Unranked again, Ohio State tries to rebound vs. Evansville

Evansville coach David Ragland wanted to challenge his team in the preseason to prepare the Purple Aces for the Missouri Valley Conference.He’ll get his wish Tuesday in Columbus when Evansville takes on Ohio State, with the Buckeyes looking to bounce back from a 78-64 loss at No. 23 Texas A&M on Friday that dropped them out of the AP Top 25 poll.”We wanted to stay regional and play against an opponent that will be a tough environment,” Ragland said. “Ohio State was one of the first ready to get it done. And to get a home game (for Ohio State) with it was important.”The Purple Aces (1-3) learned a rough lesson Saturday at home when they built a 22-point lead in the first half, led by 18 at halftime but lost 92-81 to Radford.”This one stings. Being up as much as we were at home, you have to win these types of games,” Ragland said. “We need to play a full 40 minutes and have not done that to this point. We need to look in the mirror and get better individually and as a team.”A positive was that the Purple Aces tied the program record with 17 3-pointers on 35 attempts. Cameron Haffner made 6 of 10 for a career-high 23 points.Evansville’s willingness to fire from long distance could be a welcome change for the Buckeyes after the physical battle with Texas A&M. Forty-five fouls were called and the Aggies were 32-of-40 from the free-throw line while the Ohio State made 16 of 22.

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