No. 15 Virginia Beats Ohio State 70-66 Despite 28-Point Outing From Bruce Thornton

Virginia defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes 70-66 on Saturday night, despite a massive 28-point effort from Ohio State star Bruce Thornton. Ohio State’s offense had great trouble scoring in the final 10 minutes of play last night. The Buckeyes fell to 16-9 overall and 8-6 in the Big Ten Conference. Virginia, who is currently ranked number 15, is 22-3 overall and 10-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

With the loss to Virginia, Ohio State let another chance to secure an impressive win slip by. The hopes that the Buckeyes would qualify for the NCAA Tournament are fading. Is it time Ohio State should move on from Joh Deibler?

Virginia Beat Ohio State, 77- 69.

Ohio State missed a golden opportunity on Saturday against Virginia in a narrow 70-66 loss. In terms of a summary, it took a team effort from Virginia; they had nine players reach 5 points. Senior Guard Malik Thomas led the Cavaliers in scoring. He had 13 points, with junior Sam Lewis and freshman Chance Mallory each adding 12. Forward Ugonna Onyenso proved to be defensively solid, with 8 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots.

Thornton scored 28 points for the Buckeyes in the loss. He led all scorers by a wide margin. Freshman Forward Amare Bynum scored 15 points. However, star Guard John Mobley Jr. was out with an injury, and that hurt the Buckeyes. The rest of the team was not that good, for instance, Devin Royal fouled out after a 2-of-12 shooting night.

Scoring Summary Of Virginia’s 70-66 Win Over Ohio State

It is notable that in this game, Taison Chatman made his first career start in place of Mobley. The redshirt sophomore hit his first pair of mid-range jumpers and had a pretty pass to backup Center Ivan Njegovan. Those shots and that assist fueled an early 9-0 run. Ohio State led Virginia 17-6 after six minutes of play.

The Caviliers were able to answer back with their own 9-0 run. Then, the two teams traded baskets. That ended up being a pattern for the game. In this stretch, Ohio State and Virginia alternated scores for a total of nine baskets before either team strung together 4 straight points. When all was said and done, Virginia led 29-28.

A 7-0 Cavaliers run followed, and Ohio State went 3:32 without scoring any points. Eventually, Royal snapped the stretch with a second-chance bucket, and the game was tied at 37 at the half.

In the second half, Virginia started an 8-0 run. Thornton answered to tie things at 61 with a fadeaway jumper. However, Ohio State went cold. During a 1-of-9 stretch from the field for the Buckeyes, Virginia took advantage.

Despite a timeout from Jake Diebler, there were turnovers and mistakes by Ohio State down the stretch. With 30 seconds to play, Ohio State got the ball back trailing 67-64. But there was a Cavaliers block, and Virginia made some free throws to get the win.

Player Of the Game

The player of the game was Senior Ohio State guard Bruce Thornton. He scored a game-high twenty-eight points in the game against Virginia. He is now only 119 points away from becoming the top scorer in Ohio State history.

Frequently Asked Questions

Virginia beat Ohio State 70-66. The player of the game was Bruce Thornton of Ohio State. He led all scores with twenty-eight points. Ohio State next hosts Wisconsin at 8:30 on Tuesday night. Virginia plays at Georgia Tech on Wednesday at 9 pm.

Parting Shots

This was a costly loss for the Buckeyes. They need a win over a ranked team and have only two in-conference games with such opponents. At 16-9, and with no quality wins, it is looking like Ohio State will have to win the Big Ten Tournament to make the NCAA Tournament.

If they do not make the NCAA Tournament, look for the Buckeyes to let Diebler go. Not making the NCAA Tournament is a cardinal sin at Ohio State, and serially losing close games in the last seconds, like this one against Virginia, shows a potential problem with the coaching staff.