Four things we need to see from Ohio State against Youngstown State

The Ohio State men’s basketball team (0-1) opened the season Monday night, losing to No, 25 BYU 94-83. It was a “neutral site” game for both teams, although Provo is only about a 40 minute drive from Salt Lake City, while Columbus is a bit further — about 25 hours.

It wasn’t all bad. Ohio State was doing a lot of things right in the first half – they were staying in front of their man on defense, being assertive on the glass, and were getting contributions from more than a few new faces. Playing in his first game for the Buckeyes, Justin Pippen knocked down a three-pointer with 14 seconds remaining in the half to give Ohio State a 37-31 lead that should’ve stood up as the final basket of the half. Instead, Amare Bynum over-helped on BYU’s final offensive possession, leaving Nate Pickens wide open in the corner for a three of his own to cut the lead back to 37-34.

That final possession of the first half felt like a turning point at the time, and it was. BYU opened the second half on an 8-0 run, which really was an 11-0 run if you count that basket before halftime. The Cougars took the lead, and although Ohio State did tie game four different times during the second half, the Buckeyes were chasing the 25th-ranked Cougars pretty much the entire second half.

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BYU became the first team in 28 years to score 60 points against Ohio State in one half of basketball, doing so in the second half on Monday night after scoring just 34 in the first half. They shot 69% in the second half, hit seven of their 10 three-point tries, and grabbed four offensive rebounds. BYU either scored or grabbed their own miss on 24 of their 29 shots in the second half – 82.7%. That means Ohio State made BYU go “one and done” less than 20% of the time in the second half.

Fortunately, Ohio State has an opportunity to get off the mat tomorrow against Youngstown State. The Penguins, unlike Ohio State, are undefeated at 1-0. They beat St. Bonaventure as 10.5-point underdogs on Monday night,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/four-things-see-ohio-state-150100585.html

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Publish date : 2026-11-05 15:01:00

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