gayle began to go to work.
Over the final 12 minutes of the game he would come alive to score 11 points, and as it turned out…the difference in the game. A strong finish, if you will, from an entirely different source.
Rutgers would eventually cut the lead to a single point in the game’s final three minutes, testimony to the job they did on Battle and Thornton, defensively.
But Thornton would rise to make a couple of critical shots to push the lead back to three, and five points. He would finish with a game-high 24 points, while Battle finished with 22.
Gayle would hit an even more critical three-pointer in the final two minutes to make it a two-possession game.
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And both Thornton and Gayle would finish strongly at the foul line in the final minute, assuring that Rutgers had too few points, and too little time at the end…and a 76-72 Buckeyes win.
“Our guys showed great poise again at the end,” Chris Holtmann said, afterwards. “They’re a great team, we knew it was going to be a dog fight. It was a game of two halves, for sure.
Face guarding by Rutgers’ Noah Fernandes on OSU’s Evan Mahaffey…Buckeye coach Chris Holtmann calls it “Big Ten play”.
“But it’s Big Ten play, and you have to stay aggressive. You’re not going to run away from teams very often in this league. So you have to stay aggressive, make the next right play, and focus on the fact that teams fight back all the time now in college basketball. A twelve point lead is nothing, there’s going to be ebbs and flows, and you hope you play with poise at the end. And our guys did that tonight.”
The balance of this team continues to emerge. Battle and Thornton carried them in the first half, while Gayle would come on in the second half to be a difference-maker at the end.
“Battle was unbelievable in the first half,” added Holtmann. “We missed some open [threes] in the second half, but that’s a part of the game. But to see Roddy knock down some shots, and those free throws like he did at the end, that was a game-changer. And the separator is the ability to hustle, get the loose balls, and make the effort plays. I thought we did that for the most part tonight.”
Another fact: Ohio State’s assist to turnover rate was positive. The Buckeyes had 17 assists and 13 turnovers, while Rutgers had just 7 assists and 11 turnovers, another difference in the game.
Jamison Battle hit 5 of 7 three-point shots in the first half to score 17 points…had to battle (above) to finish with 22.
Ohio State (12-2, 2-1 in Big Ten) finished shooting 46.7% from the floor in front of 10,614, hitting 11 of 24 from three-point range (45.8%), and shot 9 of 12 from the foul line (75%).
Rutgers (8-5, 0-2 in Big Ten) finished with shooting 40.3% from the floor, hitting just 6 of 24 from three-point range (25%), and hit 12 of 14 from the foul line (85.7%).
And while you can make the point that they scored 14 points less in the second half than the first, you cannot ignore that the Buckeyes’ defense made big plays when they were needed, particularly at the end, denying Rutgers three-point opportunities when they were desperately needed.
And, at some point soon you might appreciate a year’s experience in how to win close games, instead of seeing them fritter away.
They took care of the ball, made 7 of 8 free throw attempts in the second half, and reinforced the variation on that familiar theme.
It is how you start…and it is how you finish!
Faces in the crowd…watch tensely as the Buckeyes’ 13-point halftime lead turned into a 4-point win Wednesday over Rutgers.
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