The Buckeyes will look to keep rolling after a big win over Texas to start the season.
The Ohio State Buckeyes are back from Las Vegas and ready for its home opener against Youngstown State on Monday evening.
The Buckeyes (1-0) defeated No. 19 Texas 80-72 to open the season last Monday, while Youngstown State is also 1-0 after taking down Chicago State 80-60 on Saturday night.
The Penguins were supposed to open their season last Monday along with Ohio State, but a campus-wide power outage saw their opener against Division-II Westminster (Pa.) get postponed.
The Buckeyes are unranked at the time of publish of this preview, but the second AP Top-25 poll of the season is set to be released around noon (ET) and Ohio State has a great chance to become ranked for the first time since January 2023.
The Penguins will come to Columbus before the Buckeyes return to College Station Friday night to face Texas A&M. On Friday night, they will take on the Aggies for the second leg of the home-and-home series after falling to Buzz Williams’ squad last year, 73-66.
Preview
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Youngstown State finished 22-10 overall and 14-6 in the Horizon League last season, finishing second to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies.
They are entering this season with a new head coach after Jerrod Calhoun left the Penguins program after seven years to take the head job at Utah State. Calhoun was replaced by Ethan Faulkner, who had been the associate head coach since 2022.
The Penguins were veteran-heavy last season, but lost all five of its top scorers from a year ago, including Ziggy Reid and D.J. Burns, who averaged 14.5 and 13.1 points per game, respectively. Reid also averaged 4.9 rebounds per game, while Burns averaged 11 boards per contest.
They also lost Brett Thompson and Brandon Rush, who averaged 12.6 and 11.7 points per game, respectively.
For Youngstown State, senior guard Nico Galette — a transfer from Sacred Heart — led the way with 20 points and nine rebounds in 34 minutes against Chicago State. Galette scored over 1300 career points at SHU before transferring to Youngstown State for his final year of eligibility.
Juwan Maxey had 14 points off the bench, and Ty Harper added 12 points, three rebounds, and three assists.
The Penguins also have a 7-foot-3 center, so Aaron Bradshaw and the frontcourt will have their hands full. Gabe Dynes had 11 points and six rebounds on 5-for-6 shooting, with an impressive seven blocks on the defensive side.
It will be interesting to see if, due to the presence of Dynes, we see Ohio State 7’1 center transfer Ivan Njegovan. He did not play against Texas, and head coach Jake Diebler said that was due to the flow of the game. He may be needed more in this one.
Ohio State’s junior point guard Bruce Thornton scored 20 points, and Micah Parrish scored 17 points in the win over Texas.
The Buckeyes got a huge spark off the bench, with sophomore Devin Royal going for 16 points and freshman John Mobley Jr. recording 14 points and 4-for-4 from the three-point line. The Buckeyes shot the leather off the ball, going 27-for-60 from the field and 14-for-28 from the three-point line.
Prediction
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The Buckeyes have two tough contests in their first three games, but Youngstown State is not one of them. Youngstown State does have good players and are always a contender in the Horizon League, but the Buckeyes are more talented and should be able to use that to pull away in this one.
An interesting player to watch will be Meechie Johnson. He struggled in the opener against Texas on both ends of the floor, but he was an All-SEC selection last season for a reason. I expect him to bounce back in this one and have a solid showing in his first game back in Columbus in two years.
Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart will have their hands full below the basket with Dynes, so I am also curious how the Ohio State frontcourt combo of Bradshaw and Sean Stewart looks in their second game as the Buckeyes. Ohio State looked great in general against Texas, but they were not perfect, and the front-court production left a lot to be desired. Bradshaw and Stewart will also have to stay out of foul trouble to help deal with Dynes.
I think this could be single digits at the half, and the Buckeyes pull away early in the second quarter to win comfortably. They have also had a week to prepare for this, while the Penguins have had just 48 hours to prepare and recover from their last game.
ESPN BPI: Ohio State 94.8%
Time: 6:00 p.m. ET
TV: Big Ten Network
LGHL score prediction: Ohio State 84, Youngstown State 63