Ohio State basketball wins Big Ten opener handily

The Ohio State basketball team is off to a nice start this season. They have a couple of solid non-conference wins that they gathered in Florida in the Emerald Coast Classic by beating both Alabama and Santa Clara. Sunday was the start of Big Ten play for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State took on Minnesota in their Big Ten opener and looked great from the beginning. They started out the game on an 11-2 run. That opening offensive spurt was a harbinger of things to come as the Buckeyes dispatched the Golden Gophers 84-74.

The Ohio State basketball team never trailed in this game and was led by Bruce Thornton yet again. He has firmly established himself as the best player on this team. He finished the game with 26 points on 8/12 shooting. He also added 5 assists as well.

Former Golden Gopher Jamison Battle also had a great game. In fact, it was his best game as a Buckeye so far as he put in 23 points on 7/12 shooting including 4/6 from three. Battle also added 6 rebounds which was tied for the most on the team.

It’s a lot easier to win games when you shoot the ball well from deep, which the Buckeyes did. They shot 9/17 from three, which is almost 53%. That’s one of the best games of shooting from deep they’ve had this season. It’s a little uncharacteristic of them to shoot it so well from deep.

Minnesota, in contrast, shot it just 31% from beyond the arc. They just didn’t have the offensive firepower to keep up with the Buckeyes. Ohio State shot 49% overall from the floor. When the Bucks are locked in offensively like that, not a lot of teams can beat them.

Ohio State improves to 7-1 on the season and very well could be ranked when the new polls come out tomorrow. I’d say they’ve earned a ranking in the 20s.