Ohio State Basketball: Reviewing Buckeyes Basketball season so far

Ohio State would go travel to Penn State's arena, with Penn State 5-5 coming into the game. At halftime, it seemed as if Ohio State had it in the bag, due to the score being 41-29. Penn State would slowly move their way back and took the lead 79-76 after a 3-pointer from Ace Baldwin Jr. Ohio State was almost able to come back after being down by 2 but couldn't. The final score was 83-80, handing the Buckeyes their second loss.

What to put the loss down to? Well in the first half, they seemed as if it was any other game with their lockdown defense. Towards the middle of the second half, all of their defense was pretty much nonexistent. Another problem that happened was turning the ball over, Penn State was able to get 10 steals against the Buckeyes. But overall not a horrible game, they got 43 rebounds (Penn State only got 31), 2 steals, and 3 blocks.

Coming off of that loss against Penn State, the Buckeyes went to face off against UCLA. The Buckeyes would be led by Jamison Battle this game getting 14 points and Ohio State's only 3-pointer towards the end of the game. Another critical player in this game was Felix Okpara he would go to make two important baskets at the end of the end. Ohio State won 67-60.

In this game, Ohio State was taking some bad shots, they shot 15 three-pointers all night and made one. But the defense was able to bounce back from their last game getting 4 steals and blocks total. They fought every single second until the game was over and helped maintain the lead they had. Due to that, the Buckeyes move to 9-2.

Ohio State's most recent game was against the New Orleans Privateers, which they crushed. The Buckeyes blew them out 78-36, making them now 10-2. Jamison Battle hit five total three-pointers and scored 17 points. Getting 49 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 6 steals, this game was never close.

The Ohio State basketball team will next play West Virginia, which could end up being close. Once 2024 starts the Buckeyes' schedule starts to get harder, playing the current 24th-ranked team Wisconsin on the 10th of January and 13th of February, the 13th-ranked team Illinois on the 30th of January, and the number-one team Purdue on the 18th of February.

If Ohio State can continue to play their defense like they are and fix small mistakes they make on offense they have a true fighting chance against these teams. Who knows we might see a repeat of 2021 when Ohio State upset the number one ranked team, Duke.