By the numbers: Ohio State ices out Youngstown State, 89-65

Alexa, play "Back In the Saddle" by Aerosmith.

For the first time in eight months, Ohio State was back in the Schottenstein Center on Friday night, taking on in-state foe Youngstown State in Ohio State's home opener.

The Buckeyes came into this game 6-0 against the Penguins all-time, with the most recent win coming on November 11, 2024. John Mobley Jr. and Aaron Bradshaw each scored 16 points in Ohio State's 81-47 win.

The aforementioned Mobley made his 55th start in an Ohio State uniform, alongside Justin Pippen, Anthony Thompson, Amare Bynum, and Andrija Jelavic.

Despite Ohio State's obvious advantage in this game both on paper this season and in the all-time series between the two, Jake Diebler said on Thursday afternoon that the Buckeyes would need to be hyper-aware of YSU's guards on the perimeter, especially junior guard Linus Holmstrom. The 6-foot-3 Swedish guard scored 26 points in Youngstown State's season-opening 79-71 win over St. Bonaventure on Monday night, including going 6-for-13 from beyond the arc. Holmstrom was a 39.4% three-point shooter last season.

The aforementioned Holmstrom made an early impact on the game Friday night, knocking down three-pointers on back-to-back possessions 15 seconds apart to give the Penguins a 10-8 lead with 15:17 left in the first half.

Ohio State struggled to shake off the Penguins in the first half, retaking a 21-19 lead on a second-chance bucket by Andrija Jelavic with 8:54 remaining in the opening stanza. The Buckeyes were mauling Youngstown State on the glass, but their first eight offensive rebounds led to just two second-chance points somehow. Ohio State was reading the ball off the rim and beating the Penguins to the glass, but were failing to convert on a bunch of high-percentage looks around the basket.

Back-to-back three-pointers for Youngstown State's Jermaine Coleman put the Penguins back in front, 30-28, with 3:52 remaining in the first half. Jake Diebler called timeout, and immediately out of that timeout Justin Pippen threw the ball to nobody along the baseline for a turnover, and then Amare Bynum fouled Coleman shooting a three-pointer just in front of the Ohio State bench. Coleman hit just one of the three, putting Youngstown State up 31-28 with just over three minutes left in the first half.

Ohio State ripped off a 10-2 run to end the first half, taking a 38-33 lead into the locker room. Mobley scored four and Pippen connected for Ohio State's first three-pointer of the game with 1:36 to go until the halftime break.

The scored stayed within three points in either direction for the first 10 minutes of the second half, with Youngstown State taking the lead multiple times, only for Ohio State to come back moments later. With Ohio State up 55-52 and just under 10 minutes left in the game, Jelavic knocked down a three and dropped in a layup on back-to-back possessions to give Ohio State a 60-52 lead — its biggest margin of the night to that point. Those two buckets put Jelavic at 15 points on the night — a new career-high for the junior from Croatia.

Despite the lid never really coming off the basket from long range at any point, Ohio State was able to separate from Youngstown State over the final 10 minutes, and pulled away for a 89-65 victory at home. John Mobley Jr. recorded his 16th career 20-point game, finishing with 25 on 7-for-9 shooting. Jelavic finished with a career-high 21 points to go along with nine rebounds.

Ohio State picked up its first win of the season Friday night. Here are a few key numbers and statistics from the Buckeyes' victory:

1: Dunk (and technical) for John Mobley Jr.

With just over 10 minutes remaining in the first half, Mobley stole the ball from Coleman near the free throw line and took off the other way like a wide receiver in broken coverage. Mobley, who is generously listed at 6-foot-2 on the Ohio State roster, had never dunked in-game before. With nobody in front of him, he rose up and threw down a two-handed jam, putting Ohio State ahead 19-16.

However, the nearest official determined that Mobley had hung on the rim for a second too long, and assessed the junior a technical foul on his first career dunk. Diebler was incensed, but Youngstown State hit the automatic free throw to get the score back to 19-17 with 10:11 remaining in the first half.

1: First-half three-pointer for Ohio State

Part of the reason Ohio State couldn't shake free of Youngstown State in the first half was their complete inability to knock down a three-pointer. Not a single Buckeye was able to connect from deep until Pippen hit one from the left wing, just in front of the Youngstown State bench with 1:36 remaining in the first half that gave Ohio State a 36-31 lead.

12: First-half offensive rebounds for Ohio State

Last season, Ohio State averaged 9.2 offensive rebounds per game. On Friday night, the Buckeyes had 12 in the first half alone, giving them additional opportunities to score and put some distance between themselves and Youngstown State. Unfortunately, that didn't result in much, as those 12 offensive rebounds turned into just six second-chance points as Ohio State struggled mightily to get the lid off the basket.

Still, when the coaching staff reviews the film from Friday night's game, they'll like to see that Ohio State was creating those second-chance opportunities that they didn't create very often last season.

13: Consecutive points for Ohio State to pull away

The game was nip and tuck for the better part of 30 minutes, and the possibility of Ohio State losing to Youngstown State for the first time ever hung in the air for all 8,000 or so nervous fans. But with 10:20 remaining in the game, Ohio State ripped off a 13-0 run that put them ahead 66-52 and all but sealed this one for the home team. Jelavic was a catalyst during the run, scoring seven of Ohio State's 13 as he marched toward an eventual career-night.

21: Points for Andrija Jelavic – a career-high

The 6-foot-11 transfer from Kentucky notched a career-high in scoring on Friday night, continuing his strong start to the season with 21 points on 10-for-16 shooting. He knocked down a three-pointer for the second consecutive game as well, and seems to have a stranglehold on the starting center spot for Ohio State for now.