It has been a much different Ohio State basketball team than what we saw under former head coach Chris Holtmann. Since interim head coach Jake Diebler took over, the Buckeyes are 5-1 after yet another win on Sunday, this time on the road against a Rutgers team that is awfully hard to take down at home. The final score wasn’t even close; OSU won 73-51.
For those efforts, Ohio State has improved from 13th to no worse than 10th in the league standings. The placement isn’t anything to write home about, but it does get OSU closer to being a bubble team, which would have been unthinkable just three weeks ago.
The Buckeyes raced to a 10-1 lead, but Rutgers clawed its way back thanks to some stiff defense. It closed the gap to two, and OSU headed to the locker room up 30-28.
The second half was a different story, however. Defensively, OSU’s looked like the better team, which led to some runouts and good possessions on the offensive end. The lead gradually grew and made the outcome no longer in doubt.
Dev with the flush 😤
OSU: 58
RUT: 40
2H 7:00#Team125 | #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/TH6ESNuruA— Ohio State Hoops 🌰 (@OhioStateHoops) March 10, 2024
Roddy Gayle Jr. led Ohio State with 14 points, but three others also finished in double figures: Thornton (11), Jamison Battle (10) and Felix Okpara (10).
The win improves Ohio State’s overall record to 19-12 and its Big Ten mark to 9-11. Next up is the Big Ten Tournament, and with a little bit of a run there, who knows …
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