After his first college triple-double, Ohio State freshman D’Angelo Russell covered his ears when the questions turned to being a one-and-done player, shooting up on draft boards and being under the ever-watchful eye of NBA personnel.
While he didn’t want to hear or talk about it, Russell gave basketball fans something to drool about Sunday with 23 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds in No. 20 Ohio State’s 79-60 victory over Rutgers.
”It’s a great feeling,” Russell said about his triple-double. ”More importantly, I’m just glad we won. Just to be in the same category as those guys is just a blessing. I feel like I’ve been flirting with it all year and I finally got the chance to do it and we got the win and that was more important to me.”
Russell played 35 minutes, was 8 of 13 from the field, had one steal and two turnovers handling the ball most of the game.
”The two turnovers were unacceptable,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta quipped. ”I thought he was really, really good. Just great command with some of the passes in the second half and he can affect a game so many different ways just in terms of his scoring, his passing. It was honestly one of the better performances I’ve seen in all my time in coaching.”
Jae’San Tate added 20 points and Keita Bates-Diop had 14 to help the Buckeyes (18-6, 7-4 Big Ten) bounce back from a loss at Purdue for their fourth time in five games.
Bishop Daniels had a season-high 17 points for the Scarlet Knights (10-15, 2-10), and Junior Etou added 12 points and 11 rebounds. They have lost eighth straight since upsetting then-No. 4 Wisconsin on Jan. 11.
Ohio State never trailed, built a 21-point lead in the first half and extended it to 25 early in the second with Russell, Tate and Bates-Diop doing most of the damage.
Even when Rutgers made a late run and got to 69-57, Russell fed Tate for a layup and hit a jumper to ice the game. He left with 2:47 to go to polite applause from the big crowd, which was bolstered by almost two dozen NBA scouts.
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