While most Ohio State students enjoyed the luxury of a 25-day winter break, the men’s basketball team was hard at work playing seven games against non-conference competition, including Kansas, St. John’s and Massachusetts.The team went 6-1 in the games, the one blemish coming in a one-point loss to Kansas on Dec. 23.All seven games were played at home, in the friendly confines of Schottenstein Center, where OSU has an all-time record of 37-4. OSU’s current nine-game homestand is the longest since 1910.OSU (9-3) has only one non-conference game left, at Alabama on Feb. 17. They start the Big Ten schedule tomorrow, playing Northwestern at home.The team’s first opponent over break came on Dec. 7, when the Buckeyes forced an arena-record 32 turnovers en route to beating Denver 83-46.The team followed up that victory with a much closer win over UMass three days later. OSU led the entire way, by as many as 14 points early in the second half, but only managed to squeak by with a 54-51 win.OSU was led by senior center Ken Johnson, who scored 16 points and added seven rebounds and nine blocks.”It’s really different for me this year,” said Johnson, who was primarily a defensive player last year and is now one of the Buckeyes’ first options on offense. “I’ve always looked to average more than six points a game, but this year it’s actually happening. I just have to get in the mindset where I go out there and take the ball up strong and get into my game,” he said.After beating Massachusetts, the Buckeyes faced off against St. John’s. The 71-58 win over the Red Storm was especially big for several Buckeyes who hail from the New York area, including freshman Zach Williams, who attended Christ the King High School with Omar Cook, the heralded freshman point guard for St. John’s.”This win means a lot to our program and to me personally,” Williams said. “Now I can go back for Christmas and not have to hide my face in my own neighborhood.”The Buckeyes got a little bit of a rest after the two tough victories, outscoring their next two opponents by a combined total of 181-108. First they cruised to a 93-62 victory over the Morehead State Eagles.Eagles coach Kyle Macy summed up the game best when he said, “They just kind of manhandled us tonight.”OSU out-rebounded Morehead St. 43-19 and rode the hot shooting of sophomore Sean Connolly, who ended up going five of six from beyond the arc.The victory was the 300th career win for O’Brien, who now has a 302-258 record after 19 years of coaching. He spent four years at St. Bonaventure before going to Boston College, where he was the coach for 11 years. This is his fourth season at OSU.O’Brien picked up his 301st career win four days later by beating an overmatched Robert Morris team 88-46.The Buckeyes, who were led by Williams’ 19 points, used a 27-2 run in the first half to build a large lead. Brent Darby added 15 points and Johnson set the tone defensively blocking seven shots.Next up was No. 9 Kansas, the No. 1 team in the nation according to RPI ratings. The Buckeyes fell behind early and trailed by 15 with just over 12 minutes remaining. They mounted a serious comeback and a three-pointer by Connolly pulled them within one, 68-69, with 36 seconds left. Kansas forward Drew Gooden went on to miss the front end of a one-and-one (the third straight missed front end for the Jayhawks) so OSU had a chance to win the game with 33 seconds on the clock. Brian Brown missed a floater in the lane with 7.6 seconds left, but the Buckeyes retained possession as the rebound bounced out of bounds off Kansas guard Kenny Gregory.With one final chance OSU tried throwing the ball down low to Johnson. Since he was double-teamed, Brown was forced to drive in and try another shot, but Gregory managed to alter the shot and as Johnson reached for the rebound Gooden knocked the ball out of his hands. Gregory recovered the loose ball as the buzzer sounded, giving Kansas the 69-68 victory.The Jayhawks were led by Gregory, a former star at Independence High School in Columbus, who scored 17 points on 8 of 12 shooting. It was Gregory’s first game back from a foot injury. He showed no signs of being hampered.OSU shot 42 free throws in the game (compared to only 13 for Kansas), but was able to convert on only 28 of them. Several players mentioned this as one of the reasons for the loss. “I felt like we gave (the game) away because we didn’t hit our free throws at the end,” co-captain Brian Brown said.”As a team we definitely need to improve our shooting in general and specifically, our free throw shooting,” said junior Boban Savovic.The final game for the Buckeyes over break was played Saturday afternoon against the Coppin State Eagles, the second group of Eagles the team faced this year. The Bucks won 80-42.The Buckeyes now hold a 9-3 record heading into league play, where they have been predicted to finish anywhere from fourth to ninth. Their first conference game comes against Northwestern on Wednesday night.O’Brien said his team will have to be ready for a different challenge when it faces the Wildcats.”We are going to have to make sure everyone is tuned in against Northwestern. They play a style of basketball we have not seen yet,” he said. “They shoot either back-door lay-ups or threes, so it is kind of a pick your poison situation for us on defense. If we could win a one or two point game against these guys, I would be thrilled.”The Buckeyes and Wildcats tip off at 7 p.m. tommorow night in Schottenstein Center.