The Ohio State Buckeyes have now lost four games in a row, including a 68-62 road loss Monday to a Nebraska Cornhuskers team that had lost five games in a row (one of which was to Ohio State by 31 points). The Buckeyes showed a brief sign of life early in the second half, forcing Nebraska into turnovers on seven of its first nine possessions after halftime.
Ohio State’s freefall continues with 68-62 loss to Nebraska
The Buckeyes’ loss Monday is symptomatic of its current four-game losing streak and the season-long dilemma that had masked until then.
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Defense is where the Buckeyes have made their money this season—figuratively speaking of course, because this is college basketball—but defense only carries a team so far. Yes, Ohio State took a two-point lead early in the second after the big blitz to start the half, but it couldn’t build or sustain a lead because for all its vaunted D did to turn Nebraska away, the Buckeyes’ offense wasn’t holding up its end of the bargain.
LaQuinton Ross gave Ohio State a 46-45 lead with 5:55 to play. Over the next 2 1/2 minutes, the Buckeyes did not score a point, only then getting back on the board when Ross made 1 of 2 free throws with 3:22 to play. Ohio State's next made field goal was a Marc Loving three with 53 seconds to play. Even after the make, the Cornhuskers were up 61-54, and the students were all but already rushed onto the court.
In five conference games, Ohio State’s defense—which carried it easily through its non-conference schedule—has an adjusted defensive efficiency of 97.6, a full 10 points higher (and change) than what it had done in non-conference play. The Buckeyes’ weak non-conference schedule also could have done a few things: It could have portrayed Ohio State to be better than it actually is; or it simply could have left a talented team unprepared for the brutality of Big Ten play, especially with Michigan State, Iowa and Minnesota front-loading the schedule.
Either way, Monday’s loss was more a legitimate byproduct of the team’s recent struggles than an anomaly against a Nebraska team looking for revenge at home. The Buckeyes are troubled, and trouble will continue to find the team that struggles so to score points in a game in which scoring points is the only true objective.
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