Ohio State men’s basketball outlasts Nebraska in must-win game that did not happen quickly

[ad_1]

As someone too often in a constant rush to get from here to there, I appreciate John Wooden’s wise words to his UCLA teams: “Be quick but don’t hurry.”

The legendary coach wanted his players to get from point A to B with a sense of urgency, but not desperation; to move swiftly while still under control. That could happen only by knowing your assignment so well you went about your business instinctively, without the kind of overthinking that creates tension and leads to panic ending in pitted performance.

As applied to Ohio State men’s basketball, Wooden’s words signal a warning, but also a promise. If heeded, good things will happen.

Late Tuesday in Value City Arena, only nine minutes short of extending into Wednesday – a 9 p.m. start and two overtimes will do that –  a really good thing happened to the Buckeyes. They did not rush. They did not hurry. Instead, they showed poise under pressure, and in doing so survived a 116-114 double-overtime thriller against Nebraska in a game they desperately needed to win.

Ohio State (17-13 overall, 9-10 in the Big Ten) had to defeat the Cornhuskers (17-13, 7-12) to buoy its NCAA Tournament hopes, which sit squarely on the bracket bubble. The challenge going in was to play with the kind of controlled abandonment Wooden loved to reference.

“I think you can be intense and loose at the same time,” Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said. “We talk about staying in the moment. Live in the moment.”

But don’t melt in the moment. Wooden’s wisdom manifested with 43 seconds left in the second overtime when OSU fifth-year senior Micah Parrish took his sweet time sizing up a 3-point shot. There was no hurry in him as he carefully sized up the situation before burying the bucket for a 110-106 lead that became 112-106 on free throws by Evan Mahaffey with 18 seconds left. From there, John Mobley Jr. iced the win with four free throws in the final eight seconds. Nebraska guard Brice Williams capped his 43-point night – a…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/ohio-state-mens-basketball-outlasts-115742172.html

Author : The Columbus Dispatch

Publish date : 2025-03-05 11:57:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.