La. Tech hands Ohio State second straight surprising home loss

Ohio State plays Michigan on the football field later this week, which might be a saving grace for Thad Matta and his basketball team.

The hardwood Buckeyes are probably content to be as anonymous as possible on campus right now after suffering a second straight humbling home defeat to an unranked nonconference foe.

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Louisiana Tech came to Value City Arena and handled the Buckeyes much too easily Tuesday night in an impressive 82-74 victory for the Bulldogs. The upset came on the heels of Ohio State losing to Texas Arlington and marked the first time the Buckeyes have lost consecutive home nonconference games since early December 1963.

Yes folks, that’s nearly 52 years.

Ohio State was expected to finish somewhere in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten this season after losing D’Angelo Russell and three other key contributors from last season. But it’s suddenly looking like a much longer, tougher season could be in store for Matta and the Buckeyes.

Of course, there is time and plenty of opportunity upcoming to get back on track, but this appears to be a team that hasn’t found a leader around whom to rally. The two losses have been characterized by turnovers leading to points on the other end and defensive lapses that must have Matta grinding his teeth.

 A big problem Tuesday was gaurding the 3-point line. La. Tech made 10 3-pointers

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 Forward Marc Loving did what he could on the offensive end with 25 points, scored in an efficient manner with just 15 shots. Three other starters scored in double figures for the Buckeyes, but there isn’t a lot of depth on this roster and that shows up.

Senior guard Alex Hamilton scored 24 to lead the Bulldogs but went 0-for-5 from behind the arc. Erik McCree scored 17 and sophomore Jacobi Boykins scored 16.

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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo