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Minnesota’s front line comes to the rescue against No. 11 Ohio State

Minnesota v Michigan State

EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 11: at the Jack T. Breslin Student Events Center on January 11, 2014 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***

Gregory Shamus

It’s officially time to be concerned about No. 11 Ohio State.

Their inability to consistently create offense is a problem, and the fact that they can get exposed by opponents with more powerful front lines certainly doesn’t help matters. Think about it like this: the Buckeyes got 22 points from leading scorer LaQuinton Ross and forced Minnesota into 18 turnovers and still somehow managed to lost to the Gophers by 10, 63-53.

How did that happen?

Well, it starts with the fact that Aaron Craft and Shannon Scott combined for eight points, five assists and nine turnovers. The Buckeyes cannot beat good teams on the nights where those two are not able to create some kind of offense.

Another issue was that they simply didn’t have an answer for ... Elliott Eliason. He finished with 12 points, 13 boards and two blocks. With all due respect to Eliason, who is one of the more improved players in the Big Ten this season, if he’s dominating your interior players, it’s not a good sign.

All told, Minnesota shot 51.1% from the game and 63.6% on two-point field goals, the majority of which were scored by their big men in and around the paint, which is why this win was just as promising for Minnesota as it was concerning for OSU.

You see, the strength of the Gophers this season is their perimeter play. Andre and Austin Hollins are both borderline all-Big Ten players. Dre Mathieu is fearless attacking the rim and Malik Smith is a sparkplug off the bench. They run the same pressing style that Richard Pitino’s father, Rick, runs at Louisville. They’re not exactly known for the play of their big men, but on Thursday, they knocked off a top 15 team on a night where their guards struggled and their bigs controlled the paint.

That’s promising.

More importantly, the Gophers landed a big win in their quest to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. They were 13-4 entering the night, but their two best wins came against Florida State and Purdue. They needed this win to get themselves headed in the right direction, but it’s not the kind of win that will make their tournament resume. Ohio State has now lost three straight games. Their best win on the season was a dominating performance against a Marquette team that looks like they might struggle to even earn a bid to the NCAA tournament.

Bottom line?

Both Ohio State and Minnesota have plenty of work left to do if they’re going dancing.