Ohio State came in having won 4 out of 5, but the road in the Big Ten is always difficult. Despite building an 8 point lead early in the second half, Nebraska weathered the storm using a 14-2 run midway through the second half to regain the lead and held on to turn away the visiting Buckeyes 79-71, to win their 4th straight. Nebraska improves to 16-8, 6-7, while Ohio State falls to 14-10, 6-7. The Buckeyes struggled inside the paint having lost Devin Royal to an ankle injury midway through the first half and despite trying to give them some minutes in the second half, it was clear he just could not be effective. Ohio State clearly missed his presence as the home Huskers created momentum and separation midway through the second half. The Buckeyes made a run of their own to get it within a pair on two separate occasions, but just didn’t have enough to pull off the road win. The Huskers shot 52% for the game, 7 of 21 from long range including a big one in the closing minutes with Nebraska up two that ended up being the dagger. The Buckeyes struggled shooting for much of the game, hitting on just 43% and 40% from long range. Ohio State got a career and game high 30 from Micah Parrish and 21 from John Mobley, Jr. in the losing effort. Nebraska was led by Brice Williams’ 24, Juwan Gary’s 19 and Berke Buyuktuncel added 15.

THe Huskers opened the game red hot, hitting their first three shots, including a pair of triples, but so did John Mobley, Jr., who also hit a pair of triples, combined with a Devin Royal bucket and a Sean Stewart steal and dunk had the game tied at 10 at the first media timeout. Out of the timeout, Nebraska scored 11 of the next 13 to take a 21-12 lead with Ohio State’s only bucket coming from a Bruce Thornton floater. Micah Parrish stopped the run, scoring in the paint and hitting a right wing three sandwiched around a Husker two. Another Nebraska bucket was followed again by a Parrish deuce through contact and with Parrish due to go to the stripe, the under 12 timeout was called with Nebraska leading 25-19. Out of the timeout, Parrish knocked down the free throw to complete the old-fashioned three point play and cut the Husker lead to 5. After a Nebraska bucket, a Thornton 10 footer and a Parrish triple cut the Nebraska lead to 2. Ques Glover picked up a steal and his short jumper in transition fell off the mark but when Mahaffey went for the tip, he was fouled leading to the under 8 minute timeout with Nebraska leading 27-25. Mahaffey, with a chance to tie the score at the line, missed both and the Huskers took advantage, scoring on the other end. Ohio State answered first with a Thornton runner, then a Parrish steal and score in transition that, after the foul turned into a three point play when Parrish converted the free throw to give the Buckeyes their first lead. After a Mobley baseline 15 footer dropped, the Buckeye run increased to 7-0 and  10-2 in total, putting Ohio State up 3. A Husker runner through contact stopped the run and preceded the final media timeout of the half with Ohio State on top, 32-31. The free throw out of the break tied it, but a long three by Mobley caught nothing but cords to put Ohio State back ahead. After a Nebraska turnover, Stewart drew a foul and went to the line where he split the pair to extend the lead to 4. After Nebraska hit a pair of free throws, Ohio State scored the last 5 of the half. Bradshaw split a pair of free throws and Thornton hit a  jumper from the left elbow as Ohio State took a 39-34 lead into the locker room. After a red hot shooting start for Nebraska, they cooled off to hit 52% including 3 of 10 from three, missing 7 of their last 8 attempts from long range. Ohio State shot 48%, including 5 of 11 from downtown. The Buckeyes missed 4 of 8 free throws that could have extended the advantage, but 9 points off of 7 Husker turnovers helped the Buckeyes, who fell behind by as many as 9 in the first half. Ohio State was led by a first half game high 14 points by Micah Parrish and 11 from John Mobley, Jr. Nebraska was led by Brice Williams who had 13. 

Ohio State increased the run to 8-0 and the lead to 8 when Parrish opened the second half with a three, but Nebraska stormed right back with an 8-0 run of their own, including a pair of triples, to tie the game. Parrish ended the run, attacking the rim and scoring off the window and at the first media timeout, Ohio State held a 44-42 lead. Parrish added to the lead, using a Royal screen to score off the window and after a Husker bucket, Parrish grabbed an offensive rebound and scored. A pair of Husker free throws was the last score prior to the under 12 with Ohio State leading 48-46. The Huskers added four more out of the timeout, turning Ohio State over to regain the lead 50-48 and force Ohio State to take a timeout with 9:48 to play. The Husker run went to 11-0 before a Mobley runner dropped. Nebraska answered with a three to extend the lead to 8, but on the other end, Mobley hit a three of his own to quiet the raucous crowd. After a defensive stop, Parrish buried a three and Ohio State took a timeout at the 6:23 mark with the Husker lead cut to 58-56. Four Husker free throws and one by Parrish increased the Husker lead to 5 before a long Mobley three dropped and Jake Diebler took a timeout with 3:48 to play and Nebraska leading 62-60. Nebraska answered out of the timeout with a three from the right wing and after another deuce increased the lead, Thornton split a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 6 with just under 2 ½ to play. Nebraska buried two free throws to extend the lead to 8 with 2 minutes to play. A Parrish triple cut the lead back to 5, but four more Husker free throws thwarted the comeback attempt. A Mahaffey dunk was followed by a Husker dunk, breaking backcourt pressure. After the Huskers upped the lead to 11 with a pair of free throws, Mahaffey completed an old-fashioned three point play but with just 35 seconds to play, it was too little too late for the Buckeyes. A press break dunk for Nebraska was followed by two Mobley free throws to complete the scoring. 

The Buckeyes have had a fair amount of success on the road so far this season, but it is never easy, especially when your best player, Bruce Thornton is head in check. Thornton had a tough day, hitting just 4 of 10 shots for 9 points and while Parrish and Mobley carried the scoring load, missing Devin Royal for much of the game clearly affected the Buckeyes. Nebraska is playing good basketball right now and plays especially well at home so even at full strength it was going to be difficult to come away with a win on this day. Ohio State just didn’t play with enough consistency on both ends of the floor in stretches to win in a hostile environment. Despite the inconsistencies, they had their chances, building an early second half cushion and withstanding a 14-2 Nebraska run, getting the game to within 2 with 3 ½ to play, but home teams usually play with a lot of confidence and when the Huskers buried a three to stymie the late Buckeye run, that would be as close as Ohio State would get the rest of the way, as the Huskers scored 7 of the next 9 points to turn the 2 point deficit to 9. The Buckeyes are still in a great spot as they head back home for three extremely important and very winnable games prior to heading to their west coast swing. To regain the winning momentum, first, they need to get healthy and hopefully Royal won’t miss any more time as they are in desperate need of more offense from the post. In addition to better bench play if they want to finish February strong and make their push up the conference standings and into the postseason.

The Buckeyes head home for the first of 3 straight in Columbus, hosting Washington on Wednesday night in the Schott. Tip off is scheduled for 8:30pm on BTN. 

-Jason Harris