Cold-shooting Ohio St. gets by Penn St. 61-56
No. 16 Ohio State 61, Penn State 56: E.J. Liddell scored 19 points and host Ohio State (11-4, 5-2 Big Ten) defeated Penn State (8-7, 3-4) on Sunday.
Ohio State won despite shooting just 38.6% overall and going the final 5:07 without a basket.
The Nittany Lions trimmed multiple 10-point deficits in the second half and pulled within four with seven seconds to go.
Seth Lundy, Penn State’s leading scorer with an average of 14.1 points, missed his first game of the season. The school announced earlier in the day that he was out but didn’t give a reason.
Ohio State’s Kyle Young forced a steal with 1:25 remaining and sank a pair of free throws 20 seconds later to hold off the Nittany Lions. Jamari Wheeler made four foul shots in the final minute.
The Buckeyes went 24 for 36 from the foul line while Penn State was 8 for 14.Zed Key added 10 points for Ohio State.
Sam Sessoms led the Nittany Lions with 15 points and Jalen Pickett scored 11.
No. 14 Villanova 82, Butler 42: Collin Gillespie hit five 3-pointers and scored 17 points, and Justin Moore scored 15 points to lead host Villanova (13-4, 6-1 Big East) to a win over Butler (9-7, 2-3) for the Wildcats’ sixth victory in a row.
The Wildcats are rolling again since dropping their conference opener and never let Butler get comfortable at the Wells Fargo Center.
With a noon start, the Wildcats did Philly sports fans a favor and used a 13-2 run to decide this one by halftime – enough time to flip over to catch the opening kickoff of the Eagles’ playoff game. The bar areas on the concourse were swarmed with fans who decided to watch playoff football on big screens over the Wildcats stretching their lead to 25 only minutes into the second half.
Butler had given coach Jay Wright’s Wildcats fits more than any other team in the Big East since 2016. The Bulldogs’ five wins over that span were the most of any team against Villanova over that span.
Six was never in play.
The Wildcats made their first six baskets and shot a whopping 71% in the first half. Gillespie and Eric Dixon each made all four of their shots and Villanova was 5 of 7 on 3s. The Wildcats hit Butler from all over the court: 3s, postups, drives for easy dunks – such as Caleb Daniels’ two-handed baseline jam that woke up the crowd.
The Wildcats hit 12 3-pointers.
The Wildcats opened the second half on an 11-0 run and Butler missed 11 straight shots at one point in a rare lopsided mismatch between the programs. Villanova’s numbers were astounding: 19 assists on its first 23 baskets; did not let Butler shoot a free throw in the first half; had 11 3-pointers at the point Butler made just 14 baskets.