No. 17 Ohio State avoids home upset against Akron with buzzer beater

Nearly November madness!!!

The 2021-22 men’s college basketball season is less than a day old and we’ve already had an absolute banger of an ending.

The No. 17 Ohio State Buckeyes tipped off their season against the unranked Akron Zips on Tuesday in a game that should have been a breeze for one of the best teams in the country. Instead, however, the game was a close affair, with Ohio State leading Akron by three in the final 10 seconds of the game. With the Zips hopes down to one final shot, Ali Ali threw up a beautiful three-point attempt that landed to tie the game.

Not only that, there was a foul on the play too, which meant Akron took the lead 66-65 on a four-point swing in the dying seconds of the game and was poised for the upset.

Not so fast, however, as Ohio State was able to retake the lead 67-66 at the buzzer on an incredible tip in after threading through the Akron defense.

What a wild turn of events! And what heartbreak for Akron to have victory nearly assured but were unable to stop Ohio State’s offense on one last attack.

Here’s how Ohio State radio called Zed Key’s game-winning layup that helped the Buckeyes avoid disaster in November.

This is March… I mean, November!

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E.J. Liddell leads late run, Ohio State enters halftime up on Akron

E.J. Liddell is on his way to at least a double-double vs. Akron.

The more things change, the more they stay the same — at least when it comes to E.J. Liddell showing off for the Ohio State basketball team.

In case this flew under the radar for you, the Buckeyes opened up the 2021-2022 season on Tuesday night against in-state opponent Akron, and it was a bit of a slow start for the Buckeyes. But then, Liddell took over and the OSU defense began to clamp down a little before Ohio State went on a run to end the half and head into the locker room up 36-28.

Liddell leads all scorers in the game with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. He’s had put backs, mid-range jumpers, nailed a 3-pointer, and even hammered a dunk home off of a rebound. The 6-foot, 7-incher also has eight rebounds and seems destined for his first double-double of the year.

Zed Key and Justin Ahrens also had good halves for OSU, with eight and seven points respectively.

There’s still a long way to go in this one, and Akron has been scrappy and active. The Buckeyes will need more from Liddell, and could use some more scoring at other positions to chalk this one up as a win.

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Ohio State vs. Akron basketball preview, prediction, and odds

Basketball tips tomorrow for the first time at Ohio State and we’re rolling out our first preview and prediction for the season.

Records

Ohio State 0-0 (0-0), Akron 0-0 (0-0)

Broadcast, TV, Game Time

Date | Tuesday, November 9
Game Time | 6 p.m. EST
Venue | Value City Arena, Columbus, OH
Network | ESPN2


After months of waiting, and in the midst of a potential College Football Playoff run for the football team, the Ohio State basketball team is set to officially break the seal on the 2021-2022 season.

The Buckeyes welcome the Akron Zips to the Schott to kick the dust off and start forming an identity for this team. It has to be a little like Christmas morning for head coach Chris Holtmann as he tries to see what this team is all about in the bright lights for the first time.

It’s a team that has a lot of new parts and pieces that need to come together for this team to do some things those around the program think it can, so getting off to a hot start against an in-state foe would be ideal.

Next … The Ohio State game plan

Five things we think we learned from Ohio State’s win over Akron

Here are some things we think we can take away from the Ohio State win over Akron. #GoBucks

That was a little more like it. This time the Ohio State football team took care of business against an Akron team it should have with little drama involved (well sort of) 59-7. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good to see freshman quarterback Kyle McCord more or less get the job done, and the defense play much more aggressive and purposeful.

It wasn’t perfect though. There was a bizarre moment that we’ll get into later, and the defense still came out of the gate a little slow before figuring some things out.

As we do with every game, we provide you with five knee-jerk things we think we learned after soaking in all the action from the game, and we’re up to the task again.

Here are five things we think we learned from Ohio State against Akron on Saturday night.

NEXT … There is a lot of young talent on this team

Ohio State LB K’Vaughan Pope stormed off the field in the middle of game versus Akron

K’Vaughan Pope’s Ohio State career is in jeopardy.

Now this is a situation you don’t often see in football.

On Saturday, during Ohio State’s game against Akron, the Buckeyes had an interesting situation unfold late in the first half. Linebacker K’Vaughan Pope was seen leaving the field after a heated argument with his coaches on the sideline.

According to Austin Ward, Buckeyes reporter for Lettermen Row, Pope stormed to the locker room after being waived off the field before entering the game as a substitute. Upon leaving the field, Pope reportedly tossed his gloves into the stands and tried to take off his jersey.

Pope was eventually escorted to the Ohio State locker room, as it seemed like his night was over with the Buckeyes headed into the half up 38-7.

The story doesn’t stop there, however! After exiting the game and getting to the locker room, Pope tweeted twice. His first tweet was to wish his Ohio State teammates well. The second? A now-deleted NSFW tweet cursing out the school.

In two games this season for Ohio State, Pope has three tackles and a broken up pass. Previously, Pope’s best season with the Buckeyes was in 2019 when he had 13 tackles and two interceptions.

We’ll see if Pope’s career with Ohio State has officially ended after Saturday’s incident. In an up and down season already filled with questions for this Buckeyes team, add this moment to the list.

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Akron vs Ohio State three and out halftime review

These three things jumped off the screen while watching the #Buckeyes

The Ohio State Buckeyes are at halftime in the middle of routing the Akron Zips and are currently leading the MAC competitor 38-7. This is the first half-time of the season where most Buckeye fans are probably content with what they’ve seen during the first 30 minutes of play.

The Buckeyes actually have a legitimate chance to beat that giant and insane 50 points spread. I understand that Akron is not very good, but this is the same Ohio State team that was only leading the Tulsa Golden Hurricane by seven points last week.

Below are three things that have made me very happy up to this point and should be something to watch for in the second half as well.

Next … Is McCord the answer?

Ohio State vs. Akron preview central: All Buckeyes Wire preview pieces in one place.

Get ready for Ohio State’s game against Akron by sifting through all of our preview pieces in one place. #GoBucks

Another Saturday means another Ohio State game, one in which we hope to see a lot of improvement and consistency against a team that the Buckeyes should handle with no problem. Every week during the football season we run several preview pieces for the upcoming game and it can be a little hard to find them all, so we put them all in one place.

So, rather than scour the internet, or our site for all the articles to get you ready for the Buckeyes vs. the Akron Zips, we’ve indexed them here.

Follow through this running list of game week previews and select the ones you want to read, then feel smarter when you go to debate the game with your friends. Or enemies. We don’t judge, we just provide the content you need to get ready for the game.

Ohio State provides player availability, injury status report for Akron game

Ohio State just released what players will not be available for the Akron game. There are some surprises.

As they do every week just prior to game time, the fine folks with the Ohio State football team have issued the availability report for the game against Tulsa. We sometimes get surprised by what comes out, and that’s the case here.

Center Harry Miller is still out and has been available at all this year. It’s still unknown what the story is there, but clearly, something is going on. In addition to that, whether because of injury or other reasons, the unavailability of players is starting to pile up, most especially on the defensive line.

Tyreke Johnson, Taron Vincent, and many other key members of the line are unavailable Saturday. The Buckeyes do have defensive end Zach Harrison back, t\so that’s at least some positive news. Look for Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau to get more reps one again off the edge.

Here is the rest of the availability report. It’s worth noting that there are no players listed as a game-time decision.

NEXT … The complete player availability report for Akron

Final thoughts before Ohio State vs. Akron

Some final thoughts before Ohio State takes on Akron in the ‘Shoe Saturday night. #GoBucks

Here we go with another weekend of Ohio State football. It’s another chance for us to see some improvement from a very, very young squad against a team that shouldn’t be in the same galaxy as the Buckeyes. But … as they say … that’s why they play the games.

To add intrigue into the mix, OSU is sitting starting quarterback C.J. Stroud to rest his shoulder, and that means we’ll see either Kyle McCord or Jack Miller spinning the ball around the field.

But that’s just one storyline in this one. As we do every week, we’ve got some random, off-the-cusp, final thoughts before all the fun in the ‘Shoe this weekend. Here is our stream of consciousness about the matchup between Akron and Ohio State before tonight’s kickoff.

NEXT … Final thoughts before Ohio State plays Akron

Akron vs. Ohio State Buckeyes Wire staff predictions

What do the experts expect from the #Buckeyes vs. Akron? Our staff throws out their predictions.

The Ohio State football team now sits at 2-1 after an unconvincing win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane last Saturday. I know the scoreboard said the Buckeyes won 41-20, which sounds impressive, but anyone who watched the game was scared until the very end.

This week the Buckeyes will play the Akron Zips who sit at 1-2 and just came off their first victory over FCS competitor, Bryant. The Buckeyes are favored by more than seven touchdowns, but this game will still be extremely interesting to watch considering Kyle McCord or Jack Miller is likely going to get their first start while C.J. Stroud takes a game off to rest his shoulder.

We are onto our staff predictions for the Akron game. We all predicted a Buckeye victory last week, but we were all wrong predicting extreme blow-outs, but lets see what we have for Akron.

NEXT … The Predictions