The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Bates-Diop scores 27 in blowout
COLUMBUS » Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann sat his leading scorer less than five minutes into the game. It was a message that the Buckeyes had to play better defensively.
Keita Bates-Diop returned to the game two minutes later and went on to score a career-high 27 points to lead Ohio State to a 97-62 blowout victory against William & Mary on Saturday.
“I just wanted to see him improve his effort a little bit,” Holtmann said. “I was ready to put him back in the game, I just wanted to see a little bit more stuff for him.”
Bates-Diop shot 11 of 16 from the field and scored all his points after his brief moment next to Holtmann on the bench.
“I think it kind of just helped because it reset my mind,” Bates-Diop said. “I obviously wasn’t ready to play in those first few minutes so then him taking me out reset my mind. Got back in and I was ready to Ohio State forward Keita Bates-Diop dives for a loose ball against William & Mary guard Connor Burchfield during the second half.
play.”
David Cohn and Nathan Knight led the way for the Tribe (6-3) with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Freshman Kaleb Wesson scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds, and C.J. Jackson added 16 with six assists for the Buckeyes.
The Buckeyes (8-3) shot 65 percent from the field and made 11-of-21 3-point shots while dishing out a season-high 19
assists. Ohio State made 10 straight shots early in the second half and went on a 16-0 run to lead by 40 with four minutes remaining.
On the other side, William & Mary entered the game eighth in adjusted offensive efficiency and third in team 3-point makes per game. The Tribe shot 5 of 16 from 3 on Saturday.
“I thought they were terrific defensively,” head coach Tony Shaver said. “I thought they prepared well for us and defensively, just really, really impressed. To beat a team like that, we have to rebound the ball and we couldn’t hold our own inside, and we have to shoot it well. And we didn’t do either one of those two, really.”
Knight entered the game averaging 20.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. With the Tribe trailing, 28-22, Knight caught a pass off a pick-and-roll and attacked the basket, but Ohio State forward Musa Jallow drew a charge. The next possession, Knight fouled Bates-Diop and went to the bench for the final 7:49 of the half with three fouls.
From that moment on, Ohio State attacked the paint and outscored William & Mary, 20-10, the rest of the half. Andre Wesson’s 3 with 12:05 showing on the first-half clock began a 27-4 run.through the next 11 minutes.
“We obviously don’t have much depth inside and we knew that coming in,” Shaver said.