In what has to be considered Thad Matta’s most frustrating season at the helm for the Ohio State Buckeyes, it continued Wednesday night with a 71-70 Overtime loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions. Penn State was led by their leading scorer D.J Newbill with 25 points, including the last 2 with 1.9 seconds left, and 8 rebounds. They also got a stellar performance from Brandon Taylor with 19 points. The Buckeyes fell to 16-5 overall and 3-5 in conference play while Penn State improved to 11-10 overall and 2-6 in conference play. Ohio State was led in scoring by LaQuinton Ross with 16 while Lenzelle Smith Jr added 15 as they continue to struggle scoring consistently enough to win in the nation’s toughest conference.

After taking a 35-31 lead into halftime, the Buckeyes appeared to take control of the game after leading by as much as 11 points with a little over 7 minutes to play. But as what appears to be customary under coach Matta, the Buckeyes couldn’t handle playing with the lead and Penn State tied the game with a Brandon Taylor 3 pointer. Continuing the theme, Ohio State appeared to take control in overtime but sloppy play gave Penn State the ball with under 15 seconds to play and only down 1. That’s when D.J. Newbill decided to take a victory back with him to Happy Valley as he drained a step back 15 footer. The Penn State win over the Buckeyes ended the conference’s longest losing streak to one team at 18 consecutive Buckeye wins over the Nittany Lions.

Penn State brings their 1-6 Big Ten Record and overall record of 10-10 into the Value City arena Wednesday night to face the Ohio State Buckeyes. For the first time in 6 games, the Buckeyes bring a winning streak during a basketball game. Though it is only sitting a 1 game, the Buckeyes and head coach Matta will take it. Having lost their previous 4 games before finally getting things going in the right direction vs. Illinois, Ohio State looks to use that momentum against Penn State because road games against Iowa and Wisconsin are waiting for Ohio State. No stranger to a long losing streak, the Nittany Lions defeated Nebraska on Jan 23rd to end a 6 game losing streak of their own. Ironically, it ended against the team that gave the Buckeyes their most unexpected loss during their own losing streak in the Corn Huskers.

Though the Nittany Lions have the most formidable scoring backcourt in the Big Ten in D.J Newbill and Tim Frazier, they just haven’t been able to put a complete game together. Three of their 6 losses have come by 3 points or less has to be frustrating for Head Coach Pat Chambers. Though his program appears to be heading in the right direction, it clearly is not up to the level he expects to be at. The return of Tim Frazier, after having missed nearly a year with an injury, has been a positive as he is averaging 16.5 points a game to Newbill’s 17.2. But it’s their defense that it faltering for Penn State as they are giving up 72.6 points per game, good for 241st in the country.

Speaking of offense, Buckeyes fans are hoping that Thad Matta’s crew found some of theirs after their most recent contest against the Illini. Though 62 points isn’t anything to write home about, it was certainly enough to provide some confidence and rhythm. Lenzelle Smith Jr. scored 16 points and provided that extra spark that had been missing. The reason that the offense is so scrutinized is because the Buckeyes bring in one of the nation’s best defenses into any contest. Currently ranked 8th in the country while allowing only 58.3 points per game, it is the staple to Matta’s team and we have all seen the good things that can happen when the offense goes along with it. Ohio State is led by LaQuinton Ross with 14.1 points and Smith Jr. with 12.1 per contest. I expect this to be relatively low scoring with the Buckeye garnering a 65-55 win.

Ohio State ended its 4 game losing streak in defeating Illinois by a score of 62-55. LaQuinton Ross paced the Buckeyes, now 3-4 in the Big Ten and 16-4 overall, with 18 points on 6-11 shooting and 4-7 from the line. Despite the solid performance in this contest for Ross, the difference in the game was Lenzelle Smith Jr. He ended the contest with 16 points, including 4-8 from the 3 point line that included a couple of momentum swinging 3 pointers. This seemed to be what the Buckeyes lacked during the 4 game losing streak. In addition to that, over the last 4 games, Aaron Craft had just as many turnovers as assists at 19. On Thursday night, he 5 assists while only logging 2 turnovers.

In the early parts of this matchup it did not seem that the Buckeyes were going to overcome any offensive woes as they finished the first half down 25-24 while shooting only 29%. They made some adjustments in the second half and shot 54% on 13-24 shooting in the second half while not settling for poor shots.

As is customary for a Thad Matta coached team, defense is the objective on the court. The ability to stop the leading scorer from the other team was the main concern and Matta’s squad did just that. Rayvonte Rice had been averaging 17.1 points per game and left this game with exactly 0 points. Matta made sure his old assistant John Groce was not going to get the better of him the easy way. At first it looked as though Joseph Bertrand, Jon Eeky and Nnanna Egwu would carry the load for the Illini but they lacked additional scoring and the always pesky craft and his teammates made sure that wouldn’t happen. Bertrand finished with a game high 19 points to Eeky’s 11 and Egwu’s 10. No other Illinois player scored in double figures. The Illini fall to 2-5 in the tough Big Ten conference and 13-7 overall.

The Buckeyes get almost an entire week off as they do not play until hosting Penn State on Wednesday Jan 29th. It couldn’t have come at a more perfect it allows the players some rest as well as positive momentum going into a tough stretch with games at Wisconsin and Iowa following the home game against Penn State.