COLUMBUS, OHIO- Both Michigan State and No. 23 Ohio State have seen their positioning in the Big 10 standings fall over the past few games.
The Spartans have dropped four of their last five games and the Buckeyes have lost in back-to-back outings.
On Thursday, March 3 the two teams met for an important meeting for their conference seeding for the Big 10 tournament that begins on March 9.
Ohio State’s shooting production was purely dominant. Led by Freshman guard Malaki Branham’s 22 points, the Buckeyes defeated Michigan State 80-69.
Malaki Branham has had a great year scoring as a freshman. The Columbus native averages 12.7 points on the year, but against the Spartans he went for 22 on 9-16 shooting, to go along with four rebounds and four assists.
The first half of this game was a series of runs. Ohio State got straight to work in the one. The Buckeyes opened the game up on a 16-2 run as their offense was knocking down shot after shot.
Michigan State was quick to respond, not letting the quick Ohio State start affect them long term, trimming the Ohio State lead to 27-25 after the Spartans went on a 23-9 run of their own.
Just as the Spartans gained momentum, Ohio State called a timeout and opened a 9-0 run of their own, finishing the half outscoring Michigan state 16-8, and taking a 43-33 lead at the break.
The Major offensive runs ended at the half and the Buckeyes held their own through the second half, maintaining the lead and taking the win to snap their short two-game losing streak.
Buckeye’s Getting Buckets
Ohio State had a tremendous night on offense. The Buckeyes scored from all over and hit shots at a high percentage.
On the night, Ohio State shooters hit on 54.7% of their shots from the field and made nine three-pointers on 20 attempts.
Multiple guys for the Buckeyes were able to put up big scoring numbers on Thursday.
E.J. Liddell scored 19 points on 50% shooting and Jamari Wheeler put up 16 of his own, including four three-pointers.
The biggest surprise of the night for Ohio State was Senior center Joey Brunk who averages 1.3 points per game on the year; scoring 18 points for his squad, dominating inside the paint on 7-10 shooting from the field.
On defense the Buckeyes had seven steals as a team, setting up the offense for good looks to score all night.
Spartans Struggles
Michigan State has had a strong season up until the past month. Since February 5 though, the Spartans are 2-7.
Michigan State was nationally ranked for a large portion of the season but their struggles as of late have knocked them out of the national poll and their stock in playing in the NCAA tournament is plummeting too.
Against Ohio State, the Spartans didn’t have a bad game. As a team, they shot 45.3% and were able to hit nine three-pointers of their own.
Gabe Brown led the Michigan State roster in scoring with 13 points.
The Spartans bench helped keep them in this game. The reserves had 33 of the Michigan State 69 points.
The Spartans had trouble taking care of the ball as they had 13 turnovers. The big runs they allowed the Buckeyes to have in the first half practically disabled Michigan State from getting fully back into this game, as the Spartans never held the lead throughout the game.
BIG 10 Standings
With the win, Ohio State improves to 19-9 and 12-7 in the conference, putting them at No.4 in the BIG 10 standings.
The top 4 teams in the conference receive a double-bye in the conference tournament and Ohio State now holds that possibility.
The Spartans’ loss drops them to 19-11 on the seasons and 10-8 in conference play. They rank as the No.8 team in the Big 1O.
Up Next
Ohio State will stay at home to play Michigan on Sunday, March 6.
Michigan State will host Maryland on Sunday, March 6.
