Ohio State begins its two-game trip to the Pacific Northwest with a stop in Eugene, Ore., to play Oregon on Thursday night.
The Buckeyes (10-4, 2-2 Big Ten) look to rebound from a 72-69 loss at home to undefeated and tenth-ranked Nebraska on Monday. Ohio State rallied from a 14-point deficit in the first half to take the lead with 10:24 to go before the Cornhuskers surged late.
John Mobley Jr. scored 22 points in the loss.
Guard Bruce Thornton leads Ohio State in scoring with 20.6 points per game. His 18 steals lead the Buckeyes and he’s made 44.1% of his 3-point attempts this season.
The Buckeyes lost 73-71 to Oregon in Columbus, Ohio, last season despite Thornton’s team-high 20 points.
The Buckeyes are not expected to have one of their key rotational players, forward Brandon Noel, against Oregon. He sustained a foot injury against Nebraska and is out indefinitely.
“We can go a little smaller (without Noel),” head coach Jake Diebler told the Columbus Post-Dispatch. “We can go a little bigger. Some of that will be dependent on the opponent.”
The next opponent is Oregon (8-7, 1-3), which lost 88-85 in overtime at Rutgers on Monday and faced a cross-country flight and short turnaround time following a two-game East Coast swing.
The Ducks might be without star guard Jackson Shelstad, who scored 24 points to lead the Ducks over Ohio State last year. Shelstad, a catalyst for Oregon’s offense, has been dealing with a hand injury that forced him to miss the past two games.
Oregon’s size can be a factor, as 7-footer Nate Bittle is a problem for teams because he can score inside and outside. Bittle’s 17 points per game lead the Ducks and he scored at least 26 points in three of the past four games.
Six-foot-10 forward Kwame Evans Jr. had 14 points and 13 rebounds against Rutgers for his third double-double of the season.
Guard Wei Lin scored a career high 23 points at Rutgers to help force overtime. Lin has started in place of Shelstad.
But 17 turnovers and too many free throws for Rutgers, which shot 30-of-34 from the line, hurt the Ducks.
“We’ve got to get a lot more disciplined,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “Our toughness is not very good. A very disappointing loss.”
–Field Level Media
