Buckeyes beat Valparaiso in bounce-back effort after blowout loss
COLUMBUS — Three days ago, Ohio State suffered one of its worst losses in recent program memory. A few days later, the Buckeyes rebounded from that embarrassing loss to No. 2 Auburn with a nice win over Valparaiso.
Final score: Buckeyes 95, Beacons 73.
Second-year forward Devin Royal had a career-high 31 points and 15 rebounds in a dominant performance as the Buckeyes improved to 7-4 overall on the season. Royal is the first Ohio State player to log at least 30 points and at least 10 rebounds since Jared Sullinger did it in 2010, according to Ohio State athletics.
He led all scorers, but three other Buckeyes were also in double figures scoring: Evan Mahaffey had 15, Bruce Thornton had 14 and Micah Parrish had 14 to help lift Ohio State over Valpo.
Ohio State has just two nonconference games remaining before diving into the long, grueling Big Ten conference slate.
Ohio State is off for a few days before one of the biggest challenges of the season. The Buckeyes will face yet another top-5 opponent from the SEC next weekend: No. 5 Kentucky. There’s not much reason to believe it will look different than the loss to No. 2 Auburn in Atlanta did over the weekend. But the win over Valpo does give this team some positive momentum heading to Madison Square Garden.
The rest of the December slate is as follows:
Dec. 21 vs. Kentucky (Madison Square Garden, New York, New York)
Dec. 29 vs. Indiana State
But for Tuesday night, the Buckeyes rebounded from their worst loss in years in a strong way, doing so without 25 percent of their roster.
They earned a win over Jake Diebler’s alma mater, downing Valparaiso to improve to 7-4 on the season.
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Ohio State center Seth McLaughlin earns consensus All-America honors
Ohio State center Seth McLaughlin became the fourth center in Ohio State history to win the Rimington Trophy last Thursday night. Now he’s adding even bigger accolades to his growing resume.
McLaughlin became the 57th Buckeyes player to earn consensus All-America honors after he was included as a first-team All-American from the Football Writers Association of America. He was previously a first-team selection from the Walter Camp Football Foundation and by the American Football Coaches Association last week. He was a second-team selection from the Associated Press.
McLaughlin transferred to Ohio State from Alabama this past offseason after starting last season for the Crimson Tide.
McLaughlin is quickly adding to his trophy case, too. He became the fourth center in Ohio State history to win the Rimington Trophy on Thursday night. He joins LeCharles Bentley (2001), Pat Elflein (2016) and Billy Price (2017) as Buckeyes centers to win the award, which has been given out since 2000.
Counting down
Tennessee at Ohio State: 3 days
Ohio State at Michigan: 347 days
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