COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Syracuse found its outside shot, and just in time if you ask coach Jim Boeheim.
Tyus Battle scored 20 points, Elijah Hughes added 18 and the Orange shot nearly 46 percent from beyond the arc as Syracuse upset No. 16 Ohio State 72-62 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Wednesday night.
It was Syracuse's second straight victory, as they improved to 4-2 on the season.
C.J. Jackson had 19 points for Ohio State, and Kaleb Wesson contributed 13 — 11 of them from the foul line — as the Buckeyes (6-1) lost for the first time this season.
"For the first time this year I've seen us play like we need to play," Boeheim said. "That's a pretty good sign."
Much of the game was a battle of fouls and foul shots, as the Orange finished with nearly as many personal fouls (28) as it did rebounds (29), with Bourama Sidibe, Frank Howard and Marek Dolezaj all fouling out.
But an 11-0 Orange run over 3:24 in the second half put the game away.
"I didn't love our defensive effort tonight," Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. "We had some good moments, but ... our team knows we got beat by a better team tonight. We have to play better. We have to coach better. We will learn from it and move on."
BIG PICTURE
Ohio State battled tough but could not get past the Orange's zone and strong shooting. Syracuse sent the Buckeyes to the line 33 times off 28 fouls, but hit its shots when it mattered most.
INJURY REPORT
Ohio State freshman guard Luther Muhammad suffered a dislocated shoulder when he went down with just over a minute left in the game. Muhammad has started six of seven games this season, averaging 27.8 minutes and 8.9 points.
WELCOME BACK, COACH
Thad Matta, the all-time winningest coach in Ohio State men's basketball history with 337 wins from 2005-2017, was honored at halftime. Matta spent 13 years coaching the Buckeyes, winning nine Big Ten titles and appearing in nine NCAA Tournaments. Matta's 2007 squad played for the national championship, losing in the final game to Florida.
PASS THE DRILL
"It's like going to the dentist and not just for a cleaning," said Holtmann on the Syracuse zone defense. "You have to be able to endure that and weather that."
NOTES
The teams played as part of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, established in 1999 to match up teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten Conference. The Buckeyes and Syracuse first faced each other more than a century ago in the 1910-1911 season.
UP NEXT
Syracuse heads home to try and make it three in a row, taking on Cornell on Saturday
Ohio State looks to get back to their winning ways when they open Big Ten play Sunday at home vs. Minnesota.
