Buckeyes put their focus on learning

Ohio State could not add to its nonconference resume before the new year.

The Buckeyes, ranked second in The Associated Press Top 25 and coaches poll, fell Sunday to West Virginia, 67-59, at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse as part of the Cleveland Classic in front of 16,781. It marked their fourth game against a Top 25 team, following victories against Villanova, North Carolina and Kentucky in the first two months of the men’s college basketball season.

O hio State (11-2) won those three games by an 18.7-point average margin, but the Mountaineers’ pres- sure defense and freshman guard Miles McBride proved too much.

“We haven’t been in that situation a whole lot,” Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said, “but we took some quick, ill-advised shots that we’ve got to learn from.”

The Buckeyes shot just 30.6% from the floor, includ- ing a 2-of-9 shooting fin- ish after Andre Wesson’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 4:43 left. Consecutive turnovers sandwiched around an off-balanced shot by McBride, who scored a game- high 21 points off the bench, doomed the Buckeyes.

Ohio State shot 49.1% in its first 12 games and aver- aged just 13.1 turnovers, but had 22 on Sunday with that shooting slump.

“We knew if we continued to play solid defense that at the end of the day their shots weren’t going to fall,” said McBride, who won Ohio high school state championships the last two years at Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller.

McBride is one of two Ohio natives on coach Bob Huggins’ roster, which includes Warren Harding product Derek Culver. The 6-foot-10 sophomore pulled down 10 rebounds to go with seven points, as the Mountaineers (11-1) ended up with their first win this season against a ranked opponent.