Even as the wins piled up and Ohio State climbed in the national rankings, Chris Holtmann preached an ominous message to his players.
"We’re going to get knocked around in this league," he said barely a week ago. "That’s the reality."
Those words came to fruition in a big way Monday night at Value City Arena. Brimming with confidence after a 20-point home win against No. 23 Michigan four days ago, a Nebraska team fighting to build an NCAA Tournament resume traded blows with the recently promoted No. 13 Buckeyes.
And although the Cornhuskers pushed them to the limit, the Buckeyes reached the midpoint of the conference season bloodied, bruised and unbeaten with a 64-59 win.
Playing its fourth game in nine days and on a two-day turnaround after a Saturday against Minnesota in New York, Ohio State (18-4, 9-0 Big Ten) displayed all the expected signs of fatigue.
The Buckeyes led by five points on three second-half occasions, only to see Nebraska (14-8, 5-4) respond — and often thanks to junior guard James Palmer Jr., who was spectacular on a night where offense was at a premium.
He scored a career-high 34 points, a Value City Arena record for an opponent, but the Buckeyes countered with their all-league candidate in Keita Bates-Diop, who had only six points at halftime on 2-of-5 shooting.
With the lead at 38-34, Bates-Diop scored 14 of Ohio State’s next 17 points to match Palmer.
Then his teammates chipped in. Trailing 60-56 with 1:44 to play and nine seconds left on the shot clock, Nebraska called timeout to draw up a play but then committed a shot clock violation as Andre Wesson smothered the ball.
At the other end, Jae’Sean Tate’s driving layup late in the shot clock made it a two-possession lead with 1:02 to play.
It was finally too much for the Cornhuskers, and it allowed a crowd of 10,918 to finally enjoy itself.
C.J. Jackson’s three-pointer with 43 seconds left in the first half was Ohio State’s only successful one to that point, and it gave the Buckeyes a 24-22 lead they would take into the half. It tied for their lowest-scoring opening half of the year, when they led Butler 24-21 in the PK80 Invitational in a game they lost in overtime by one point.
The statistics weren’t pretty, but they were accurate given the score. Ohio State was 9 of 25 from the field and 1 of 8 from three-point range with six turnovers. Nebraska was 8 of 28 overall and 2 of 15 on three-pointers and also had six turnovers. The Buckeyes also missed the front end of two one-and-one free-throw situations.
Nebraska led by as many as seven early, and the Buckeyes didn’t take a lead until 5:22 remaining when Bates-Diop slammed home a Jackson alley-oop against Nebraska’s 1-3-1 zone to make it a 17-16 game. The crowd roared, but the Cornhuskers scored on consecutive possessions to reclaim a three-point lead.