Ohio State basketball rallies to survive frisky Penn State

The Ohio State basketball team was able to squeak away with a win against Penn State after they battled back in the second half.

The game was closer than it should have, that’s for sure. The Ohio State basketball team started out the game with an 11-2 lead. It looked like they were going to cruise over a Penn State team that only had two Big Ten wins coming into this game. That was certainly not the case.

After taking a four-point lead into halftime, the Buckeyes saw their lead crumble even further. They ended up being down by as much as 8. Chris Holtmann was able to rally his squad and end up getting the victory by a score of 83-79.

This was a game that shouldn’t have even been this close. Duane Washington was once again super inefficient, going 2-11 from the field and adding 4 turnovers. He continues to shoot poorly and it is hurting this team mightily. The turnovers might have hurt worse though.

Speaking of turnovers, the entire team suffered with them. The Buckeyes committed 17 turnovers in this game. That’s way over their season average. They have to take care of the basketball. If this was a game against Michigan or Illinois, they certainly would have lost it. A better team takes better advantage of that and wins.

As bad as Washington was, E.J. Liddell was once again great. He scored 22 points on 6-9 shooting and 10-10 from the free-throw line. The Buckeyes needed every single bucket he got. Justice Sueing had a great game as well, scoring 13 points 10 rebounds, and 5 steals.

This game should be a wake-up call for the Buckeyes moving forward. They can’t take any opponent in this league for granted. They have to be focused at all times. Otherwise, they’ll be eating an L.