Ohio State basketball loses last winnable game of the year

Thursday night against Penn State was the last winnable game that the Ohio State basketball team had on their regular-season schedule. It was at home against a bubble team that is just two spots ahead of the Buckeyes. But of course, Ohio State failed to win yet again.

Instead, they lost their ninth straight game of the season, falling 75-71. It was another example of them not being able to close out a close game, as they have done several times before. They had five shots on the final possession and couldn’t make a single one of them.

Bruce Thornton had himself a good game though. He had 19 points on 7/12 shooting and made 3 three-pointers. He also added 4 rebounds. His play was needed in the starting lineup because there were times when the team couldn’t buy a bucket.

Brice Sensabaugh had a great game offensively. He led the team with 20 points on 8/14 shooting and made a couple of threes as well. The issue was his defense. Late in the game, he fouled Jalen Pickett when the Buckeyes were down just one. It ended up being a three-point play.

Those are the kinds of mistakes that this team has made all season long. They haven’t been able to stay poised when it gets close at the end of the game. What’s disappointing is that they actually moved the ball better this game, having 11 assists. That’s better than they normally do.

The Ohio State basketball team also just had one turnover. Normally, you win basketball games when you only turn it over one time. But this is a team coached by Chris Holtmann. Therefore, it’s a game that they will lose. Now, they are probably going to lose the rest of them too.

Ohio State faces Maryland, Illinois, and Michigan State in the next three games. There’s no way they win those games. Holtmann continues to have no answers on how to stop the losing.