There’s good news, and then there’s bad news so far for Ohio State in the matchup with the Spartans in Chicago so far. The good news is that the Buckeyes are down just six points despite some pretty poor play in regards to the foul situation and turnovers.
The bad news? There’s a foul situation and far too many turnovers in a 36-30 deficit and there’s no way OSU pulls this thing out with the same level of play in the final twenty minutes.
After a couple of games in which it appeared the turnover bug had been put back in the petri dish, the Buckeyes have committed ten in just one half of play. Add that to the fact that the Spartans were in the bonus way too early in the first half because of a slew of Ohio State fouls, and here we are.
The fouls that have been committed are on some key players too. Wesson had to sit with two early in the half, and Keyshawn Woods — Ohio State’s best ball handler — finished the half on the bench with three.
The Spartans got a little sloppy with the ball themselves, but began to heat up from the floor, finishing the first twenty minutes shooting 63.6% from the floor (3 of 6 from beyond the arc).
Woods leads the Buckeyes with ten points but he’ll need to stay on the floor and watch the fouls situation. One guy that needs to heat up for Ohio State is Kaleb Wesson. He is being neutralized by Nick Ward and Xavier Tillman down low and only has two points so far.
