After the first half of Saturday’s game against No. 24 Louisville, the Ohio State men’s basketball team appeared to be on the verge of knocking off its first Top 25 opponent of the season.
Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, the Cardinals turned up the intensity in the second half. Coupled with OSU’s poor shooting, the Buckeyes fell 72-64 in the first overtime men’s basketball game in the Schottenstein Center. The loss was also the Buckeyes’ first at home this season.
“I thought we had more than enough opportunities to win,” said OSU men’s basketball coach Jim O’Brien. “We just didn’t make the plays.”
The Buckeyes (7-4) are 0-4 against teams ranked in the Top 25. The three other losses came to Duke, Pittsburgh and Alabama, which are the top three ranked teams in the nation.
During the opening half, OSU jumped out to a 27-10 lead as Louisville scored only two points in the game’s first seven minutes.
The Buckeyes led 32-18 at half-time and seemed poised to run away with a victory. Louisville shot just 6 of 26 from the field in the opening half.
“They completely outplayed us in the first half,” said Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino. “They had execution like their football team did last night.”
But things quickly turned around in the second half as the Buckeyes began their own struggle from the field. OSU was just 6-of-21 shooting in the final half as the Cardinals chipped away at the lead.
“They were able to get back into the game because we made some turnovers and they take a lot of threes, and they were falling in the second half,” said OSU guard Brent Darby, who led the Buckeyes with 24 points. “It’s just disappointing losing at home.”
After shooting just 2 of 10 from behind the three-point arc in the first half, the Cardinals made 7 of 14 in the second half.
The Cardinals finally took its first lead in the closing moments of regulation.
Because his outside shots were not falling, Louisville’s Reece Gaines decided to look inside. On consecutive possessions, Gaines drove down the middle of the lane and was sent to the free-throw line after being fouled. He made three of the four free throws to give Louisville a 56-53 lead with just 1:44 left to play.
Darby later hit two clutch free throws with just 6.2 seconds left in the game to tie the score at 57-all, which sent the game into overtime.
But in the extra sessions, Gaines and Bryant Northern proved too much to handle for the Buckeyes. The duo scored all 32 of their points in the second half and overtime.
“There was no discussion about moral victory,” O’Brien said. “I am disappointed we didn’t win, especially when we had a clear chance to win but didn’t take advantage.”
