How Ohio State Basketball Crushed Maryland in Road Conference Affair

It was a Big Ten matchup as the Ohio State Buckeyes hit the road to take on the Maryland Terrapins. Coming off of a rough road loss at Wisconsin on Saturday, Ohio State was looking to respond and they did just that with a 82-62 win over Maryland on Thursday night.

"It's huge. You have to find a way to win on the road in this league, and I thought our guys did a great job," head coach Jake Diebler said on the win.

Christoph Tilly led the way with a bounce back performance, finishing with 19 points and three rebounds . Bruce Thornton followed up with 17 points, three rebounds, and three assists. While John Mobley finished with 15 points, four assists, and three rebounds.

You also can't forget about Taison Chatman contributing with 10 points and three assists, his third straight game with double digits off the bench.

How Ohio State beat Maryland

The Buckeyes came out of the gates strong with a 16-8 lead in the first eight minutes. Led by an early eight points from Tilly, they were able to open up a lead as big as 28-16 with 7:52 left in the half. The Terrapins would then respond with a 9-2 run cutting their deficit down to 30-25.

But Ohio State ended the first half on a positive note with a 12-5 run, taking a 42-30 lead at the half off of an offense carried by Thornoton, Mobley, and Tilly through the first twenty minutes. You could not have asked for a better start for the road team as they turned the ball over just three times so far (8).

Thornton would continue his thing with six straight points coming out of halftime. But it wouldn't be until a 13-4 run by the offense to give them their biggest lead of the ballgame at 68-46 with 8:54 left to play.

Things would not go down easy though for the Buckeyes as Maryland would once again find themselves down just 15 going on a 7-0 run. But it became a common theme tonight for the road team to respond right back to each run the Terrapins had.

Well they did just that walking away with a 82-62 victory improving to 4-3 on the road in conference play, and 15-7 overall. Led by the standout defense, they were able to force 16 turnovers while allowing the Terps to shoot just 47% on the night. In comparison, Ohio State shot 57% off the same amount of shot attempts.

It was also the first win at the Xfinity Center in five years for the Buckeyes as it has been a house of horror as of late. Just how hard is it to win on the road in the Big Ten? It was the first win in Maryland since fans were normally allowed pre-COVID.

Ohio State next has a huge home matchup against second-ranked Michigan on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.