COLUMBUS, Ohio – Gophers senior Payton Willis had Ohio State's Kyle Young right where he wanted him – backpedaling on a drive and spin move that resulted in a wide open point blank shot Tuesday night in the first half.
Willis doesn't miss much from that close range, but he came up just short. It was part of a rough shooting night for one of the top guards in the Big Ten with just five points.
That typically meant Ben Johnson's Gophers had no chance from the start to stick with a top-tier Big Ten opponent, but they still led by two points against the No. 18 Buckeyes at halftime.
For the second straight game, the Gophers relied on other offensive options when one of their leading scorers struggled, but it was far from enough in a 70-45 loss Tuesday at Ohio State.
The Gophers (12-11, 3-11 in the Big Ten) gave up just 23 points in the first half, but were outscored 47-20 in the second half to drop the first of a two-game road stretch.
On Saturday, Minnesota snapped a five-game losing streak with a 76-70 win when four starters reached double figures, surprisingly not including the Big Ten's sixth-leading scorer Jamison Battle.
Three days later, Willis had just two points on 1-for-6 shooting from the field and four turnovers in the first half against Ohio State, but Battle, Luke Loewe, and Treyton Thompson combined for 22 of the team's 25 points.
Battle's jumper with just under three minutes left capped a 10-0 run and gave the Gophers a 23-17 lead in the first half.
The Buckeyes (16-6, 9-4) could hear frustration settling in with their home crowd before Malaki Branham's jumper broke a 6-1/2 minute scoring drought.
After dominating with a 23-point, 15-rebound effort in a 75-64 win Jan. 27 against the Gophers in Minneapolis, E.J. Liddell was quiet with just four points in the first half Tuesday, but his touches inside were limited.
Liddell and Willis were playing their best basketball entering Tuesday's matchup. Willis was averaging 18.9 points and 6.3 assists on 51% shooting from three-point range in his previous seven games. And Liddell had at least 20 points in four of his last five games, including 28 points in Saturday's win at Michigan.
But the Gophers and Buckeyes had to look elsewhere in this matchup without a big night from either Big Ten standout.
For Ohio State Chris Holtmann that meant freshman Malaki Branham's back-to-back three-pointers igniting a 13-2 run in the second half. The Buckeyes led 40-29 on their third straight three this time from Jamari Wheeler after a late close out defensively.
Wheeler was out with a foot injury in the last meeting, but he was just fine Tuesday with his 13th point on a wide open shot from long distance to extend it to a 13-point Ohio State advantage with 11 minutes to play.
The Gophers were healthier in the frontcourt with senior big man Eric Curry back after missing the last Ohio State game. Curry, who had a career-high 22 points Saturday vs. Penn State, is fully recovered from an ankle injury, but his impact was limited in Columbus.
Ohio State's crushed the Gophers on the glass last month with 27 second-chance points on 20 offensive rebounds. The battle on the boards wasn't the difference in Tuesday night's game.
Offensive woes carried over to defensive breakdowns in the second half, which was a trend in nine losses in 10 games before Saturday's win against the Nittany Lions.
Loewe and Battle led the Gophers with 12 and 11 points, respectively, but they shot just 27% in the second half as a team.
In the middle of three games in five days, the Gophers will try to bounce back again by beating Penn State in a rescheduled game in State College on Thursday.
