No. 3 Ohio State Falls at Minnesota in 84-71 Upset
The inconsistencies Ohio State's young roster seemed immune to through a 9-0 start bared their fangs and ripped the Buckeyes apart Sunday night in an 84-71 loss to struggling Minnesota.
Coming off eight days inactivity since back-to-back 25-plus blowouts that moved it to No. 3 nationally, OSU lost touch midway through the first half and allowed Minnesota to expand a 38-29 halftime lead to 14 points in the first six minutes of the second half.
The Buckeyes had no answer for Minnesota guard Marcus Carr, who abused OSU's C.J. Jackson and every other defender coach Chris Holtmann tried on him with repeated drives to the basket.
Carr scored 28 of his career-high 35 points in the first 6 1/2 minutes of the second half to feed Minnesota's getaway, which grew off Kaleb Wesson's absence on the bench with foul trouble.
Carr shot 1-for-10 and scored two points in the Gophers' loss at Iowa the last time they played.
"We just couldn't handle Carr," Holtmann said. "We just had a heck of a time handling Carr. His frame bothered us, how big he is. They have some good shooting on the perimeter that spread us out a little bit, but....Carr was the key tonight."
Carr shot 12-of-17 to help the Gophers finish 54% from the field against an OSU defense that had allowed one opponent to shoot better than 40%.
"It was a battle of physicality in the paint and they did a better job with being physical," Holtmann said. "We had some good moments battling back, but we never had the game physically where we needed to."
Wesson gained his third and fourth personal fouls and went to the bench with 13:27 remaining, further damaging Ohio State's hopes that were already reeling from the absence of sophomore guard Duane Washington Jr.
Washington injured a rib in practice over the weekend and did not play.
The absence of his three-point shooting complicated OSU's ability to spread Minnesota defensively and allowed the Gophers to collapse on Wesson, who shot 4-of-13 and scored 12 points.
"I'm not sure even with Duane if we win this game tonight," Holtmann said. "I think they just, physically, they were physically tougher. We have to get better at that area. I have to coach that better."
D.J. Carton scored 19 points to lead Ohio State. E.J. Liddell added 14.
Carton led an OSU rally that closed the Gophers' advantage to 69-60 with 3:30 left.
Carr answered at the other end by driving past Andre Wesson for a layup, then cashed an accompanying free throw to put the game out of danger.
The home team has won all 13 Big Ten games played so far this season.
OSU plays Southeast Missouri State at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Value City Arena.
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