tBBC Ohio State Men’s Basketball Quick Look: Youngstown State

 Ohio State(8-3;0-0) vs. Youngstown State(6-6;0-0)

Date: December 20, 2016

Time: 7:02 p.m. ET

Arena: Value City Arena

 Watch: ESPN3 

Listen: WBNS-FM 97.1, AM-1460

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Ohio State

The Buckeyes currently boast five players averaging in double figures as Junior Jae’Sean Tate (14 ppg),  Marc Loving (12.2), JaQuan Lyle (11.0), Kam Williams (10.6) and junior Trevor Thompson (10.4). Keita Bates-Diop(9.8) is returning to the line-up and stands to make it six Buckeyes averaging double digits.

The Buckeyes and Penguins will be meeting for just the 4th time. The most recent game was a 91-57 win for the No. 4 ranked Buckeyes Nov. 24, 2006.

Per Ohio State Official Site:

Thad Matta is No. 13 all-time in career Big Ten regular-season victories … Matta owns 143 career league triumphs. He is tied with Harold “Bud” Foster (WIS 1935-59) who also won 143 league encounters. The No. 12 spot is held by former Ohio State coach Harold Olsen (1923-46). He won 154 league games over his tenure.

Youngstown State

Penguins Junior guard Cameron Morse (23.8), Francisco Santiago (13.6) and  Matt Donlan (11.8) round out the scoring. Senior center Jorden Kaufman leads the team on the glass with 7.2 boards a game.Youngstown State enters the game with the Buckeyes 6-6. The Penguins have won three of the last five games, including a 101-97 overtime victory over Niagara the last time out Dec. 14 at YSU.

Outlook

The Buckeyes are coming off a hard fought loss to #2 UCLA in Las Vegas this past Saturday and YSU might just be the tonic they need to recover. The Buckeyes loss to Florida Atlantic in overtime still stings a bit as they underachieved for more than 40 minutes. This will be an opportunity to prepare for the B1G as they have one more game before opening conference play against Illinois in Champaign on New Years Day.

The Buckeyes face off against UNC-Asheville at home on Thursday at 9:00pm in Value City Arena. The game will air on ESPN 2 and the usual Ohio State stations WBNS 97.1FM and AM1460.