Joey Brunk Pushes Buckeyes Past Michigan State

The 6-11 big man had his best game as a Buckeye, dominating the Spartans all night long.

The Joey Brunk game.

I'm not sure there is a more appropriate way to describe Ohio State's huge 80-69 win over Michigan State in the penultimate game of the regular season.

The Buckeyes continue to be extremely short-handed and played Thursday night with only 10 available healthy players (of which only eight saw the floor). Kyle Young and Zed Key were among those not available on a night where the Scarlet and Gray really needed a bounce-back performance.

Plus, considering Michigan State has led the Big Ten in rebounding 10 of the past 19 years (four of which they led all of college basketball), that meant Brunk and E.J. Liddell were going to have to perform at a high level.

Leave it to Brunk?

Leave it to Brunk.

The 6-foot-11, 255 pound graduate transfer from Indiana and Butler played far and away his best game as a Buckeye. In just his third start of the season (and first since November), Brunk picked apart the Michigan State defense all night.

Brunk closed the night with 18 points and six rebounds, punctuating his performance with a thunderous two-handed dunk with less than two minutes to play. He played 33 minutes tonight after he came in averaging five minutes per game.

Even though the stat line was impressive, the most memorable moments of the night inside the Schott came when Brunk touched the ball. The fans absolutely ADORED him and regularly chanted his name. His impact on the season hasn't always been felt in the box score, but tonight's win was centered around his production.

Yes, the Buckeyes hit nine 3-pointers throughout the night and that was critical to getting out to an early lead. Eight of those came before halftime.

OSU also scored 20 points off 13 MSU turnovers, while surrendering just three points off their own 10 giveaways.

But it was unquestionably Brunk's presence in the middle that ate the Spartans alive and lifted Ohio State to victory.

Meanwhile, Liddell and Malaki Branham continued to play at a very high level. Liddell finished the night with 19 points and eight boards, while Branham cashed in 22. Jamari Wheeler also had a big game with four 3's and finished with 16 points.

The win was just Ohio State's second in the last seven meetings with Tom Izzo and Michigan State and it puts the Buckeyes in better position for the Big Ten Tournament next week. They still have a chance to earn a double-bye in the tournament, depending on what happens Sunday. The Buckeyes need to beat Michigan and have Iowa lose to Illinois.

Sunday's matchup will be Ohio State's fourth game in eight days.

Other Game Notes

- The Ohio State Football team was recognized at halftime for their Rose Bowl victory over Utah. Several of the team's top stars, including C.J. Stroud and TreVeyon Henderson were in attendance. This also served as the official introduction for the four new full-time coaches: Justin Frye, Perry Elliano, Tim Walton and Jim Knowles.

- Former Ohio State star Evan Turner was also sitting baseline for tonight's game.

-----

Be sure to check out our new message boards, Buckeye Forums. We'd love to have you part of the conversation during the season.

-----

You may also like:

Ohio State F E.J. Liddell Named Finalist For Karl Malone Award

Chris Holtmann Takes Blame For Effort In Losses To Maryland, Nebraska

Ohio State Suffers Worst Loss Of Season To Nebraska

Ohio State’s Jacy Sheldon, Taylor Mikesell Named First-Team All-Big Ten

Ohio State’s Malaki Branham Named Big Ten Freshman Of The Week For Third Time

-----

Be sure to stay locked into BuckeyesNow all the time!

Join the BuckeyesNow community!
Subscribe to the BuckeyesNow YouTube channel
Follow Brendan on Twitter: @BrendanGulick22
Follow BuckeyesNow on Twitter: @BuckeyesNowSI
Like and follow BuckeyesNow on Facebook!