What we learned after Ohio State basketball’s win over Virginia Tech (2024)

The Buckeyes didn’t score for almost the first four minutes of the game, but was down just 7-3. It was this effort that allowed the Ohio State offense some time to find its groove and start making buckets. They did and it showed, as the Buckeyes allowed just 26 points at the half on 36.7% shooting from the Hokies.

It’s not that Gayle Jr. didn’t play well, he certainly did, but it was clear that his injured right wrist area wasn’t helping his shooting form. He had multiple open looks that he normally makes a better effort on, and on a dunk attempt he didn’t try as hard as normal in fear of making the pain worse. At one point early in the game, Gayle Jr. got rid of the wrap he had on. It unfortunately didn’t matter much, as he struggled shooting, going 4-of-12 but still finished with 11 points, 2 assists, a steal, and 4 rebounds.

I’ve been fairly critical of Bonner’s performances, but he’s played much better recently and tonight was his best. A season-high in scoring with 12 points, tied his season-high in rebounds with 5 and added two big steals, although I think they didn’t credit him with at least two others. Bonner played like a 5th-year should, came up in the clutch and made multiple positive contributions to the Buckeyes in this win.

The Hokies must have watched some of the Buckeyes previous game because they tried to mimic some of the concepts that worked, mainly the back-cuts. It wasn’t a normal aspect of Virginia Tech’s normal offense, but they must have seen something on tape that they thought they could exploit. Since they didn’t have the experience that Cornell does running it, it wasn’t nearly as crisp and worked a few times, but not as much as they would have liked.

The Buckeyes didn't light up the nets, but they sure got plenty of scoring from different players. Five went over the 10-point mark, Jamison Battle, Felix Okpara, Thornton, Gayle Jr. and Bonner. Battle led the team with 19, most of them coming from the line, while Okpara was efficient making 6-of-9 attempts. Thornton didn't shoot well from the field, but was still able to contribute 12 points. We know what Gayle Jr., and Bonner did, so it was a team effort to get this win.

Virginia Tech managed to trim Ohio State's lead down to just 3-points at 67-64 with a few second under 5 minutes left in the game. Although the Buckeyes just watched their largest lead of 13-point whittled down by 10, they didn't hang their heads. Instead, they once again put their defensive clamps down and didn't allow any points for the next 3-and-a-half minutes. Ohio State pushed the lead back up to 72-65 by the time the Hokies scored again. The lead was enough to propel the Buckeyes to a win and their season continues for at least one more game.

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