The question with any high-major NIT team is how much they want it. The opportunity to extend a season isn’t equally appealing for all teams, especially in this era of college basketball.
The transfer portal is open. Saturday night’s Ohio State game against Virginia Tech was played with the upper bowl of Value City Arena draped off and streamed – not televised – on ESPN+. The NCAA Tournaments for both the men and women take top billing both on the airwaves and in the collective consciousness.
Eight minutes into this second-round game, Evan Mahaffey stripped the ball from a Virginia Tech player, sending it toward the top of the circle. A 50-50 opportunity rolled there, and Ohio State’s Dale Bonner reached full verticality while pushing it forward to teammate Roddy Gayle Jr.
The Buckeyes lost it out of bounds. Virginia Tech maintained possession. It mattered little. In front of a raucous crowd that roared for every free throw and jeered every foul, Ohio State showed it very much would like to continue playing basketball this season.
They’ll get that chance for at least a few more days. Ohio State (21-13) built a double-digit lead, withstood a barrage of foul calls at both ends and a second-half run to end Virginia Tech’s season 81-73 in front of a full-throated crowd.
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“We’ve got older guys on the team and each game we play right now might be the last time I play with them,” sophomore center Felix Okpara, who had 13 points and six rebounds, said. “We’re just trying to keep the family going for as long as we can.”
With the win, Ohio State will play the winner of Wake Forest-Georgia on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The game will be at Value City Arena if the Bulldogs win Sunday’s game and at Wake Forest if the Demon Deacons do. Ohio State is now 8-2 with Jake Diebler as coach, and Ohio State’s 22 wins are its most since winning 25 in 2017-18.
In a foul-infested game long on choppiness and light on second-half flow, both teams paraded to the free-throw line and Virginia Tech slowly chipped away at what was a 13-point Ohio State lead 3:35 into the second half.
Sophomore guard Bruce Thornton, who had to leave Tuesday’s win against Cornell with a sprained ankle, returned to action no worse for the wear. Classmate and backcourt partner Roddy Gayle Jr., however, subbed out with 16:33 left and watched the next 10 minutes of the game with his right hand wrapped in a towel.
He would return, but Thornton left after a hard foul with 1:44 left and limped to the bench. He sat in the final chair and limped to the locker room with a trainer after covering his face with a towel but returned for the final seconds. Thornton finished with 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and afterward coach Jake Diebler said he took a knee to his thigh.
“I thought (Roddy) showed some great toughness,” Diebler said. “Clearly I’m not a doctor, but I believe (Thornton) got hit in the thigh. He’s certainly with our group right now getting some good recovery.”
Jamison Battle did not make a 3-pointer for only the second time this season, but he led Ohio State with 21 points and was 17 for 18 from the free-throw line. He added a team-high 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
Ohio State was 29 for 32 (90.6%) from the free-throw line and 24 for 61 (39.3%) from the floor. The second half featured 32 fouls, 19 on Virginia Tech, and a combined 45 free throws.
Without Gayle on the court, Virginia Tech’s Sean Padula got going. The Hokies’ leading scorer had only two points when Gayle went to the bench, but finished with 18.
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Ohio State opened the game unable to buy a bucket, and when Felix Okpara turned it over by stepping on the baseline on a spin move with 16:42 left, Virginia Tech led 7-0 as the Buckeyes had missed all five of their shot attempts and turned it over three times.
Gayle Jr. broke the seal with a 3-pointer at 16:20 and Dale Bonner followed suit with a fake, one-dribble pull-up from near the top of the circle one minute later. The outburst was brief and Ohio State went nearly three more minutes without scoring while going empty on five straight possessions. Virginia Tech wasn’t much better, thanks to some stout defense by the Buckeyes, and when Zed Key knocked the ball out of Mylyjael Poteat’s hands with 11:42 left, Ohio State was 3 for 13 from the floor and trailing 12-8.
Thornton got things going after Gayle was able to corral his own miss, and from there the Buckeyes were off and running – often literally, as Diebler yelled for them to push the ball after every defensive rebound. Ohio State scored on five straight possessions, taking the lead on a Key spin and left-handed hook over Poteat on the left baseline at 9:36 and punctuating a 10-0 run with a Gayle dunk on a lob Thornton threw from just past midcourt.
The Hokies tied it at 17 and at 19, but a deep 3-pointer along the left wing from Taison Chatman at 6:13 started a game-changing, 15-2 run. Gayle closed it with a layup from the left block with 1:49 left in the half, and his free throws with 23.4 seconds remaining set the halftime score at 36-26.
After missing 11 of their first 14 shots, the Buckeyes went 12 for 18 (66.7%) to close the half, and they did it by committee. Eight players had at least one field goal led by Gayle with 9 points.
Jamison Battle surpassed 500 points for the season, making him the 38th different Buckeye to hit that total and joining Thornton. The last time Ohio State had multiple 500-point scorers in a season, Jared Sullinger (647), Deshaun Thomas (619) and William Buford (566) all did so in 2011-12.
Ohio State was without freshman wing Scotty Middleton, who missed his second straight game while dealing with a family situation in Orlando.
“We anticipate Scotty being back soon,” Diebler said. “Praying for him and his family. He’s got our support.”
