Ohio State Dominates Michigan on Senior Day
Ohio State has won four of its last five.
In what was one of the best environments in recent memory at Value City Arena, Ohio State came out on top in their final home game of the season against rival Michigan 84-61 behind great help defense from the Buckeyes.
This was the team’s largest margin of victory in a conference game all season.
Ohio State celebrated Senior Day Sunday, honoring guard Dale Bonner and forwards Zed Key, Jamison Battle and Owen Spencer.
The Buckeyes started hot off the bat. Key led the way with a big poster dunk over Wolverine sophomore forward Will Tschetter for the second bucket of the game.
But Ohio State wasn’t done with their rim-rocking slams just yet. Sophomore guard Bruce Thornton went up for a big slam early on as well, followed by a big lob from Battle to sophomore forward Felix Okpara that shook the backboard.
After Ohio State started out 10-2, Michigan followed with a 7-0 run, followed by another 8-0 run for the Buckeyes.
Interim head coach Jake Diebler’s squad did a great job of attacking in transition and finding a wide-open paint. Against Michigan’s matchup zone, Ohio State was able to get the ball to the middle, finishing the first with 20 points in the paint.
Despite all this plus six Buckeye steals and nine Wolverine turnovers, Michigan only trailed five at the half, thanks to a late burst from sophomore guard Dug McDaniel.
Similar to the first, Ohio State came out in the second on fire. They went up 13 in just three minutes in the second before head coach Juwan Howard took a timeout after back-to-back transition buckets for the Buckeyes.
Although the conference’s bottom-seeded Wolverines used a lot of off-ball screens, it was rare they would set on-ball screens for McDaniel, who essentially put Michigan on his back in the second half. With graduate guard Nimari Burnett picking up four fouls halfway through the second and graduate forward Olivier Nkamhoua out for the season, there wasn’t a lot of scoring outside of the Washington, DC, native.
In turn, the Buckeyes pulled away late behind great ball movement and attacking all around. Led by sophomore guard Roddy Gayle Jr., who had 15 points with under nine minutes remaining, Ohio State was able to take fewer 3-pointers and penetrate the Michigan defense more.
With just over five minutes remaining, Ohio State led by 19 and the game was all but over.
In a game of big dunks for the Buckeyes, Thornton led the way with 17 to go along with Gayle’s 15. In addition, the team finished with a season-high 14 steals contributing to their 22 points in transition.
McDaniel’s 19 simply were not enough, even with a complementary 13 from senior forward Terrance Williams II.
The crowd got up on its feet for the closing lineup of the game, which included sophomore guards Colby Baumann and Bowen Hardman, sophomore forward Kalen Etzler, freshman center Austin Parks and Spencer.
Diebler and the Buckeyes play their final game of the season at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, New Jersey, as they take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on March 10 at 2 p.m., streaming on Big Ten Network.
