Point guard Bruce Thornton led the Buckeyes with 20 points in Friday’s loss to Oregon. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Ohio State loses its second straight Big Ten game at home. That’s a trend the Buckeyes need to reverse to make NCAA Tournament hopes a reality.
Losses like Ohio State suffered Thursday will be held against it by the NCAA Tournament selection committee. That is if the Buckeyes are even a bubble team.
There’s a lot of basketball to play and games to win before the Buckeyes are a bracketology topic or not.
The Precision Strip Company, of Minster, supports area sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.
To be one of those talked-about teams, they must win games like the one they lost 73-71 to No. 15 Oregon at Value City Arena. With each loss – especially at home – the March Madness window closes a little more.
“I explained to the guys after the game we don’t have time on our side to grow,” Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said in a postgame radio interview. “We have to do it now because every single game in this league is hard.”
The Buckeyes (10-6, 2-3) led most of the game and were up 67-62 with 2:37 left on a jumper by Sean Stewart. Then the Ducks (14-2, 3-2) snatched control and a three-point lead with an 8-0 run. They did it on open 3-pointers by Keeshawn Barthelemy and Jackson Shelstad and a basket by TJ Bamba with 40 seconds left.
“Disappointed in the way we executed defensively down the stretch,” Diebler said. “They got too easy of looks.”
The Buckeyes weren’t finished. After the 8-0 run, Evan Mahaffey followed in a missed shot to cut Oregon’s lead to 70-69. Then with 12 seconds left John Mobley Jr. made two free throws for a 71-70 lead.
Jackson drove toward the basket on the left side and was fouled by Ques Glover with seven seconds left. Jackson made both free throws for a 72-71 lead.
The Buckeyes advanced the ball quickly and Diebler chose not to call a timeout. Bruce Thornton shot from 3-point range with three seconds left but missed the rim, hit the side of the backboard and Oregon 7-footer Nate Bittle got the rebound with less then a second left, was fouled and made a free throw to finish the scoring.
“Don’t like the shot we got,” Diebler said. “We were running a play we’ve had in since August where we could go quickly and set up a right-hand drive. We didn’t want them to have a chance to set up their defense and press us, so that’s why we went.”
Ohio State was led offensively by its backcourt. Thornton scored 20, Mobley Jr. 16 and Micah Parrish 11. Forward Sean Stewart scored 12 of his 14 in the first half to help stake the Buckeyes to a 32-27 lead.
“Sean did really well offensively, and he’s had consistent effort,” Diebler said. “We’ve got to keep shoring up some things for him defensively, but the one thing he does is play hard.”
Oregon rode Shelstad’s 24 points and Bittle’s 21. Both made four 3-pointers.
The Buckeyes next play at Wisconsin on Tuesday before returning home Friday to play Indiana. The Buckeyes have lost two straight league games at home.
“We want to build this place to be somewhere that’s really, really tough to play,” Diebler said. “And that there’s a physicality and toughness to us, which I think we’ve done a good job with. It’s the execution. We’ve got to grow in that area fast.”
The Dave Arbogast family of dealerships is the official transportation source for Press Pros Magazine.com.