Here's a sentence that you would not have believed if I'd told you back in January: The 21st-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (2-0) -- led by head coach Jake Diebler -- returned home on Monday evening for their home opener after knocking off a ranked Texas team last week to start the year.
Less than one calendar year after it felt like the program was going into a tailspin that could have yearslong consequences, the Buckeyes, led by a head coach that wasn't even considered a candidate to be the head coach in February, appear to be back on track. The program has a long way to go to get back to the heights of Thad Matta's Ohio State heyday, but in the very least, the energy surrounding the program has picked back up in a major way.
In front of several thousands students -- who all got in for free -- Diebler kept with the same starting lineup he used in last week's win over Texas: Bruce Thornton, Meechie Johnson, Micah Parrish, Sean Stewart, and Aaron Bradshaw.
The Penguins who are also led by a first-year head coach in Ethan Faulkner -- went with a starting five of Jason Nelson, Ty Harper, Nico Galette, EJ Farmer, and Gabe Dynes.
After Youngstown State scored the first basket of the game, Ohio State responded with an impressive 12-0 run to go ahead 12-2 by the 14:10 mark of the first half. Bradshaw and Johnson both erased the memory of their tough performances against Texas, scoring five apiece and helping the Buckeyes establish a big lead early on. John Mobley also knocked down two three-pointers early on, which made him 6-for-6 in his college career. His second three made it 18-8 Ohio State with 12:07 remaining in the first half.
Ohio State was sleepwalking through the final 12 minutes or so of the first half -- playing even with the Penguins, but not letting them get much closer, either. After going up 12-2, Ohio State only outscored Youngstown State 25-20 for the final 14 minutes of the first half, going into the halftime break up, 37-22.
Turnovers were an issue in the first half for Ohio State. The Buckeyes gave up the biscuit nine times, including four turnovers by Johnson. Ohio State also committed 11 first-half fouls, with Royal picking up three and Thornton two.
The Buckeyes put their foot on the gas to start the second half, extending their lead from 15 to 26 by the under-12 media timeout. Ohio State was spreading it around too, with six different guys scoring in the first seven minutes of the second half. Mobley extended his three-point streak to seven consecutive makes to put Ohio state up 28, and Bradshaw was chasing his (previous) career-high of 17 points that he set at Kentucky last season.
By the under-four media timeout Diebler began emptying the bench, giving Colin White, Ques Glover, and Austin Parks a chance to finish the game with Ohio State up 72-41. By the time all was said and done, the Buckeyes had wrapped up a 81-47 win over their in-state for from Mahoning County.
Bradshaw and Mobley each had 16 points for the Buckeyes, with Mobley setting a career-high and Bradshaw coming one point short of tying his. Harper, Dynes, and Cris Carroll each had nine points for YSU.
If you weren't able to catch Ohio State's second win of the season tonight, here are a few key stats and figures that you should know about the Buckeyes 33rd win against in-state foes in their last 34 tries.
After a forgettable performance against the Longhorns last week, sophomore center Aaron Bradshaw set a new *Buckeye* career high within the first two minutes of Monday night's game.
Bradshaw got the scoring started with a running, one-handed slam 34 seconds into the game that tied the game, 2-2. On the next Ohio State possession, Parrish missed a short jumper but Stewart was able to grab the miss and kick the ball out to Bradshaw at the top of the key. The 7-foot-1 center splashed his first three-pointer of the season, making it 5-2 Ohio State.
He only scored two points in 21 minutes against Texas last week, but outpaced that pretty much immediately Monday night.
Predictably, the Penguins force fed the ball to Gabe Dynes on their first possession, and the 7-foot-3 center was promptly stuffed at the rim by Stewart. However, nobody was there to grab the miss, so Dynes made the heads-up play himself to grab the ball and slam it home.
However, after the first YSU basket, they would not score for the next 6:14 of game time. During that stretch, Ohio State went on a 12-0 run, getting five points each from Bradshaw and Johnson in the process. That gave Ohio State its first double-digit lead of the season.
Ohio State picked up 11 personal fouls in the first half, including three by Devin Royal and two by Thornton. Thornton sat for a few minutes, but Diebler put him back in the game at the under-four media timeout with two fouls, and he immediately hit a baseline jumper to put Ohio State up 35-20.
Most of Ohio State's fouls came from players being too aggressive below the basket. Evan Mahaffey fell for a pretty easy shot fake and the shooter jumped into him to draw contact. Royal tried to rip the ball out of Dynes' hands on the baseline, but it got too physical and he was whistled for a foul. Generally, these first-half fouls weren't brain farts -- they were just the product of being too aggressive.
After going 4-for-4 from beyond the arc against Texas, Mobley knocked down a pair of them against Youngstown State in the first half of Monday night's game. Then in the second half he got a pass in the corner from Colin White and knocked that down as well, making it 57-29 Buckeyes with 13:02 remaining in the game. That also made Mobley a perfect 7-for-7 from downtown in his college career.
With 10:28 left in the game, Mobley airballed a three-point try from the same spot he hit his last one, which stopped the streak at seven.
Ohio State held the Penguins below 30% shooting on Monday night, including a ridiculously bad 13.6% (3-for-22) from three-point range.
Ohio State (2-0) has three days off before flying to College Station to face the 23rd-ranked Texas A&M Aggies (1-1) on Friday night. This game is the second leg of a home-and-home series that began last year, when A&M beat the Buckeyes in Columbus, 73-66.
The Buckeyes' game against the Aggies will tip off at 9:00 p.m. ET on Friday night. It will be broadcast on SEC Network, which means you can also catch it on the Watch ESPN app or at ESPN.com/watch.