Ohio State Basketball: Positives to take away from win over Rutgers

The Ohio State basketball team rolled to a big lead against Rutgers, then fought to seal the win. Let’s look at the positives to take away from the win.

It really looked like the Ohio State basketball team was going to cruise to a dominating win last night but the Rutgers Scarlet Knights had other plans. After the Buckeyes took a 20 point lead in the second half the Scarlet Knights fought back to make it a three point game in the final minute but came up short of completing the comeback.

There were plenty of positives to take away from the win and let’s first begin with how the Buckeyes hung on at the end.

When the Scarlet Knights were making a strong run late Kaleb Wesson hit two free throws. Older brother Andre made one when the Buckeyes’ lead was down to three which made it a two possession game. Then, C.J. Walker hit two foul shots to all but seal the 72-66 victory.

To have players who can step up and drain free throws in crunch time is always important in the NCAA Tournament.

The three veterans, along with junior Kyle Young, had their usual solid games but that’s to be expected. So I want to look at performances by younger players that were very impressive, and could bode well for the Buckeyes going forward.

I’ll start with sophomore Duane Washington who had one of his best games for Ohio State. He worked to get his own shot at times, and when he couldn’t get one off he often found an open man.

His 10 points and 5 assists were impressive but really doesn’t tell the whole story. His aggressiveness on the offensive end made Rutgers players play help defense which opened up opportunities for other players.

Luther Muhammad has shown flashes of becoming a scorer the last two seasons but often seems content with playing strong defense and rebounding. Last night he was more aggressive on the offensive end finishing with 10 points.

Sophomore Justin Ahrens had a nice shooting night going 3-4 from three-point land. The last three games he has shot the ball at least four times he is 11-15 from the field, 10-14 from behind the arc and scored 32 points in 39 minutes.

There were a lot of positives to take away from last night’s win. That’s a good thing because next up is a road game Saturday against the Purdue Boilermakers who are a half game ahead of Ohio State in the Big Ten standings.