Ohio State watched from home on Wednesday night as the Big Ten tournament got underway at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, as No. 14 seed Minnesota and No. 11 Penn State waited to take on No. 6 seed Buckeyes in second. fought for the rights. Round on Thursday. The Nittany Lions took a 60–51 business when the two teams split regular season meetings.
That means Scarlett and Gray face Penn State on Thursday evening as they begin their postseason game. These two teams met twice during the regular season, with Ohio State winning 76–64 at the Bryce Jordan Center in early December and a 61–56 win against the Nittany Lions at Value City Arena a month and a half later.
"They can both play in different styles," Buckeye's head coach Chris Holtman said on Wednesday of his two potential opponents. "They both just present different styles. They have really unique matchups for us to attack... I think it helps that we played both teams twice. But our focus is on us. But trying to improve a little more will be on some areas we need to improve yesterday and today and then we will spend some time together as a team tonight when we get to know who our opponent will be."
Looking back, both games against Penn State played out evenly, with Scarlett and Gray taking the lead at halftime before doing enough to close the game in the second half.
Even after the upset of the then-no, coming five days later. No disappointment came from Ohio State after a win against the 1st Duke, the top-ranked team in the nation. Even playing at a venue that has given him problems over the years, the Buckeyes did what they needed at State College.
After going up five points early, Scarlett and Gray allowed Penn State to come back and take a seven-point lead. But by the middle of the first half, Ohio State was up eight points and extended that lead to 12 before halftime. After reaching 18 points in the second half, the Nittany Lions took the lead, but it was never enough as Bucky held on to a 12-point victory on the road.
It was a balanced Ohio State attack in this first meeting with three players scoring in double digits against Penn State. Senior Kyle Young led the Buckeyes with 16 points and seven rebounds. Liddell scored 13 points, made five rebounds and three steals, and new guard Malachi Branham scored 11 points and two assists.
In mid-January, Scarlett and Gray got into a defensive battle with the Nittany Lions and came out on top. While the offense struggled, the defense and hustle plays were enough for Ohio State to win. After Penn State took an early 10-4 lead in the first five minutes, head coach Chris Holtman called a timeout to refocus Scarlett and Gray. It didn't take long for Ohio State to take the team's first lead, never surrendering it despite a 10-point advantage six times in the second half by the Nittany Lions.