Ohio State (6-4, 1-1 Big Ten) fell victim to another lopsided loss on Saturday afternoon, this time to one of the top teams in the country, losing to No. 2 Auburn (9-1, 0-0) 91-53 in front of a pro-Tiger State Farm Arena Crowd due to a dismal performance in the paint.
Similarly to its 24-point loss at Maryland on Dec. 4, Ohio State put itself in an inescapable hole before halftime when it allowed Auburn to dominate them in every facet of the game and hold a 28-point lead at the half.
That dominance only continued for the talented Tigers the rest of the game, who held an edge in nearly every statistical category — most notably in rebounding, where they had a 49-28 advantage on the glass and a 38-20 edge in the paint — to cruise to the 38-point win.
Auburn’s blitz of the Buckeyes began right away when, after Jake Diebler’s team got out to an early 3-0 lead, it erupted on a 25-5 run — smothering the Buckeyes with their pressure half-court defense and shooting the lights out from three — to take a commanding 25-8 lead with 12:22 remaining. 11 of those points came from Tigers superstar senior and Naismith Player of the Year candidate forward Johni Broome.
Ohio State briefly found its footing when a Devin Royal basket broke a 6:34 field goal drought and started a 6-0 Buckeye run that allowed them to trail 25-14 with 7:49 left after a Sean Stewart steal and dunk, a sequence where it also held Auburn scoreless for 5:42.
But that was the final breath of life Ohio State had all game.
The Tigers responded by scoring nine of the game’s next 11 points to go up 36-16 with 3:56 after a jumper from senior guard/forward Chad Baker-Mazara, and they put the early nail in the Buckeyes’ coffin with three triples in a span of 1:02 and two more interior field goals to hold a resounding 49-21 lead at halftime.
Auburn’s first-half dominance was in large part due to Broome, who almost outscored and outrebounded the Buckeyes on his own, notching 17 points and 14 rebounds compared to the 21 and 14 from the Scarlet and Gray. The Tigers also shot the lights out from three in the first half, making nine of its 16 attempts (9 of 16) from long range.
Ohio State showed some life out of the break on offense, making five of its first 10 attempts from the field to trail by 27, 59-32, with 14:05 left after an alley-oop dunk by Devin Royal. But the Tigers’ continued dominance in the paint allowed them to hold strong and bring their lead back up to as high as 37, 74-37, with 7:50 remaining after an emphatic dunk by Dylan Cardwell.
Even with the game squarely in reach and the benches deployed for both teams, Bruce Pearl’s squad did not let up, increasing its lead to as high as 44 points, 89-45, with just 1:56 left before Ohio State closed on a 8-0 run to put them down 38 at the final buzzer.
Ohio State’s lopsided loss was in large part due to the struggles of Bruce Thornton, who scored a season-low three points on 1 of 8 shooting in his return to his hometown. Micah Parrish (10) and Royal (14) were the only double-figure scorers for the Buckeyes, who shot 18-of-51 from the field (31.8 percent) and 6-of-18 from three (37.5 percent) while Stewart added eight points and a team-high six rebounds.
Auburn was led in the win by Broome, who notched his seventh double-double in his last eight games with 21 points and a career-high 20 rebounds. Senior guard Denver Jones (14) and graduate center Dylan Cardwell (10) also reached double figures.
Ohio State will look to get back in the win column on Tuesday night when it welcomes Diebler’s alma mater Valparaiso to Value City Arena, with tip-off set for 8 p.m. on Peacock.
