The Big Ten has just one game Monday night, with Penn State on the road against Ohio State. This is a relatively fiercely competitive game.
Let’s see what happened.
–Ohio State Buckeyes 84 points, Penn State Nittany Lions 78 points
Neither team showed much momentum heading into Monday’s meeting. Ohio State suffered a tough loss to archrival Michigan on Friday night, and Penn State has lost six straight and suffered an embarrassing loss at home to Wisconsin on Thursday. Of course, the good news is that when all is said and done, someone will emerge victorious.
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Although Ohio State controlled the game from the start, the game ended up being relatively tight. Perhaps the most interesting part of the game came early in the second half, when the Nittany Lions regained some momentum and gave the Buckeyes some scares. However, John Mobley had another great night, scoring 25 points and dishing out five assists, and was able to hold off Penn State. Amar’e Bynum also had 15 points and 5 rebounds.
Ohio State improves to 14-6 overall and 6-4 in the Big Ten with the win. While the result won’t be eye-catching, it’s an important one as it avoids a “bad” loss on Ohio State’s resume. This team remains the centerpiece of the NCAA regular season, and losing to an opponent like Penn State is a huge blow in that regard. Preventing this should be welcome news to Buckeye fans.
Penn State, on the other hand, fell to 9-11 and 0-9 in Big Ten play. The team has lost seven straight since December and is just 1-10 in its last 11 games. It’s worth noting that Penn State remains winless against opponents ranked in the top 175 of KenPom’s rankings. This is a surprising statistic considering we are about to enter February.
The Buckeyes will now prepare for Saturday’s road game against Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions will try to get back on track Thursday on the road against Northwestern.
