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The fans of Ohio State storm the court after upsetting Duke.
The fans of Ohio State are celebrating their team's victory. (0:23)
The time is 12:30 AM.
The top-ranked Duke Blue Devil's reign as college basketball's undisputed team was short-lived. The national conversation will be reopened next Monday when the top ranked team in the country, the Purdue Boilermakers, play host to the unranked Ohio State Buckeyes.
In the second half, Duke expanded its advantage to as many as 15 and still held a comfortable 66-59 lead after a made free throw by Trevor Keels with 4:29 to play. The Blue Devil wouldn't score another point. Chris Holtmann's OSU squad finished the game on a 12-0 run, with 6 points from Cedric Russell and 4 from E.J. Liddell. Key had a career-high 20 points.
The way forward for Duke and Ohio State, and the implications of the Buckeyes' triumph were discussed by the team of Myron Medcalf, Jeff Borzello, John Gasaway and Joe Lunardi.
Key had a career game with 20 points against Duke.
Duke fell apart late in its loss to Ohio State.
Duke entered the second half with a double-digit lead. The Blue Devil were comfortable. Ohio State put more pressure on the Blue Devil in the second half and forced some tough shots that had fallen in the first half. Jeremy Roach's jumper gave Duke a 51-39 lead with 17:07 to play. Duke did not score another field goal until the 11:06 mark. The Blue Devil missed eight field goal attempts in a row. The Duke lead was still double-digit when Mark Williams scored with 11 minutes to play. The door for Ohio State's late comeback was opened by two Duke field goals.
In Las Vegas last week, we saw Duke hold off a feisty Gonzaga squad in a back-and-forth game at T-Mobile Arena. The crowd was at least 50% for the Blue Devil. Duke's first true road game of the season was in Columbus. The Value City Arena is a wild place. The noise is on top of you. The Duke squad that had not encountered that hostility crumbled late when the crowd could sense an opportunity. Duke fell apart because it couldn't score, but the Ohio State crowd deserves an award.
Paolo Banchero had a quiet second half for the Blue Devil.
What was missing from Duke's win over Gonzaga on Friday?
There is offense. In the second half against Ohio State, the Blue Devil offense was stagnant, scoring just 23 points and hitting 7-of-31 tries from the field. Paolo Banchero was limited by his body's ability to adapt, but he was 0-for-7 from the floor in the second half. Give the credit to the Buckeyes. As the game progressed, Duke's shooters were forced into tough 2-point looks. The Blue Devil were held to 42% shooting inside the 3-point line as they scored 66 points in the game.
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This team is still capable of winning it all in April, even though they lost to Gonzaga. Moore and Mark Williams will not often record a low success rate on their 2s. After eight games, we can ask if perimeter shooting is going to be an issue for this group. Duke is hitting just over 30% of its 3s. The stars of Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devil team will have less space to operate on the inside if they can't hit open looks from outside. It bears watching.
Gasaway.
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Mark Williams answered with one of his own on the next possession after Zed Key hit the rim with a two-handed flush.
Is this a one-game blip for Ohio State or is it going to matter nationally?
They weren't very good in the first 20 minutes, so it's going to be a one-half aberration. In the first half, the Buckeyes made a lot of mistakes, turning the ball over too often and missing free throws. In the second half, their defense tightened up and they began to have a lot of success playing through their frontcourt and getting Zed Key operating one-on-one in the post with plenty of space. I think that's their key moving forward. He put on a clinic in the post on Tuesday night, finishing over the length of Mark Williams and Theo John. His 20 points against Duke were more than he had in the last three games combined. He needs to be consistent.
The perimeter group will be another area to watch. Chris Holtmann might have found a way to stretch opposing defenses on Tuesday, as Ohio State has struggled to get consistent point guard and backcourt play this season. The all-conference player at Louisiana, who shot 40% from 3-point range in 2020-21, played just 23 minutes this season. He played 16 minutes off the bench on Tuesday and scored 12 points.
E.J. Liddell showed on Tuesday that he can impact a game even when he isn't scoring a lot of points. He had 14 points, 14 rebounds and six assists, including a difficult bucket in the final minute to put Ohio State up three. He is going to be a constant for the team.
Ohio State is playing without Justice Sueing. Sueing is out indefinitely with an abdominal injury, while Towns is out after undergoing back surgery. Holtmann will have another consistent offensive weapon and someone who can initiate offense.
Holtmann is still figuring out his best lineups, while also waiting for his injured players to return, but there's enough on the roster in Columbus to be a Top 25 team all season.
Borzello.
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Trevion Williams had his eyes on the back of his head as he found a cutting Mason Gillis with a slick no-look pass.
Does this mean that the team that destroyed Florida State is the team to beat?
If the Boilermakers beat Iowa on Friday, they will move to the top of the rankings. Through November, Matt Painter has a little bit of everything as the most consistently impressive team in the country. The way Williams has accepted moving to the bench after being viewed as a preseason All-American-caliber player is indicative of how connected and together the Boilermakers are this season. Jaden is a game-changer with the ball in his hands and he's starting to be more aggressive as a leader. Painter has surrounded those three stars with skilled players. They can score in the paint with ease, they shoot better than 44% from 3-point range, and they share the ball very well. It's the most efficient offense in the country. When it matters, the Boilermakers have been able to lock down on the defensive end.
The wins of the Boilermakers back up what we're seeing. They beat Florida State on Tuesday, they beat North Carolina late, and they beat Villanova in Connecticut.
Borzello.
What are the implications for Duke? For Ohio State?
Duke coughed up its Big Ten/ACC Challenge game at Ohio State, but still remains a No. 1 seed. The "how" and "what" will not matter by March. A road loss isn't going to affect the Blue Devil's seeding. The top line in this order would be rearranged: Purdue (Midwest), Baylor (South), Duke (East), and Gonzaga (West). UCLA is next in line.
Ohio State is a big winner when it comes to seed list positioning. The Buckeyes entered this game as a No. 7 seed. They will be in the overall No. 20-21 range after the win. It's a full seed in the tournament, and maybe more by the time we update everything on Friday. It's a great way for Ohio State to head into its conference opener on Sunday.
-- Lunardi.
