Ohio State seeks its eighth straight win when the Buckeyes return to conference play Saturday against Penn State in University Park, Pa.
The Buckeyes (8-1, 1-0 Big Ten) defeated Miami (Ohio) 84-64 on Wednesday after defeating Minnesota 84-74 in their Big Ten opener three days earlier.
It would have been easy for the Buckeyes to look past their in-state opponent with the Nittany Lions looming, but Ohio State guard Evan Mahaffey said coach Chris Holtmann wouldn’t allow it.
“I feel like we have a really locked-in group,” said Mahaffey, a Penn State transfer who will face his former program for the first time. “That’s one thing Coach mentioned. … They know we can all get better in these situations, and they can really prepare us.
“It shows that we stay locked in no matter who we’re playing or no matter when it is, and that’s what you have to do to beat good teams.”
Mahaffey scored a season-high 10 points against Miami after scoring a total of 21 points in the previous eight games. Bruce Thornton paces Ohio State with 18.7 points and 4.2 assists per game.
Penn State (4-5, 0-1 Big Ten) is struggling under first-year coach Mike Rhoades, who came from VCU when Micah Shrewsberry was named coach at Notre Dame in March.
The Nittany Lions lost 81-75 in overtime at Maryland on Wednesday for their fifth straight defeat.
“We’re not here for a consolation trophy. We want to win,” Rhoades said. “I didn’t come here just to see what happens. I came here to win. … We’ve been up and down. That’s part of (being) a first-year program. I’ve been through it before. But our approach doesn’t change.”
Despite the loss to Maryland, Rhoades is seeing a glimpse of what he envisions for the Nittany Lions.
“We’re going to fight,” Rhoades said. “We’re going to compete and we’re going to battle in the Big Ten and we’re gonna go after people’s respect.”
Kanye Clary leads Penn State in scoring at 16.2 points per game. Ace Baldwin Jr. adds 14.6 ppg and Qudus Wahab is averaging 10.4 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
