Ohio State handles business at home, blow past Hawkeyes 82-65

The Buckeyes held a normally explosive Iowa offense to a season-low 65 points.

Coming off of what many people are saying was the biggest win of the season last week in West Lafayette, the Ohio State men’s basketball team (12-8, 4-5) returned home Monday night to face an explosive Iowa offense. The Buckeyes won a “must-win” game at Mackey to get to 3-5, but with two road games on deck, holding serve at home against Iowa felt like a non-negotiable while looking at the Big Ten standings.

The Hawkeyes (13-8, 4-6) brought the highest-scoring offense in the Big Ten to Columbus, averaging 86.8 points per game. Iowa has topped 90 points six different times this season and hit triple-digits three times.

Like Ohio State, Iowa currently finds itself on the NCAA Tournament bubble — every loss feels massive as we inch closer and closer to Selection Sunday. That made Monday night’s 82-65 win that much sweeter because at 12-8 overall, the Buckeyes can’t afford many more losses if they want to dance.

Devin Royal’s turnover issues from recent games continued early on Monday, with the sophomore turning the ball over twice before the first media timeout. Iowa turned those into four easy points, but the Buckeyes still took a 10-6 lead into the first media timeout. As has been the case with Iowa in recent years, they just weren’t reacting quickly enough to Ohio State’s offense, leading to some pretty open looks.

The two teams traded misses for several minutes, and both squads watched their shooting percentage dip below 40% for a time. Iowa briefly took the lead, but the Buckeyes went on a stretch where they scored on four consecutive possessions, taking a 21-16 lead with 7:37 remaining in the first half.

After the national champion Ohio State football team was honored at center court during the final media timeout of the first half, Iowa outscored Ohio State 5-2 over the final 3:15 of the half, cutting the lead to four points, 30-26. It closed out a filthy half of basketball that saw the teams combine to shoot 37.5% overall and 24.1% from three-point land.

Drew Thelwell and Owen Freeman combined to score 22 of Iowa’s 26 points in the first half. Micah Parrish and John Mobley Jr. had seven points apiece in the opening stanza.

Ohio State opened the second half on an 11-1 run, turning a two-point game into a 12-point game by the first media timeout of the second half. Mobley assisted on the first two baskets of the half, passing up tough looks that a freshman might take and instead passing off to his taller, much more open teammates. The Buckeyes led 41-29 with just under 16 minutes left in regulation.

The Buckeyes kept pouring it on, extending the lead to 50-32 just three minutes later. Evan Mahaffey and Sean Stewart turned into demons on both the offensive and defensive glass, and Stewart also had two steals in less than three minutes of game time, running the floor on the second and slamming it home to give the Buckeyes an 18-point lead.

A Mobley three-pointer with just under 11 minutes remaining gave Ohio State a 20-point lead, 57-37. The freshman was also creating for others, dishing out his sixth assist (a career-high) on the play prior.

Payton Sandfort took it upon himself to start scoring after only scoring two points in the first half, knocking down a trio of three-pointers over the first 10 minutes of the half. However, all that did was cut Ohio State’s lead from 20 to 16, as the Hawkeyes’ 156th-ranked defense wasn’t holding up at the other end.

By the time all was said and done, Ohio State had wrapped up an 82-65 laugher over an Iowa team that needed a win Monday night just as much as the home team did.

Four different guys scored in double-digits for Ohio State, led by Micah Parrish, who had 18. Thornton had 18 points, a team-high eight rebounds, and three assists. Royal chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds while playing through a sprained wrist, and Mobley also scored a dozen to go along with a career-high eight assists.

If you weren’t in the house Monday night to celebrate Ohio State’s football National Championship and see the basketball Buckeyes pick up their fourth Big Ten win of the year, here are a few key moments, plays, and statistics that you should know:

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Royal’s turnover issues persist

Sophomore forward Devin Royal had a combined 14 turnovers over his last three games, an eye-popping amount for a non-primary ball handler. Most of them have been traveling violations — one of the mental mistakes Jake Diebler has been imploring his guys to eliminate.

Royal had two quick turnovers within the first four minutes Monday night, once when Drew Thelwell swiped the ball from him at the top of the key, and another two minutes later when he threw a lazy inbounds pass to Bruce Thornton that was stolen. Royal was pulled from the game for about two minutes but checked back in after a brief chat with Diebler.

After the two turnovers and a brief chat with his head coach, Royal went on to play 30 minutes and did not commit another turnover. It was his first game with fewer than three turnovers since the Minnesota game.

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Owen Freeman’s big first half

Last year’s co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Iowa’s leading scorer, Freeman has scored in double-digits in every game this year. That includes Monday night, as the 6-foot-10 Illinois native scored 11 in the first half on 5-of-11 shooting, and also pulled down seven rebounds. He was the only offensive option that was making anything happen early in the game for Iowa, and McCaffery couldn’t afford to keep him off the floor for very long.

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Football team honored during under-three timeout

With 3:15 left in the first half and Ohio State leading 28-21, members of the national championship-winning football team walked on the court, lifting the College Football Playoff Championship trophy high in the air. The group included Carnell Tate, Brandon Inniss, Caleb Downs, and Luke Montgomery, who took the mic and shouted “Let’s run it back next year!” to a thundering round of applause.

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Ivan Njegovan gives a boost

The Croatian big man has been playing in spots here and there as a freshman, and not just in mop-up duty. With Freeman tearing Ohio State up on the interior in the first half, Diebler had Njegovan check in with seven minutes to go until halftime.

With 1:30 left until halftime, the seven-footer blocked Freeman below the basket and sent the ball rolling toward the Ohio State bench. Iowa grabbed the rebound and got it back to Freeman on the perimeter, who missed a three.

On the ensuing Ohio State possession, Njegovan grabbed a missed shot by Ques Glover and tipped it in to make it 30-24 Ohio State.

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Glover’s turnaround jumper puts Ohio State up a dozen

Already in the middle of a little 5-0 run, Glover dribbled to the basket, turned around, and hit a 10-foot turnaround jumper over the head of Josh Dix to make it 41-29 Ohio State with 16 minutes left.

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Mobley sets career-high in assists, puts Ohio State up 20

With the Buckeyes leading 52-34 and 10:58 remaining in the game, Mobley had the ball on the far wing, surrounded by three Hawkeye defenders who were not going to let him shoot. The freshman threw a high, arcing pass over their heads to Mahaffey below the basket, who was guarded by Brock Harding, who happens to be six inches shorter than Mahaffey.

Mahaffey grabbed it and slammed the ball home, making it 54-34 and giving Ohio State a 20-point lead. It was Mobley’s sixth assist of the game, which became his new career-high (momentarily).

After Payton Sandfort drilled a three to make it 54-37, Thornton found Mobley for a wide-open straightaway three from just in front of the logo. He drilled it — his second triple of the game — to put Ohio State up 20 again, 57-37.

Sandfort finished the game with 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting for Iowa. He was 3-for-10 from three-point range.

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What’s next?

Ohio State (12-8, 4-5) has a quick turnaround, as they’ll hop on a plane Thursday and head to State College to face Penn State (13-8, 3-7) at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions are one of the deepest teams in the nation, with six different players averaging between 10 and 14.5 points per game.

Last season when Ohio State traveled to State College, the Buckeyes built an 18-point lead early in the second half, but collapsed and lost by three on the road.

Ohio State’s game at Penn State will be broadcast on FS1 and tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. ET.