Buckeyes Now

No. 23 Ohio State vs. UMASS-Lowell First Half Notebook

Here are my first half thoughts from Ohio State and UMASS-Lowell this afternoon

Brendan Gulick

No. 23 Ohio State vs. UMASS-Lowell First Half Notebook
No. 23 Ohio State vs. UMASS-Lowell First Half Notebook /

Halftime Score: Ohio State 33, UMASS-Lowell 33

The Buckeyes seem to like their size and physicality in this matchup. They're consistently trying to work the ball in the low post and they're getting some good looks out of it. E.J. Liddell and Zed Key have both benefitted from it ... and frankly they may need to look to do it more often. This has been a really tough day shooting so far for Scarlet and Gray.

The River Hawks have had very few uncontested looks. Ohio State has played better defense than offense in the first half and they've done a remarkably good job on the talented Obadiah Noel, who scored 57 points in his first two games of the year. Noel was limited to five points on 2-of-10 shooting. His first basket came 12 minutes into the game after he had started 0-for-5 from the floor with three missed 3-pointers.

Ohio State UMASS-Lowell First Half Stats

The Buckeyes haven't shot the ball particularly well in the first half. 18 of their 33 points are scored from the paint and they've added 11 more from the free throw line - that's 29 of their 33 points. That means they've only hit on 2-of-23 jump shots. If I had to take a guess, I have a hunch that playing in a new arena with a lower ceiling and different sight lines might be having a minor impact on their accuracy. They've certainly had some in-rhythm, open looks.

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Brendan Gulick
BRENDAN GULICK

Brendan Gulick is the publisher for BuckeyesNow, Cleveland Baseball Insider and Cavs Insider on the FanNation Network. He is also an accomplished host and play-by-play voice on TV and radio, including on Big Ten Network and NCAA.com where he's called 45 NCAA national championships. Gulick is an update anchor and fill-in host at 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland, Ohio.

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