Ohio State basketball has rally come up short vs. Villanova

The Ohio State basketball team was trying to make its first Sweet 16 in the Chris Holtmann era. Despite a run late, they weren’t able to do it.

The Ohio State basketball team looked like they were going to get blown out in the first half of their second-round matchup with Villanova. They couldn’t play defense or score with any efficiency. Even though they made a run late in the second half, it wasn’t enough.

Villanova was probably the better team, but coaching errors early in the game kept Ohio State from having a chance to win. Holtmann didn’t adjust the defense well enough once Collin Gillespie started backing down guards in the post. They didn’t switch as much as they did against Loyola either.

Ohio State was down as much as 15 and cut it to 2 at one point. The problem is that Kyle Young got hurt yet again late when they were trying to make that run. He got taken back to look at another concussion scenario. That forced Zed Key to play more minutes than he should’ve.

Malaki Branham got hot in the second half and finished with 23 points. He really spearheaded the comeback effort that fell short. E.J. Liddell added 17 points too. They weren’t able to find a third scorer to help lighten the burden on them though, nor could they make open threes.

This will be the fifth consecutive year under Chris Holtmann that the Buckeyes don’t make the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Villanova was the better team today, but at some point, results need to be had. They lost to a 15-seed last year and have other great teams lose to inferior teams in March.

It’s another disappointing end to a once-promising season. The Buckeyes are who they are under Holtmann; a team that can win some games in the regular season and not win any games when it matters.