INDIANAPOLIS — Shortly after the final horn sounded and Ohio State celebrated its 79-75 win over Penn State on Thursday in the 7-10 matchup of the Big Ten tournament, Buckeyes freshman point guard JaQuan Lyle headed toward the tunnel before he was stopped by a team spokesman. Lyle wasn’t going to visit his teammates in the locker room just yet. He first had to do a sit down interview at the Big Ten Network stage.
There wasn’t much of a doubt who was going to get the air time after this win. Sure, junior forward Marc Loving and his team-high 24 points had a shot — and nobody would dispute Loving’s impact on Ohio State’s win — but Lyle dominated the Nittany Lions in all phases Thursday night and was simply too much to handle down the stretch.