MINNEAPOLIS – Roddy Gayle Jr. had seen this kind of performance before.

One year ago, the Ohio State guard’s fingerprints were all over the team’s unprecedented run in the Big Ten Tournament. The Buckeyes became the first team to play on Wednesday of the tournament to reach the semifinal thanks in part to a torrid shooting stretch from the freshman. In the four-game stretch, Gayle missed his first 3-point attempt, misfired on his final one and drilled nine straight in between.

Each shot helped further Ohio State’s momentum as it put a positive finish on an otherwise dismal season. As the Buckeyes follow a somewhat similar script this season, they got their postseason underway with a 90-78 win against No. 7 seed Iowa on Thursday night after earning a first-round bye. A sixth win in seven games got a first-half boost from an unlikely source: freshman Scotty Middleton, who hadn’t scored in double figures since the season opener against Oakland.

That was 129 days ago. Thursday, Middleton was perfect on four first-half shots and scored 11 points in a game in which Ohio State never trailed.

“It’s something different than what he’s experienced for the season, but I felt like he answered the bell defensively and on the glass he was great,” Gayle told The Dispatch. “Being able to come in and knock those big shots down reminded me of somebody.”

As Gayle was doing something similar last season, Middleton was watching on his television while putting the finishing touches on his senior season at Bel Aire (Kansas) Sunrise Christian Academy. Against the Hawkeyes, the freshman’s ability to lock in and hit big shots was reminiscent of what Gayle did last year in the postseason.

“I think it’s games like this that really bring out the best in everybody,” Middleton said. “It’s win or go home, so the intensity is higher and you just have to step up. I’m a competitor.”

His first shot was a 3-pointer with 14:09 left that gave Ohio State a 15-7 lead. He hit his second with 10:32 left, giving the Buckeyes a 25-17 lead and making them perfect on five 3-point attempts. Two possessions later, Middleton sunk a midrange jumper from the left baseline to make it 29-22.

He then closed out the half with a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left, setting the halftime score at 43-38. He didn’t attempt a shot during the second half and finished with two steals, two turnovers and a rebound in 15:31.

“Scotty’s a really tough young man who, he works really, really hard,” interim coach Jake Diebler said. “His motor is a gift. You’ve seen it impact the defensive side throughout the course of the season. He was really impactful tonight.”

He’s also riding a hot shooting streak. Since Diebler was promoted with six games left in the season, Middleton is now 12 for 19 (63.2%) from 3-point range while averaging 6.4 points per game. In his first 22 games this year, he was 15 for 42 (35.7%) from deep and averaged 3.7 points.

“He’s playing with confidence and aggressiveness offensively and he’s worked hard on his shooting,” Diebler said. “He’s a good shooter and we want him taking those shots every time. His offensive half there to start the game was really, really key for us.”

That kind of increased production is part of what has allowed Ohio State to play its most consistent basketball of the season.

“I don’t think anything feels different,” Middleton said. “I just feel like my preparation, I take it a little more serious. Preparing for a game a few days out, hydrating, stretching, getting my mind ready to play in these high-level games.”

Here are three other takeaways from Ohio State’s win.

Jamison Battle has monster second half, dunks the ball

Middleton’s first-half barrage allowed the Buckeyes to weather a quiet start for the Big Ten’s leading 3-point shooter. Jamison Battle, a Minnesota native, was scoreless at the half and had attempted just one shot while being limited to 10 minutes with two fouls.

Then he poured in 23 after halftime to lead all scorers for the game.

“I had no doubts he’d get it going,” Diebler said. “I didn’t know he was going to have 23 in the second half, but he’s such a good player.”

Battle opened the second half with a missed jumper on Ohio State’s first possession, but 51 seconds after halftime he buried a 3-pointer to push the Ohio State lead to 46-38. He finished 6 for 13 from the floor and was perfect on nine free-throw attempts.

He also tied a season high with nine rebounds. Battle did not have any in Sunday’s 73-51 win at Rutgers and had totaled nine rebounds in his previous four games played for the Buckeyes.

“I could care less about how I do,” he said. “I’ve said that millions of times. I just want to win. No matter how many points I score, no matter how many rebounds I get, 3s I hit, if we win the game I’m so happy.”

He also provided a final exclamation mark when he took a full-court pass from Gayle and dunked the ball with 1:15 remaining to make it an 87-75 lead.

“That’s who Roddy is,” Battle said. “He’s like a quarterback out there. You can ask him, but I think he played high school quarterback.”

Battle paused, letting his deadpanned joke land, before continuing.

“He saw it,” Battle said. “He told me to go deep, I went deep, he found me and we finished it out. It’s a statement to end the game, but we’re focused on the next one already.”

Freshman forward Devin Royal said that was his favorite play of the game.

“I love when he dunks the ball,” Royal said of Battle, who has four dunks this season.

Felix Okpara shakes off critical play in previous meeting

Ohio State had the ball with a chance to win at Iowa earlier this year. Instead, the Buckeyes failed to get a shot off as Felix Okpara was called for a double dribble before passing the ball to Gayle. It overshadowed an otherwise strong performance from the sophomore center, who tied a season high with 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds.

The final score in the rematch was not nearly as close, and Okpara’s impact wasn’t as pronounced. He finished with 4 points on 2-of-6 shooting and grabbed five rebounds while being limited to 21 minutes of playing time before fouling out.

Okpara said there was no extra personal motivation for himself against the Hawkeyes on Thursday evening.

“I trust my teammates and they trust me,” he said. “They didn’t really think I was the one that cost them the game. We just needed two or three more stops and we’d be good. I was in foul trouble this game. From the bench I was seeing we were getting the stops and that felt good. I just wanted to win.”

Ohio State Buckeyes: Join the Ohio State Sports Insider text group with Bill Rabinowitz, Joey Kaufman Adam Jardy

Jake Diebler excited for Chris Holtmann’s new job

As Ohio State was preparing for Iowa on Thursday, the former coach of the Buckeyes was finalizing a deal to become the new coach at DePaul. The agreement making Chris Holtmann the new coach for the Blue Demons was announced roughly two hours before Ohio State and Iowa tipped off.

After the win, Diebler said he was “so happy” for his former boss.

“He’s too good of a coach not to be coaching,” Diebler said. “I’ve spoken before about what he means to me and he and his family, how important they are to us. I’m really excited for him. I think he will have a great deal of success there.”

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

Get more Ohio State basketball news by listening to our podcasts

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Hot-shooting Scotty Middleton helps Ohio State past Iowa: 4 takeaways