Ohio State controls second half to get big win on the road vs. Minnesota

It would have been easy to forgive the Ohio State basketball team if it came out a little flat and with some rust. That was far from the case though on Thursday night in Minneapolis. Instead, the Buckeyes took control of the game physically against Minnesota in the second half to win fairly easily 75-64 for a big road contest in the Big Ten.

It’s kind of hard to believe, but the win is Ohio State’s first win in The Barn in seven years. The way the Buckeyes did it wasn’t hard to figure out. They simply outworked Minnesota on defense and on the boards.

OSU pulled down a whopping 48 rebounds, 20 of them on the offensive end to get more second chances than the Golden Gophers could deal with. Ohio State imposed its will and outscored Minnesota 43 to 34 in the second half.

E.J. Liddell again paved the way for Ohio State. He notched a double-double with 23 points and 15 rebounds on 9-of-14 shooting. He even reached a milestone of 1,000 career points on the journey Thursday night. Kyle Young, Zed Key, and Malaki Branham also finished in double figures with 14, 12, and 11 points.

With the win, Ohio State improves its record to 13-4 overall and 6-2 in the conference to remain just 1/2 game out of first place in the league. The result was also Chris Holtmann’s 100th victory at the helm in Columbus.

The Buckeyes will next be in action at Purdue on Sunday. That might be a big one.

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