Ohio State gives up halftime lead, loses again to Minnesota

Rather than getting a much-needed win, the Ohio State basketball team continued its poor play, losing to Minnesota by three at home.

It’s official. This Ohio State team is in the valley, and it’s hard to see a way out of it. After looking like one of the best teams in the country, it has shown a lack of toughness, turned the ball over far too often, and have had a real problem with shot selection. It was much of the same in a 62-59 loss to the Golden Gophers.

Before, it was more of a problem on the road, but now it appears Ohio State can’t even hold serve in front of the home crowd. In a year in which road wins are hard to come by in the conference, the Buckeyes have lost two out of four Big Ten home games to date.

Once again, the Buckeyes failed to show the toughness needed to win in the Big Ten. It allowed Minnesota to get back in the game after leading by nine at halftime by not coming out of the locker room motivated and focused. It didn’t take long for the Gophers to reel the game back in, and from there it was anybody’s ballgame.

But it wouldn’t be Ohio State’s ballgame.

Ohio State big man Kaleb Wesson was neutralized — only scoring two points for the entire game. OSU’s guard play was able to compensate in the first half, but that’s not how this team is built. There just wasn’t a great scoring option in the last twenty to find a way to win.

Still, the Buckeyes had a shot to win with under a minute to play. Kaleb Wesson got a good look from beyond the arc but missed, and then Marcus Carr made OSU pay at the other end by nailing a three of his own with just three seconds to play to seal the deal.

At the end of the day, it’s another loss and a turn towards the real possibility of not making the NCAA Tournament. That’s hard to believe with how hot this team started, but it’s the reality of where this team is.

Where do things go from here? I’d say they can’t get any worse, but we keep seeing that they can.