The Buckeyes {13-6, 3-5) have snapped their five-game losing streak, the longest since the 1997-98 season, with a 70-60 win at Nebraska (13-7, 3-6). Luther Muhammad led the Buckeyes with a career-high 24 points as the Buckeyes recaptured much of what made them successful to start the season during their 12-1 start to the year.
CJ Jackson and Andre Wesson each had 10 points while Keyshawn Woods had nine points in a winning effort.
"I thought we got a lot of contributions from a lot of guys and it was probably as complete of an effort as we have had," Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said after the game.
The Huskers were led by James Palmer’s 19 points while Glynn Watson had 18. Isaac Copeland had eight points in the first half and missed most of the second half with an injury that took him to the locker room for a stretch of the period, it was a big loss for Tim Miles’ team and the Buckeyes were able to benefit from his absence.
Ohio State, despite playing a small lineup for large stretches of the game, held a dominating 45-31 edge in rebounding including a 14-7 edge on the offensive glass. Kaleb Wesson was limited to just seven points from the floor but had 11 big rebounds to spark the Buckeyes.
Muhammad did not play like a freshman on Saturday as he had clutch shot after clutch shot including a pair of three-pointers as the shot clock wound down. The second three-pointer pushed the Buckeyes up to a 10-point lead after the Buckeyes had trailed early in the second half by a bucket after seeing a five-point halftime lead evaporating.
"I am really proud of our guys’ effort this one here today," Holtmann said. "I thought we came in and played a really good team that is really well coached in a tremendous environment here."
Not everything went according to plan for the Buckeyes, especially in the first half as Ohio State committed nine turnovers in the first frame. Ohio State would tighten that up in the second half with just four turnovers during the final 20 minutes of the game.
"I thought we did a much better job of taking care of the ball in the second half, I thought we were smarter in the second half in some areas," Holtmann added. "We struggled to open the second half defending them."
Ohio State employed a zone on defense and that slowed down the Nebraska attack in the second half as the Cornhuskers would be held to just 37.9-percent shooting in the second half. The Buckeyes were not much better in the second half with just 40.7-percent shooting, but the team would go 7-15 from beyond the arc after starting 2-12 to pull away from the Huskers.
Nothing has been easy for Ohio State this season and down the stretch it felt as if Ohio State might find this game slip away. The Buckeyes would hold a 13-point lead with about eight minutes to go but would see the Huskers not go away and cut the lead down to six-points late after Kaleb Wesson would miss the front end of a one-and-one and then Thomas Allen would run down the court and hit a three-pointer to trim things to 62-56. Muhammad would be the answer from the line down the stretch as he would go 5-6 from the line to keep the Buckeyes just out of reach.
The Buckeyes were without Kyle Young for another game as he will be out for several weeks with a stress fracture. Andre Wesson has stepped up during the last couple of games and while Duane Washington has not been able to fill in those minutes coming off of a bout with the flu, the Buckeyes are gaining much-needed confidence as the grind of the 20-game Big Ten season is in full force as teams have not quite reached the halfway point of league play.
This win snaps the longest losing streak that Holtmann has been a part of with Ohio State and the longest that anyone has seen since the first year of Jim O'Brien as Ohio State's head coach. It is great to get a win but the Buckeyes can't lose focus now with getting back into the win column. Holtmann joked that Ohio State media has been quick to remind him about the losing streak but that any loss is tough to stomach.
“Whether you lose one or five it is miserable, it really is,” Holtmann said “Obviously, the misery was compounded five times. I don’t look at this like, ‘Fun times are here again’ and we have to continue to be tough-minded and grow and see if we can take some of this and get better.”
There is no time to celebrate for the Buckeyes as they are on the road on Tuesday night at Michigan (9:00pm – ESPN2). Ohio State will return home on Saturday to take on Rutgers (12:00pm - BTN). Ohio State and Nebraska will not meet again in the regular season with the unbalanced schedule in the Big Ten.
