To call Northwestern a defense-first team wouldn’t do justice to how porous their offense has been. The Wildcats have cracked 60 points just once in the past seven games and have the 310th-best shooting percentage in the country (40.9 percent). Only one of their top eight scorers shoots better than 40 percent from the field, and they have the worst adjusted offensive efficiency in the Big Ten.
Thus, entering Wednesday night’s game against Northwestern, Chris Holtmann knew Ohio State just had to find offense somewhere to pull out a victory. The Wildcats’ ineffective offense combined with his team’s stout defense didn’t seem like it would equate to a bundle of points, but the Buckeyes had struggled to score, as well.