Ohio State basketball uses strong 2nd half to beat Minnesota

The Ohio State basketball team played the ugliest first half of college basketball I’ve seen in a really long time against Minnesota on Tuesday night. They only scored 23 (23!!!) points and turned the ball over 8 times. In fact, they turned it over on 7 of their final 9 first-half possessions.

Well, whatever Chris Holtmann said to his team at halftime worked because the Buckeyes were much better in the second half. They started out of halftime 5/5 from the floor and ended up taking down the Golden Gophers 70-45. Their second-half adjustments were on point.

Jamari Wheeler was the star of the show. After picking up two fouls early, he was really good. He hit 3 three-pointers and finished with 13 points. He made the offense go early in the second half. Even though he didn’t lead the team in scoring, he was the most valuable player for the Ohio State basketball team.

The leading scorer is someone you’d expect to be the leading scorer every game. That was E.J. Liddell, who really turned it on in the second half. He only had 4 points in the first half but finished with 16 on 6/11 shooting while grabbing 10 rebounds. He was great as always.

After committing those 8 turnovers in the first half, Holtmann’s squad only turned it over two more times the entire game. They did a much better job of keeping the ball and actually getting some shots up in the second half.

I’d like to see Ohio State actually keep the ball for the entire game instead of just one half of play, but that’s something Holtmann can fix. The Buckeyes still have a chance to win the Big Ten with this victory, especially after Michigan State lost in the game prior to this one.

Stacking up wins is how this team is going to keep their chances alive. They have 7 games left in the regular season. Winning 6 of them might do the trick.