Roddy Gayle led the Buckeyes with 14 points, and another Sunday win under interim coach Jake Diebler. (Press Pros File Photos)
Ohio State’s weekend magic continued with a dominant win at Rutgers, giving the Buckeyes the momentum of a four-game winning streak entering the Big Ten Tournament later this week.
Piscataway, NJ – It would be silly to expect Ohio State to win either four games in four days, or even three games in three days, to reach the Big Ten Tournament championship game on Sunday.
But if the Buckeyes do either, it might be even sillier to bet against them winning the whole thing given their success on Sundays since the firing of head coach Chris Holtmann.
Pounding Rutgers, 73-51, yesterday via a dominant second half, the Buckeyes will enter the Target Center in Minneapolis as the hottest team in the league thanks to 4-0 mark on Sundays since interim coach Jake Diebler took over.
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Purdue, Maryland, Michigan and Rutgers have lost to OSU on successive Sundays, with the Scarlet Knights retreating from a 30-28 struggle at the break amid a 16-3 Ohio State burst inside the 16-minute mark.
The victory lifts the Buckeyes to 19-11 overall via a fourth straight win and fifth in six games, including the program’s first consecutive wins in opposing Big Ten arenas since February of 2022.
OSU’s Big Ten Tournament seed will depend on the outcome of the final game of the league’s regular season between Penn State and Maryland, which was scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m.
The Buckeyes (19-12- 9-11) never trailed, but made it interesting with a final 5:19 of the first half in which they didn’t convert a single field goal, allowing a one-time 10-point lead to shrink to two.
“It was about cleaning up our turnovers,” Diebler said. “We had nine in the first half. Give our guys credit. They adjusted really well coming out of halftime. We talked about a couple of tweaks we wanted to make and they went out, adjusted, and we stayed aggressive.”
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Things remained tight until Cliff Omoruyi hit one of two free throws for Rutgers with 15:44 left, drawing his team within 36-33.
But over the next six minutes, the Scarlet Knights would miss five of six at the line, including the first of a one–and-one, to allow Ohio State’s getaway.
Jamison Battle’s three-pointer, an acrobatic shot from Roddy Gayle in traffic and a Gayle triple shot the lead to 44-33.
On the heels of that burst, Scotty Middleton stole a pass on top and drove to score, Bruce Thornton hit a right-wing triple, and Middleton drained a three from the top of the key.
Now in front 52-35, Ohio State had firm control and stayed out of any danger from there.
“I’m proud of the way we guarded,” said Diebler, whose team held Rutgers to 27% shooting while inflicting its fifth straight loss. “We were really connected on that side. Our communication was really good. Some of the only easy ones they got were off our turnovers.”
Gayle’s 14 points led four Buckeyes in double figures.
Thornton had 11 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals, with center Felix Okpara getting 10 points to go with eight rebounds and three blocks.
Jamison Battle also scored 10.
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