In its first game against a North Carolina school, No. 12 Ohio State did all right.
The next one will be a truer test.
D’Angelo Russell scored 21 points and Marc Loving had 15, leading the Buckeyes to a 97-55 victory over North Carolina A&T on Wednesday night.
The win set the stage for a showdown with No. 24 North Carolina on Saturday.
“Obviously, (North Carolina is) a tremendous team,” coach Thad Matta said. “A lot like a Louisville, they’re going to really try to pound the ball inside on us and rebound it. We’ve got to do a great job with that.”
The Buckeyes (9-1) hope this matchup with a ranked team turns out better than the last one. They were down by 19 at the half at No. 5 Louisville on Dec. 2 and rallied before falling, 64-55.
“We’re a smarter team now. We’ve been in big games before,” said Shannon Scott, who had 12 assists and seven steals to go with eight points against A&T. “We know what we did and what we shouldn’t do in this game. And we know the things that we did that can help us out. We’ll be ready.”
Of course, the game against the Tar Heels carries extra significance for Scott, whose father, Charlie, ranks among the great players at North Carolina.
“I can’t make it any (more important) than any other game we play this year,” he said.
Kam Williams added 15 points in the second half for the Buckeyes, who hit 69 percent of their shots after the break to finish at 57 percent (35 of 62) from the field.
“They scored 40 points off turnovers – and that’s unacceptable,” said A&T coach Cy Alexander. “They got a lot of points in the second half off of our inability to stay disciplined versus pressure.”
The Buckeyes broke out to leads of 10-0 and 17-2 but A&T scored 12 of the next 18 points to pull to a nine-point deficit.
Up 39-26 at the half, the Buckeyes came out of the gate in a hurry in the second half, scoring 13 of the first 15 points to pull away.
Bruce Beckford had 26 points and Arturs Bremers 14 for the Aggies (1-11), who have lost 11 in a row – the last 10 on the road – after opening with a win against Division III Greensboro College.
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