Ohio State came close amid a late comeback against Villanova, but close won't cut it if the Buckeyes expect to get past the second round of the NCAA Tournament in the near future.
Malaki Branham probed the lane, drew a triple-team and tossed the ball back to a wide-open shooter over his right shoulder.
Ohio State looked out of its depths early on. The Buckeyes trailed by 11 points at halftime following a period in which it hit just two of its first 10 shots and finished with a 38.5 percent clip from the floor. Besides E.J. Liddell and Malaki Branham, the Buckeyes scored just eight points on 3-for-12 shooting, and Ohio State lost both the rebounding battle and points in the paint differential by significant margins.
The Buckeyes knocked down five of their seven field goals from 9:40 to 5:39, and Branham nailed four of them, including two 3-pointers. The freshman guard scored 15 points in the second half alone during a 23-point day to lead Ohio State, and his scoring spark allowed the Buckeyes to outscore Villanova 15-5 as they made it a one-possession game on the aforementioned Wheeler shot.
On the other end, the Wildcats outscored Ohio State 11-3 over the final 4:36, shooting 3-for-6 from the floor during that stretch and knocking down four of their five free-throw attempts to close out the contest. “My teammates were picking me up, they needed me, I started out the second half and felt like I let them down on the defensive side of the ball but over there reflecting on the bench I felt like I came back in and did better than what I did,” Liddell said. “I was trying to do my best to help this guy out right here. He was having a really good game and some shots weren't falling for me tonight.