Key Takeaways from Ohio State's Win Over Michigan State
The Ohio State Buckeyes are on a roll.
After losing the opening game in January, Ohio State ripped off six wins over its last seven contests, losing only on a last-second 3-pointer to Purdue a couple weeks ago.
Here are a few of my biggest takeaways from this afternoon's win:
Duane Washington is officially in a slump right now - I think that's fair to say after three straight sub-par offensive games. While he certainly carried the Buckeyes through a 6-game stretch when they desperately needed his offense (more than 17 points per game in that stretch), he's connected on just 5-of-30 shots in his last three games. He's shown he's capable of having a big impact in the scoring column, but he has to find a way to snap out of this funk soon.
There were a couple of other statistical anomalies from the game that stood out. After turning it over just once in the first half, OSU gave it away eight more times in the second half - but Michigan State rarely capitalized on those mistakes. The Buckeyes also committed 15 fouls in the second half when the game was clearly called much tighter than Chris Holtmann would've preferred.
Michigan State ended up shooting 31 free throws (two more than Ohio State shot) in a game that it lost by 17 points.
WATCH: Chris Holtmann Reacts to Beating Michigan State
Speaking of fouls, Kyle Young got in foul trouble for the second game in a row. After fouling out for the first time in his career against Penn State earlier this week, Young picked up two in the first half on Sunday and nearly fouled out again. He was limited to just 18 minutes against MSU, which gave great minutes to freshman forward Zed Key. Key continues to get more and more comfortable with the physicality of Big Ten basketball. I have a feeling he's going to make a big play for Ohio State in a tournament game somewhere along the way.
The Buckeyes snapped a 4-game losing streak overall against Michigan State in a game that was never really in jeopardy. This game was one of the best defensive efficiency performances of the season for the Buckeyes, ranking behind only their wins against Morehead State and Nebraska.
Thursday's game at Iowa is looming on the schedule and will be Ohio State's biggest test of the season to date. The Hawkeyes have dropped two straight games to Indiana and Illinois, but they're a legit Final Four-caliber team and they've got arguably the best player in the country in Luka Garza leading the way. Iowa plays Tuesday against Michigan State before hosting the Buckeyes two days later.
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