Tale of Two Sports

Ohio State Knocks Off New No. 1 Duke

We have reached the middle of the week! While college football fans may have been upset upon seeing Alabama ranked above Cincinnati in the CFP, Duke was upset by the unranked Ohio State Buckeyes, who may have avenged some of their own college football beef:

In a key rivalry game, Ohio State lost 42-27 to the Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor. Their CFP hopes were effectively ended while Michigan took the No. 2 spot. Buckeyes fans set their eyes on basketball instead, starting off by packing Value City Arena on Tuesday night.

At first, the home crowd didn't seem to be of much help; Duke was rolling in the first half and took a double digit lead into the break. Paolo Banchero showed why he was a top recruit, but things slowly got away from the Blue Devils as the second half progressed.

Two things allowed the Buckeyes to comeback: defense and three-point shooting. Ohio State clamped up in the second half, only allowing 23 points and limiting them to a 22.6% field goal success rate after Duke made over half their buckets in the first 20 minutes. The Buckeyes also shot 40% from beyond the arc, propelled by one man: Cedric Russell. In 15 minutes off the bench, he dropped 12 points off the back of three 3-pointers, the last of which pulled the Buckeyes within 2 amidst their 12-0 run over the final four minutes of the game.

While Russell may have brought them back, it was E.J. Liddell who closed it out for Ohio State. He hit a pair of free throws to give them back the lead, shortly followed by a clutch jumper to put the Buckeyes up three with 16 seconds remaining. Ohio State should be ranked once again while Duke enjoyed being #1 and undefeated for a solid day or so. It'll be interesting to, in all likelihood, see Purdue atop the rankings for the time being among all the other bluebloods that roam college basketball.