Ohio State’s Jamison Battle started fast Thursday against Nebraska and never stopped until he had a season-high 32 points in Ohio State’s latest win since the firing of head coach Chris Holtmann.
Is Jake Diebler showing off or is Ohio State on an inexplicable roll? Seems both are true, after the Buckeyes…who won without Jamison Battle on Sunday…took down Nebraska without Bruce Thornton.
Columbus, OH – Winning is most assuredly more fun than losing, so it’s silly to ask how much more fun Ohio State is having in the aftermath of head coach Chris Holtmann’s firing four games ago.
The Buckeyes are 3-1 under interim coach Jake Diebler, hence the predictable smiles and back-slaps after their 78-69 upset of Nebraska on Thursday at Value City Arena.
Jamison Battle’s season-high 32 points — coming off a Sunday game in which he did not play because of a sprained ankle — offset the loss of leading scorer Bruce Thornton, who sat out against the Cornhuskers with a migraine.
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There’s a punchline in there somewhere about this season of struggles, a debilitating headache and the improbability of OSU upsetting No. 2 Purdue three days after Holtmann’s firing, then ending a nine-game losing streak at Michigan State without Battle, then bouncing Nebraska without Thornton.
But pump the breaks hard if you think, at 17-12 overall and 7-11 in the Big Ten, OSU might now be an NCAA Tournament team.
It would have to win Sunday at home against Michigan, triumph next week in the regular-season finale at Rutgers and then likely need three wins at the Big Ten Tournament to even have a shot at being an NCAA Tournament team.
Ohio’s reigning Mr. Basketball, Devin Royal, is playing with much greater confidence and contributing significantly over his last four games.
You are, however safe in saying that Ohio State can beat an NCAA Tournament team, since Nebraska is the third such outfit OSU has taken down over the past two weeks.
Only a loss at Minnesota, also a likely NCAA selection, has spoiled Diebler’s stand-in performance in Holtmann’s absence.
The 20-9 Cornhuskers, who frolicked to victory by 14 points in the teams’ first meeting and who entered having won four in a row to reach 10-8 in the Big Ten, join Michigan State and Purdue in losing to the rejuvenated Buckeyes.
Battle scored OSU’s first 11 points, but Nebraska led throughout the first half until a 9-0 burst before the break put Ohio State in front, 39-37.
Roddy Gayle scored inside and freshman Devin Royal, one of several Buckeyes seemingly reborn under Diebler, added a three-point play and another power conversion in close to establish a 46-37 margin before the Cornhuskers could answer.
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Royal finished with his second straight game in double figures, getting 13 points and five rebounds on the heels of a season-high 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting at MSU. A 61% free throw shooter, Royal went 5-for-5 from the line against Nebraska, all of them coming at crucial times to keep the Buckeyes in front.
“The free throws he made were so critical,” Diebler said of Royal. “He rebounded really well tonight. I was so impressed with him. He’s really important to this team.”
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Royal was largely an afterthought under Holtmann, as was fellow freshman Scotty Middleton, who contributed nine points via three triples against Nebraska.
Dale Bonner, who hit the game–winning three-pointer at East Lansing on Sunday, had clearly fallen out of favor and watched his minutes dwindle under Holtmann. He started for Thornton last night and had three assists and two turnovers
Freshman guard Taison Chatman, all but in the witness protection program before, now gets first-half minutes routinely and hit his first three-pointer of the season. His contribution wasn’t heavily consequential, but on a night without Thornton, every backcourt contribution mattered.
That’s the distinction with Diebler, who likely knows he has no realistic chance at succeeding Holtmann, and therefore isn’t grinding his players into dust trying to extricate a job-saving win every night.
Battle clearly hasn’t given up on his dream of reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time, but it’s evident in how he’s played against Purdue and Nebraska that he’s breathing more easily, too.
“March is near,” he said. “That’s the thing for us. We know March is near, We know what’s at stake for us and we know what we have to do to keep playing. That’s the mentality that we have. That’s the mantra we’re going with.
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“Obviously, without our leader Bruce, we had to pick it up. I felt like those guys picked it up for me back at Michigan State, so I had to return the favor.”
Battle went 10-for-10 at the line and Gayle scored half his 16 points there, to go with 10 rebounds.
Their contributions and OSU holding Nebraska to 10-of-33 from beyond the arc more than offset the absence of Thornton.
“If I ever have a choice, I want Bruce Thornton on the floor every single time,”Diebler said. “We talked about it at Michigan State when Jamison was out. The message was the same. We just need to find a way to be a be a little bit tougher and a little more together when we are a man down.”
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