Ohio State stays hot, closes Big Ten season with blowout win at Rutgers
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Roddy Gayle sliced in toward the basket from the left wing, his scarlet-clad teammates on the bench behind him. Drawing in the Rutgers defense, he picked up his head just underneath the basket and found Bruce Thornton along the right wing.
Thornton took the pass, sized up a 3-pointer and felt the pressure of a hard close-out in his face as Gayle’s momentum carried him to the right corner. With the Rutgers student section pounding their feet on the metal bleachers just a few feet out of reach, Gayle took the pass, fired and swished the 3-pointer.
The stomping stopped, and so did the metallic ringing inside Jersey Mike’s Arena. Running back up the court, Gayle pointed to his classmate and teammate for the assist. He didn't say anything, but if he had, it would've been clearly audible.
The 3-pointer followed an acrobatic finish at the rim one possession earlier and gave Ohio State a 44-33 lead with 14:04 to play. It was the largest of the game to that point for the Buckeyes, one exclamation point of many as they played spoiler to Rutgers on senior day.
Leading 36-33 early in the second half, Ohio State took control with a 16-2 run that included Gayle's consecutive buckets, allowing the Buckeyes to close out the final minutes of the regular season without much to worry about. After having lost a program-record 17 straight road games, Ohio State has now won two straight.
After a week in between games, Ohio State never trailed and turned the final minutes into a highlight reel against the Big Ten's top-rated defense, winning 73-51 in Sunday's final Big Ten regular-season game for both schools.
"Just our connectivity speaks so much," Gayle said. "Every one of these players, we treat each other like family. That connectness we play with is something we rely on."
After denying the Scarlet Knights a storybook send-off for their seniors, the Buckeyes added another chapter to the one they're writing. Ohio State (19-12, 9-11 Big Ten) will enter the postseason having won five of six as Rutgers (15-16, 7-13) closes with losses in six of its final seven games. By the end, the squeaks of the shoes on the hardwood were louder than the stomping in the bleachers.
Ohio State’s 19 regular-season wins are tied for its most since the Buckeyes went 21-10 in 2019-20. The win is the first for the Buckeyes on an opponent’s senior day since an 80-78 win at Indiana in double overtime on Feb. 23, 2018.
Gayle led four Buckeyes in double figures with 14 points. Thornton had 11 points, six assists and five rebounds, while Felix Okpara had 10 points and eight rebounds and Jamison Battle added 10 points.
"It's always been a good matchup," Okpara said of going against Omoruyi. "He plays hard. I just feel like I competed with him this game."
"I felt like our attention to detail on the defensive side was really good," Diebler said. "Offensively, we didn't let our offense affect our defense. There were times it felt like we went a handful of minutes without scoring, but it didn't affect how hard we were guarding and how connected we were on that other side."
It would’ve been hard to script a more favorable start for the Buckeyes. Sixteen seconds into the game, Rutgers turned it over on the first possession in an attempt to feed Clifford Omoruyi. Ohio State took the lead on back-to-back 3s from Jamison Battle and Roddy Gayle Jr. for a quick 6-0 lead, and as the Scarlet Knights started cold from the floor they also lost their top defensive threat and second-leading scorer to foul trouble.
Omoruyi picked up a second foul at the 17:45 mark and came out of the game. Without him on the floor, Ohio State steadily built an 11-1 lead as Rutgers missed its first 11 shots of the game. Only when Emmanuel Ogbole backed down Zed Key, knocked him to the floor as the Ohio State center aimed for a charge call he didn’t receive and threw down a two-handed dunk with 12:33 left did Rutgers see a shot attempt go through the rim.
It fired up the crowd and pulled Rutgers within 11-5, but Ohio State freshman Taison Chatman quieted things with a banked-in 3-pointer from the right wing on the next possession. The Buckeyes built their lead to 10 points again on a Bruce Thornton feed to Felix Okpara in the paint to make it 25-15 as Rutgers was 4 for 20 from the floor, but with Omoruyi back on the floor the Scarlet Knights mounted a charge to close the half. An 8-2 run started by a Jamichael Davis drive past Thornton with 2:53 left in the half got the Scarlet Knights within 30-28 at the half.
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Ohio State’s final possession of the half ended with a turnover when Thornton shuffled his feet while attempting to spin. It was the ninth turnover for the Buckeyes and third from Thornton, already tying for his season high for an entire game.
Omoruyi fouled out with 7:22 to play when he was called for a foul diving for a loose ball, finishing with 10 points and seven rebounds. Fans chanted "One more year!" as he was introduced during pregame festivities.
Ohio State was without freshman reserve center Austin Parks, who did not make the trip due to illness.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Buckeyes blast Rutgers to cap regular season with blowout win
