Ohio State Basketball’s play in the paint propelled the Buckeyes to an 84-74 victory over Marshall despite struggles from beyond the arc. 

Amare Bynum opened up the scoring for OSU with the front of a one-and-one and a layup on the following possession. After the Herd and Buckeyes traded baskets, John Mobley Jr. drilled the first triple of the game at the 15:58 mark to put OSU up 10-6.

Marshall is among the quickest tempo teams in the country, ranking 35 out of 365 teams in the KenPom adjusted tempo metric, and they showed it. With less than five minutes elapsed, the score was 10-9 OSU, and the two teams had had 21 possessions.

From this point, though, Ohio State began to find a rhythm on offense. OSU swelled the lead to 22-9 by the 12:06 mark, helped by Mobley Jr. going 3/3 from the line after a shooting foul and Jimmie Williams sinking a pair of jumpers during the 12-0 run. Despite the Herd’s pace of play, Ohio State stayed disciplined on defense and got to their spots consistently.

The defensive effort yielded welcome results: Marshall shot just 41% from the field, 13% from beyond the arc, and committed 9 turnovers in the first half. Anthony Thompson began to blossom offensively, hitting a pair of threes after having not made a triple in the first two games of the season.

Thompson finished the half with 10 points, more than he had scored in the previous matchups combined. Jimmie Williams had a breakout part of his own, leading the Buckeyes with 12 points at the break en route to a 45-27 Buckeye lead. OSU led all but 22 seconds of the first half and boasted 14 points off the bench.

Andrija Jelavic got going early in the second half, converting an and-one on OSU’s second possession. Marshall would answer in a big way, however, and in less than 5 minutes rode a 16 to 3 run to cut OSU’s lead to 48-43 before Jake Diebler called a timeout at the 15:13 mark.

“I think it’s now two games in a row where we have not come out and started the second half well enough. And we’ve got to own it,” Diebler said postgame.

The Herd’s tempo seemed to be affecting the Buckeyes for the first time in the contest. Amare Bynum didn’t waste time, attacking the basket with a quick lay-in to get OSU back on track. He then sank the back end of an and-one on the next possession, providing a much-needed spark for Ohio State. After a Jimmie Williams jumper and a triple from John Mobley Jr, the Buckeyes again extended their lead to double-digits and settled back in with a 58-47 lead.

Marshall continued to linger in the second half, though, with a 68 percent second-half field goal percentage, trailing just 62-68 with 6:49 to go. With timely defense for OSU, Curtis Givens III would come off the bench to stunt the Herd’s momentum with a madder triple from the corner, followed by an authoritative one-hand slam from Jimmie Williams on the next possession. With this, Ohio State took a 73-62 lead with just over 4 minutes to go and never looked back.

“We have some really good moments and some not-so-good moments, and we’re fighting for consistency,” Diebler said. “The biggest challenge for this team right now is to continually fight to sustain the level of excellence that we show at times.”

John Mobley Jr. added his second in-game dunk as a Buckeye and led the team with 19 points in an 84-74 win to move Ohio State to 2-1. Despite shooting just 28% from beyond the arc, 36 points in the paint propelled OSU to victory tonight as the team finds different ways to win early on.

Ohio State’s next matchup is a big one: they travel to the No. 4 UConn Huskies at 7:30 on TNT this Friday.