Ohio State fell to No. 10 Nebraska 72-69 Monday at the Schottenstein Center. The Buckeyes fall to 10-3 on the season.
The once-lively Schottenstein Center sat quiet.
An 11-0 Nebraska run pushed the Cornhuskers to an eight-point lead with two minutes remaining, and Ohio State looked all but finished.
Then John Mobley Jr. rattled in a three-pointer.
Devin Royal followed with a jumper.
Christophy Tilly jumped a passing lane and went coast-to-coast for a layup.
Suddenly, Nebraska’s lead was down to three with 25 seconds left, and energy pulsed back into the building.
After trading baskets, the Buckeyes had one final possession to tie the game. It ended in disaster.
A Tilly airball from the corner sealed Ohio State’s fate in an upset bid against No. 10 Nebraska, as the Buckeyes suffered their third one-possession loss of the season, 72-69, Monday night.
Head coach Jake Diebler knew what was at stake in what would have been a valuable NCAA tournament résumé win for the Buckeyes.
“This was a missed opportunity,” Diebler said. “There’s no denying that.”
Ohio State found itself in a familiar position early.
After trailing by as many as 15 in its Friday win against Rutgers, the Buckeyes again dug a hole, falling behind by 14 with 8:31 left in the first half. Nebraska, which entered second in the Big Ten in three-point attempts, hit five of its first 10 shots from deep.
Missed opportunities plagued Ohio State in the opening stretch. The Buckeyes missed three point-blank looks at the rim during a 14-0 Cornhusker run, including two from Brandon Noel. The forward later exited in the second half and returned from the locker room wearing a boot.
“We have to evaluate him and see where he’s at,” Diebler said about Noel’s injury.
With Bruce Thornton limited to two points in the first half, Mobley Jr. carried the Buckeyes offensively, scoring 12 of Ohio State’s 31 first-half points. Though he opened the game 1-for-4 from the field, the sophomore consistently created offense off the dribble for a Buckeye team searching for rhythm.
Alongside Mobley Jr., the frontcourt tandem of Tilly and Amare Bynum combined for 13 points. Tilly connected on his first three-pointer since Nov. 25 after missing nine straight over a six-game stretch.
Nebraska built its advantage behind strong bench production, receiving 12 first-half points from its reserves and outscoring Ohio State 22-0 off the bench for the game. Bench scoring has been a recurring issue for the Buckeyes, as Monday marked the fifth scoreless bench half over the last four games.
“We’ve got to get more production out of our bench, plain and simple,” Diebler said. “We need rebounding, we need points, we need impact, and someone is going to have to step up.”
A sluggish Ohio State group went into the locker room trailing by eight, and its chances of earning its first win over a ranked opponent since February appeared slim.
The start of the second half was anything but sluggish.
Mobley Jr. stayed hot, knocking down two early jumpers as part of a 10-2 Buckeye run out of the break that cut Nebraska’s lead to two and re-energized the crowd.
After starting 5-for-10 from three, Nebraska made just one of its next 14 attempts as Ohio State continued to chip away.?
“Give Ohio State credit for the way they changed things up in the second half,” Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg said. “[They] really made us uncomfortable and sped us up.”
The turning point came when Thornton drilled a three-pointer – his 10th point of the half – to give the Buckeyes a three-point lead with 8:38 remaining.
But as had been the case all night, Nebraska had an answer.
The Cornhuskers responded with a back-breaking 14-5 run over the next 6:20, fueled by redshirt freshman Braden Frager, who scored a team-high 15 points off the bench.
Despite a late surge that pulled the Buckeyes within striking distance and brought the crowd to its feet, Ohio State couldn’t overcome its early struggles.
“I’m certainly disappointed with the result,” Diebler said. “Nebraska’s a really good team and you can’t have that type of first half against a team like that.”?
