Roddy Gayle Jr. ignites Ohio State after slow start in opener against Oakland

COLUMBUS — Roddy Gayle Jr. is the best Ohio State dunker. His teammates said so during team media day last month. Everyone at the Schottenstein Center Monday saw why.

During a much-needed — and self-made — 9-0 run in the second half, Gayle flushed an alley-oop from his backcourt mate, Bruce Thornton. He also officially flushed his 0-of-4 start to the night.

The dunk ignited the crowd as Gayle swung around the cup before his dismount, and the highlight-reel play gave the Buckeyes a 53-52 lead, a lead they didn’t relinquish the rest of the way.

“That was the first lob me and Bruce ever connected on, so it was a very special moment for me,” Gayle said postgame. “Plays like that obviously change the course of the game. So being able to use my athleticism and my ability to really give the team energy — I’d do anything for that.”

Gayle looked like the stud from Niagara Falls, New York, who punctuated a difficult freshman season with a more than encouraging and at times dominant 2023 Big Ten Tournament.

And Ohio State looked like Ohio State, pulling ahead of its Horizon League foe in the back half of the second period. Backup center Zed Key took the baton from Gayle with a couple dunks of his own and Thornton effectively put the Golden Grizzlies away with a corner 3-pointer and a series of free throws.

Those three scored 32 straight points for the Buckeyes down the stretch, while Ohio State — hoping to bounce back from its first losing season since 2003-04 — persevered in this season’s opener, beating a stubborn and 3-point happy Oakland, 79-73.

Greg Kampe has been the head coach of the Golden Grizzlies since 1984.

“Early in my coaching career, I went home to Defiance, Ohio, and I walked into my house, and there was a sign where I used to sleep in my bedroom that said, ‘You live by the three, you die by the three,'” Kampe said.

He added: “That’s how we play, and we’ve won a lot of games.”

A dozen against Power Six opponents, to be exact. Almost a baker’s dozen because “this was the type of game that you win,” according to Kampe.

Key joked: “They were the Golden State Warriors. That’s what they were.”

Oakland knocked down 14-of-35 (40%) 3-point attempts. Jack Gohlke netted six, fellow graduate guard Blake Lampman had four and junior DQ Cole notched two.

The 3-point barrage from that trio, plus the shooting in and out of the post by Trey Townsend, allowed Oakland to not only hang around late but lead the game early. For the first 17 minutes actually.

Ohio State struggled with foul trouble. Most notably, centers Felix Okpara and Key each had two personals late in the first half. Plus, navigating a 1-1-3 Oakland zone that sometimes morphs into a 2-3 zone proved difficult for the Buckeyes, who shot just 39.3% in the opening frame. Meanwhile, the Golden Grizzlies were shooting at a 44% clip by the break.

Oakland was controlling everything but the glass, where it lacked competitive size, especially because 6-foot-9 forward Chris Conway lasted a combined 14 minutes across both halves before fouling out.

The Buckeyes logged 10 offensive rebounds in the first half. A sequence of three late in the opening frame tied the game.

Minnesota transfer Jamison Battle brought down the first after Key missed the second of two free throws. Then Baylor transfer Dale Bonner missed everything but a smidge of the backboard on a subsequent 3-pointer. This time, freshman wing — and Energizer Bunny — Scotty Middleton pulled in the board. One more unsuccessful attempt, a 3-pointer from Thornton, was all it took.

Key, who started the stretch of misses, collected the third and final offensive rebound and put it back for two points, tying Oakland, 31-31.

But the Golden Grizzlies reclaimed their advantage before the end of the first half and made the Buckeyes play catch-up throughout the second period.

And, more specifically, before Gayle, Key and Thornton took over.

First, however, Middleton gave Ohio State a lift. He drilled back-to-back 3-pointers — the second off an offensive rebound caused by Battle — to tie the game at 44-44.

Then came another 3-point rush from Oakland: consecutive makes from Cole and Gohlke. Ohio State was nearing the danger zone on opening night. Thornton, a returning captain and leading point guard, got the Buckeyes out of it.

“I don’t care if he’s 0-of-10, he’s got to be able to take the 11th good one for this team,” Holtmann said of his sophomore star. “And he’s got the freedom to do that.”

Thornton had started 1-of-7, yet a pass from Gayle and his own shot fake set the stage for a breakthrough triple.

“He’s a man. He’s confident. And he makes big shots,” Kampe said of Thornton.

“That kid, you gotta give him a lot of credit because they could have wilted,” he continued. “I’ve seen it happen. We’ve won a lot of those games, and I’ve seen it happen many times.”

Thornton’s 3-pointer kept Ohio State in the game. Gayle gave the Buckeyes the lead.

His second-half answer was a snap shot of his resilience last season, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Gayle scored on a pair of floaters, the aforementioned transition dunk and then on an and-one layup.

“He’s been asked to play a bigger role, and he has responded,” Holtmann said.

Thornton and Key took care of things from there, finishing the night a combined 15-of-17 at the free throw line. Key exposed the undersized Golden Grizzlies in the post, even with his noticeably slimmer 230-pound frame. Thornton dialed up a 3-pointer to stake Ohio State to a 71-67 lead with 2:05 to go.

Two more Lampman 3-pointers kept Oakland alive.

But the Buckeyes held on, in large part thanks to Middleton cashing in on three of his final four shots at the charity stripe and rounding out the night with 13 points and eight rebounds.

The poise Ohio State showed Monday could pay dividends down the road.

“When we play in the Big Ten, it’s gonna be like that, the same way,” Thornton said. “I feel like us keeping our composure, just staying in the moment, just knowing that we’re gonna make the next stop is big for us.

“You see everybody locked in, coaching staff, everybody on the same page. So when everybody has that look, has that confidence in the game, down or up, you have the same feeling that you gonna win.”