Christoph Tilly scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half, including the winner with 13 seconds left. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Angie Greenwood)
Ohio State played from behind most of the afternoon, but Christoph Tilly’s late basket made the difference in a one-point victory, the kind the Buckeyes often lost a year ago.
Columbus, OH – Crucial moments and clutch shots rarely favored Ohio State’s basketball team a year ago in Jake Diebler’s first full season as head coach. Tough, one-possession losses mounted as the path to a hoped-for NCAA Tournament bid eventually slid off the bubble.
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Diebler responded by rebuilding his roster with players he expects to get his program back on the court in March. The tallest and most important acquisition is 7-footer Christoph Tilly. He’s a versatile scorer, improving defender and humble teammate.
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In the moments that mattered most Sunday afternoon, Tilly showed why Diebler welcomed him to transfer from Santa Clara for his senior season.
The highlight of the early season came when Tilly caught a pass from John Mobley Jr. at the foul line, took one dribble and scored off the glass with his left hand. Those two points near the basket, a place the Buckeyes rarely got to for most of the game, were the winning ones with 13 seconds left in the Buckeyes’ 64-63 victory over Notre Dame.
Tilly never sounds too impressed with himself. He shrugged his shoulders, cocked his head to the side and hunted for the right words when asked if he was surprised that he has been such an impactful player through the first four games.
“I don’t know … I guess,” Tilly said. “If I say no, it’s wrong. I work for this, so confident to say yes … it’s what I work for. I’m really happy that it’s coming true.”
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The play, which produced the Buckeyes’ first points in almost four minutes, was designed more for guards Mobley Jr. and Bruce Thornton. But as often happens, the plan went awry.
“Big-time players make big-time plays,” Thornton said. “The coaches can scheme something up, but us guys on the court got to make those things happen.”
John Mobley Jr. drives against Notre Dame’s Braeden Shrewsberry. Mobley Jr. made only two shots and scored nine points, but he assisted on Tilly’s winning basket.
Mobley Jr. drew a crowd, but he saw Tilly’s advantage, passed up a chance to score, and was happy to get the assist. And Tilly, like he had been doing in the second half to score and shoot free throws, attacked the basket.
“There’s a lot of angst and nerves and excitement to play a game like this, and he delivered,” Irish coach Micah Shrewsberry said of Tilly. “That’s why you go get a good player like him to deliver in moments like this.”
Notre Dame (3-1) had 13 seconds to win the game. Shrewsberry didn’t call timeout because he didn’t want Ohio State (4-0) to substitute to strengthen its defense or have a chance to set up.
The ball never left the hands of leading scorer Markus Burton, a 6-foot guard, who led the Irish with 14 points. Burton, being guarded by Thornton, dribbled to the left side to set up a screen. But Tilly switched onto Burton who had to shoot a 3-pointer over a man a foot taller. The shot bounced off the far side of the rim with half a second left.
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“We’re always second guessing what you want to do,” Shrewsberry said. “We got a couple of late game quick hitters that we go to, but then you run the risk of them getting in their lineup that they want. You’re probably going to get a better shot versus an unset defense.”
The irony was that the Buckeyes won with a shot near the rim and the Irish lost with a shot more than 22 feet from the rim. The Irish outscored the Buckeyes 38-18 in the paint. The Buckeyes made four more 3-pointers than the Irish.
Devin Royal was back in the lineup after missing the previous game with a hip injury. He played 32 minutes, scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds in a game the Buckeyes needed his physical presence on defense.
But all it took was Tilly’s strong finish at the basket to give this year’s team a boost of confidence that it can win close games. And a win that might mean something on their NCAA Tournament resume.
“I’m happy for the team, happy for the fans that came out, supported us the whole game,” Tilly said. “Then being able to finish a game like that, yeah, couldn’t be much better.”
To get to that moment, the Buckeyes had to overcome playing from behind for most of the game and a 34-31 halftime deficit.
Offensively, Tilly and Thronton led the second-half comeback by combining for 27 of the Buckeyes’ 33 points. Tilly scored 14 of his 18 points and made 8 of 11 free throws. Thornton scored 13 of his 24 points and made three of four 3-point shots. And they cut their turnovers from seven to three.
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Meanwhile, the Buckeyes adjusted their defense to diminish the Irish’s chances to score in the paint. The game plan was to limit a high-volume 3-point shooting team’s attempts. That worked, holding the Irish to 3 of 10 from long distance.
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But that led to allowing too much penetration. As the adjustment to defending the gaps got more and more fine-tuned in the second half, the Buckeyes rallied to a 59-53 lead. But with Tilly on the bench with four fouls, the Irish attacked the basket to forge a 59-59 tie with 4:18 left.
Tilly returned and made an impact with his length. After Thornton’s 3-pointer with 3:57 left made the score 62-59, Tilly blocked a shot with 3:11 left and altered a shot that guard Gabe Cupps blocked with 2:11 left.
However, the Irish got a second chance and converted to take a 63-62 lead with 2:08 left.
“I had to be careful,” Tilly said of playing with four fouls. “If I had to help somewhere, I would have went. If they would have called a foul, so be it, but I was just trying to be solid, maybe be everywhere a step earlier. I was just trying to do my job.”
Close games often come down to a thing or two a coach will point out on the stat sheet. This time the numbers were free throws, missed layups and turnovers.
Amare Bynum got Ohio State’s inside game going in the second half with a strong baseline move and this dunk.
The Buckeyes made 19 of 23 free throws. The Irish made 12 of 20. The Buckeyes committed 10 turnovers. The Irish committed 13. But several misses near the rim – 7 of 14 for the game – got most of the blame from Shrewsberry.
“That’s the game,” he said. “We missed layups. We got the ball to the rim and didn’t make it. They got the ball near the rim and we fouled them. So that’s the difference in the game.”
Another difference for the Buckeyes was the grit they must take into Big Ten play. The Irish wanted a physical game. No one on the court was more physical than 6-8, 250-pound Irish forward Carson Towt. He entered the game averaging 13.3 rebounds and got 12. Fortunately for Ohio State, Towt got only two on the offensive end. He scored eight points.
As the game wore on, the Buckeyes began to match Notre Dame’s physical style. They didn’t get the fast-paced style they crave, but they found a way to grind through adverse situations.
“This felt like a Big Ten game where both teams had size and physicality,” Diebler said. “This was great for us because both teams were playing that way. And we initiated a lot of that physicality, especially in the second half.”
Tilly led the way physically with how he attacked the basket. On his winning shot he was bumped but didn’t waver from his pursuit of the rim.
“I was telling myself to be physical, finish through contact, and then the fouls, they were just coming,” he said. “I was trying to be aggressive because I knew that if I do my thing, that something good was going to happen.”
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