Buckeyes struggle in OT win over cold-shooting Zips

March 16, 2016 at 12:05a.m.

By BILL LANDIS

Cleveland.com

COLUMBUS

Ohio State players said after getting bounced from the Big Ten Tournament that they were excited about playing in the NIT. That it was a chance to grow and get extra games.

The Buckeyes didn’t look like they had much excitement on Tuesday night. Ohio State played through some lethargic stretches, and the No. 3 seed Buckeyes escaped Value City Arena with a 72-63 overtime win over No. 6 Akron.

Playing without second-leading scorer Keita Bates-Diop, Ohio State looked even more out of sorts on offense than usual, mostly settling for JaQuan Lyle drives and nothing much out of sets in the second half.

Lyle finished with 18 points, as did Marc Loving and Kam Williams, who started in place of Bates-Diop. Lyle also had 14 rebounds and six assists. Loving had 13 rebounds.

Akron was led by 16 points and 12 rebounds from Isaiah Johnson. Ohio State outscored Akron 10-1 in the overtime period.

After abysmal offensive starts for both teams, some shots did start falling in the second half, but neither team could pull away.

Lyle missed a runner just inside of five minutes to play, went to get his own rebound but got tangled up with Loving. Akron got the ball and took a 59-57 lead in a Reggie McAdams bucket with 4:53 left. Those kind of blunders plagued Ohio State all night.

At the final media timeout, Akron led 59-58 with 3:26 left. A Lyle bucket inside gave Ohio State a 60-59 lead, but McAdams answered again with a 3 to give Akron a 62-60 lead. Tied at 62 with less than a minute left, Ohio State had three chances at a game-winning bucket but couldn’t get it.

The teams went to overtime tied at 62.

No KBD

Bates-Diop, a sophomore, missed Tuesday’s game due to illness, according to an Ohio State spokesperson. Bates-Diop was averaging 11.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

What it means

Regardless of the outcome, this is not how Ohio State wanted to open NIT play. The Buckeyes were confident coming into the night that had some things figured out after losing to Michigan State, but clearly they didn’t.

Ohio State was short-handed, and Akron was a team with NCAA Tournament hopes, but it should not have looked like this.

What’s next

Ohio State will meet No. 2 Florida in a second-round game.