Buckeyes Open Big Ten Play with 84-74 Win Over Minnesota

Sunday, December 3

Columbus, Ohio

6:30 p.m.

Ohio State

7-1,1-0Big Ten

Minnesota

5-3,0-1Big Ten

Minnesota

Ohio St.

Buckeyes Open Big Ten Play with 84-74 Win Over Minnesota

12/3/2023 10:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State raced out to a 22-point first half lead and would hold on down the stretch to beat visiting Minnesota 84-74 on Sunday evening in the Big Ten opener for both teams.

The Buckeyes were led by sophomore Bruce Thornton with 26 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including knocking down 9-of-10 from the charity stripe. Minnesota transfer Jamison Battle put up 23 points on his former team, including knocking down four three-pointers.

Minnesota's Dawson Garcia would produce 36 points for the Golden Gophers and led a second half charge to cut the lead to as little as six with under four minutes to play.

The Buckeyes found their rhythm quickly after a sloppy opening two minutes, hitting three consecutive shots from beyond the arc to build a quick 14-2 lead led by Battle with nine points. Thornton would collect his 500^th career point at the foul line to add to the Buckeyes hot start.

The attack by the Buckeyes would continue with Thornton scoring nine quick points and Zed Key throwing down a two-handed poster dunk that would extend the lead to 28-12 by the midway mark of the half. An Ohio State 14-2 run would keep the lead at 42-28 at halftime despite a late charge by the Golden Gophers in the waning moments of the half. Three Buckeyes; Battle, Roddy Gayle Jr, and Thornton finished the half in double-figures.

Ohio State was led out of the half by Thornton, who answered with five points after Minnesota struck first to help extend the lead to 54-34 early on in the half. Minnesota would use a Buckeye scoring drought that lasted over three minutes to cut the lead to 58-46 with 10 minutes left to play.

Garcia's 28 points in the second half would cut the Buckeye lead to 70-64 with just under four minutes to play in the game. But the Buckeyes would keep their composure thanks to three-pointers from Battle, Gayle Jr, and Thornton to keep the Buckeyes ahead down the stretch.

The Buckeyes finished the game with 34 rebounds and shot 52.9 percent from beyond the three-point line (9-for-17).

With his 26 points, Bruce Thornton has scored in double-figures in seven of the eight games this season. He has also scored 20 or more in three of the last four games and a total of four times this season.
Thornton also went over 500 career points in the game.
This was the fifth time this season that Thornton dished-out five assists and it's the 12^th time its happened in his career.
Jamison Battle scored a season-high 25 points on 4-of-6 from long range. He topped 25 points just once last season, on Feb. 20, 2023, at Illinois when he went for 31 points.
Battle has made a three-pointer in every game this season and has multiple threes in seven of the eight games.
Battle was 7-of-7 from the free throw, matching his most makes in a game without a miss.
Felix Okpara extended his block streak to 15 consecutive games. Just Ken Johnson, Greg Oden and Dallas Lauderdale have had longer streaks since 2000. He tied his career-high with five blocks.
The Buckeyes were 23-of-28 from the free throw line. This is the third game this season with 20 or more free throws.
Dawson Garcia's 36 points was a Value City Arena high by an OSU opponent.