Ohio State wins third straight

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

No so long ago, Ohio State was a dysfunctional team headed nowhere.

Not there’s a sense by the Buckeyes that they might have figured out some of their problems.

Lenzelle Smith Jr., starting his 100th game, hit 4 of 7 3-pointers and scored 16 points to lead the way in a 67-49 win over Purdue on Saturday night, the Buckeyes’ third win in a row after losing five of six.

“When we were still in January we tried to put the losses behind us,” said LaQuinton Ross, who led the Buckeyes (19-5, 6-5 Big Ten) with 17 points. “It’s a great feeling. Winning cures all. That’s what we’ve been doing lately, so everybody’s been feeling a lot better.”

Maybe so, but coach Thad Matta knows how tenuous success is in a difficult league over a long season.

“You like to feel great. But right now, jeez, one bad segment of a game could cost you the game with what we have left on our schedule in terms of who, where and when we’re playing,” Matta said. “Our execution is better, defensively we’ve been a lot more active and communication has been a lot better for us.”

The Buckeyes won their first 15 games to get to No. 3 in the nation. Then lost four in a row and split the next two. Then they pulled off two huge road wins, winning at No. 14 Wisconsin 59-58 on Feb. 1 and at No. 17 Iowa 76-69 on Tuesday.

After a Jan. 29 home loss to Penn State — winless in the conference to that point — Smith in particular sniped about how there was no camaraderie and little leadership on the team. That was the low point.

“Ever since I had that interview and I said we were missing camaraderie and leadership, I think we found a lot of that stuff we were missing,” said Smith, who has been slumping offensively in recent games. “It’s great. Because this is the time you want to be playing your best basketball. As long as we can keep this train rolling without any stops or bumps in the road, I think we’re going to be very happy and a very successful basketball team.”

The Buckeyes broke open the game late — a trend in these last three victories. They finished the game on a 19-4 run to turn a tight 48-45 lead into an easy win.