Sunday’s loss can be boiled down to a six-minute stretch for Ohio State.
This time, it wasn’t an end-of-game sequence or late execution error that cost the Buckeyes a Big Ten win. The problem wasn’t with how Ohio State finished the second half, but how the Buckeyes started the second half.
Ohio State held a two-possession lead at halftime, but how it got there was telling. Maryland missed 15 of its final 16 shots to end the first half, and the Buckeye took advantage with a 13-3 run. Despite shooting just 34.5% from the field, the Terps led for most of the first half, outrebounded the Buckeyes by eight and got to the free-throw line four more times.