Ohio State Historically Bad on Offense vs. Michigan State as Losing Streak Continues
The lone bright spot for the Ohio State Buckeyes has been their offensive efficiency, ranking 17th in the country according to KenPom.com.
But Sunday's meeting with the Michigan State Spartans was one of Ohio State's worst offensive performances in awhile.
The Buckeyes' (11-14, 3-11 Big Ten) losing streak is now at six games, scoring a season-low point total in the 62-41 loss to the Spartans at Value City Arena.
The Buckeyes needed just 4:30 to surpass their 3-point total against Northwestern Thursday, as forward Justice Sueing stepped into a rhythm shot from deep — Ohio State's second of the game.
It was downhill from deep for the Buckeyes from there, though. After starting 2 of 4, they hit just one more of their 13 first-half 3-point attempts, ending the first 20 minutes at a 3 of 15 clip from beyond the arc.
The final 3-pointer came from guard Roddy Gayle Jr. with five seconds remaining in the first half, snapping a 7:14 scoreless streak for the Buckeyes.
Michigan State (16-9, 8-6 Big Ten) got three 3-pointers from forward Joey Hauser in the first frame as he led all scorers with nine points. Hauser finished with a game-high 22 points on 8 of 13 from the field and 6 of 9 from downtown.
Despite shooting 40 percent from the field, the Spartans ended the half on a 13-3 run and carried a 27-14 lead into half. The 14 points were the lowest the Buckeyes had scored in the first half of a game since they posted just nine points against Michigan State on Feb. 7, 1996.
Guard Sean McNeil gave the Buckeyes a second-half scoring boost, nailing a pair of 3-pointers after starting 0 of 4 from deep. He finished with a team-high 10 points.
That contributed to a much-needed 7-0 run across a 1:43 span to cut the deficit to 38-33. Hauser killed the scoring run with his fourth 3-pointer of the game.
Guards Tyson Walker and Jaden Akins each made back-to-back layups as part of an 8-0 Spartans run to balloon the Spartans' lead to 14 with 6:54 to go — a deficit Ohio State couldn't overcome.
Ohio State finished the game shooting 28.3 percent — the first time it finished below 30 percent from the field since March 6, 2019.
The Buckeyes scored fewer than 50 points in a game for the first time since March 8, 2015 against the Wisconsin Badgers where they scored 48.
Ohio State is back on the road Thursday where it will take on the Iowa Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
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