Buckeyes Basketball Rip Off Two Straight Ahead of Major Matchup on Friday

The Ohio State Men's Basketball team finally found itself in the win column for the first time in the 2026-27 season. It wasn't much, but it was an honest day's work against the Youngstown State Penguins.

The final tally in this matchup was heavily in favor of Ohio State as they won 89-65 over the 'Guins. There isn't much to take away from a win like that, but what is certainly obvious is the way that they want to play.

Seven-footer Andrija Jelavic was the dominant force for Ohio State in the post. He powered the Buckeyes with 21 points on 10-for-16 shooting, while only cashing one triple. He was awesome for the Buckeyes and was exactly what they dreamed of when they brought him on.

He was buoyed by John Mobley Jr. as his game was clicking on all cylinders. He finished the action with 25 points on 7-for-9 from the field but was playing downhill all night long, forcing the issue. He finished going 9-for-9 from the free-throw line.

The only two other Buckeyes to finish in double figures were Amare Bynum and Justin Pippen, who had 15 and 10, respectively. It was a nice and balanced attack from Ohio State that laid out the blueprint for how they want to attack teams.

They want to feature their post players but allow their guards to create opportunities for themselves and then be able to dish to their wings when the time comes. 

While it was mostly positive, there were two areas of opportunity that are easily identified from this performance. 

The first is that they can't expect to shoot 21 percent from three and expect to compete in the Big Ten. It is early, and it is their first game inside Value City Arena for the year, so there is absolutely no reason for concern. Going forward, they need to shoot better if they want to match up with some of these Big Ten teams.

The second is that these two star freshmen need to settle in. Again, it is still very early in the season and in their careers (maybe not their careers), but it is time for both Anthony Thompson and LJ Smith to get going. 

They came back on Monday night with a closer victory over the Marshall Thundering Herd, though they faced some adversity again. They stretched their lead up to over 20 points in the first half before Marshall responded with a nice run in the second half to cut the Buckeyes lead down.

Five Buckeyes reached double figures, including Jimmie Williams, who came off the bench and provided a nice spark en route to the 84-74 victory.

Ohio State carries a 2-1 record into Friday's marquee matchup against the No. 4 UConn Huskies.