Ohio State Buckeyes guard Bruce Thornton (2) goes in for a layup in the second half at Value City Arena on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State and host Nebraska look to continue their winning ways on Sunday after taking similar paths to their latest victories.
The Buckeyes (14-9, 6-6 Big Ten) rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat No. 18 Maryland 73-70 on a banked 3-pointer by Bruce Thornton with 7.8 seconds left on Thursday, two months after the Terrapins led by 40 in an 83-59 beatdown.
Ohio State has won four of five, including being down 16 at then-No. 11 Purdue before winning 73-70.
“This group is connected,” Buckeyes coach Jake Diebler said. “I don’t mean for that to sound cliche, and it may be hard to see something tangible like that at times, but it really is about our toughness and how connected we are. We’re playing with better attention to detail and we’re playing with more smarter possessions, and we’ve been doing that more consistently.
“We’ve earned the right to play meaningful games this time of the year. The guys have earned it.”
So have the Cornhuskers (15-8, 5-7), who have won three straight since a six-game losing streak.
On Wednesday at Washington, Nebraska trailed by 13 within the first eight minutes and by 10 at the half but outscored the Huskies 49-25 in the second half for an 86-72 victory.
Despite the emphatic result, Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said attention has turned to Sunday.
“We can’t take our foot off the gas,” he said postgame. “We can’t revert back to the first half, what we did (vs. Washington). We just have to go out there, get our crowd behind us, and I know we’re going to have a great one for Ohio State, and hopefully play a complete game.”
The Cornhuskers are led by Brice Williams (19.2 points per game), who had 13 of his team-high 23 points in the second half vs. the Huskies. During the win streak, he is averaging 26.0 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.
Ohio State will counter with Thornton (team-leading 17.7 ppg). He had 21 of his 31 points in the second half vs. Maryland with 17 coming in the final seven minutes.
–Field Level Media
