Penn State boos, but Jamari Wheeler and Ohio State get last word in win
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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Ball firmly tucked under his right arm, Jamari Wheeler trotted toward halfcourt and lobbed it in that direction like he’d done dozens of times before.
This time, he was coming from the opposite corner of the arena. In his return to the arena he called home for four seasons, the Ohio State graduate transfer guard – and former Nittany Lion – led the Buckeyes onto the court to a cacophony of boos from the fans who once lauded him.
They had their moment, but Wheeler and the Buckeyes would have their game. After a run of early-season close calls and final-second shots, only a few theatrics would be necessary for Ohio State on this night as they built a double-digit first-half lead and survived a nervy few moments behind a balanced scoring attack, 76-64, against Penn State on Sunday night.
"Right when the Big Ten schedule dropped, I circled the date," a smiling Wheeler said. "It’s a big one to come in here and get this win."
Ahead by 18 with 14:04 to play, the Buckeyes had it cut to six points with 2:39 left when Jalen Pickett hit a pair of free throws. Justin Ahrens answered with a 3-pointer at the other end, and that would be enough to fend off the Nittany Lions, who never got closer than six points.
Wheeler finished with 9 points, a career-high-tying nine assists and five rebounds with just one turnover. Kyle Young led the Buckeyes with 16 points on 4-for-4 shooting from 3-point range. Penn State's Jalen Pickett led all scorers with 23 points.
The nine assists are the most for any Ohio State player against Penn State, besting Evan Turner's mark of eight set Feb. 24, 2009.
With a black curtain blocking the entire upper bowl of the Bryce Jordan Center, the Penn State fans gathered throughout the lower bowl made sure to let Wheeler know their feelings about him. After playing four seasons for the Nittany Lions and transferring to the Buckeyes when interim coach Jim Ferry, who recruited him, wasn’t retained, Wheeler’s first Big Ten game with Ohio State brought him directly into the crosshairs of the Legion of Blue student section.
He took the court to chants of “traitor!” and a handful of vulgarities and was roundly booed every time he touched the ball.
For 140 seconds, Penn State looked primed for a big night. With Ohio State ahead 5-0 early, the Nittany Lions got a 3-pointer from Seth Lundy who followed it with a layup to start a run of five straight possessions with field goals for the home team.
In that span of 2:20, Penn State scored 12 straight points, nine of them by Lundy, to build a seven-point led and force the Buckeyes to call timeout with 16:25 to play. But at the other end, Ohio State second-year guard Meechie Johnson took a pass from Wheeler, bobbled it initially but recovered and swished a 3-pointer. Wheeler answered with a wide-open one from the left corner, Justin Ahrens hit one on the next possession and, when Kyle Young added another the Buckeyes had a 17-15 lead with 12:47 to play in the half.
The lead would steadily grow from there. Cedric Russell hit a 3-pointer with 9:57 left, making him the sixth different Buckeye to score at that point, that made Ohio State 7 for 12 from 3 and forced Penn State to call timeout with the score 27-19.
It only briefly slowed things down, as Ohio State pushed its first-half lead as high as 12 points. Outside of the 12-0 run, Penn State’s only significant offensive stretch came on one possession: with 2:01 left and the Buckeyes ahead 35-23, Ahrens was called for a flagrant 1 foul as 6-8 forward Jalanni White went up for an offensive rebound. He hit both free throws, and on the ensuing possession Jalen Pickett hit a leaning 3-pointer as the shot clock buzzed.
Outside of that five-point possession, and the 12-0 run, the Nittany Lions scored only 13 points during the first half. When E.J. Liddell put his own miss back in with less than two seconds to play to set the halftime score at 41-30, the only reaction from the home fans was a collective groan. Ohio State built that lead despite Liddell not scoring until he hit a pair of free throws with exactly seven minutes left in the half.
It was the longest Liddell had needed to score so far this season, topping Tuesday’s win against No. 1 Duke when he scored his first points with 13:07 left in the half. He had six points at the break as eight Buckeyes had at least one field goal and scored between 3-8 points.
"I felt like at times we didn’t do a good enough job getting him the ball and he didn’t do a good enough job of asserting himself in a couple mismatches," coach Chris Holtmann said. "Guys got open shots because of him. Let’s not lose sight of that. That’s what happens when you have a first-team all-league guy."
Second-year guard Gene Brown III, who suffered a concussion in the Nov 18 loss at Xavier and missed the next three games, cleared concussion protocol and was on the bench.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State beats Penn State in Jamari Wheeler's homecoming
