Throughout the year, Land-Grant Holy Land will be bringing you uncut audio primarily from Ohio State press conferences, but also from individual interview sessions.

After Ohio State picked up its first Big Ten win of the Jake Diebler era, the game’s two leading scorers — Bruce Thornton and Devin Royal — spoke to the media. The head coaches of both teams — Diebler and Steve Pikiell — also spoke.

Pikiell laid the blame on his team’s defensive effort, saying that Ohio State’s 46 paint points were not just because of Rutgers’ post players, but his guards as well. He also described Thornton as an “elite” point guard.

Royal joked with Thornton about his dunk, which was just the second of Thornton’s career, calling him “big dog” and claiming that Thornton does it all the time in practice — which Thornton denied. Thornton also said he could barely stomach watching the film of Ohio State’s loss to Maryland.

Diebler spent quite a bit of time talking about Austin Parks, who played 16 minutes and scored a career-high six points, calling it Parks’ “best game in an Ohio State uniform.” He also said Thornton needs to continue to be more aggressive, which means sometimes hunting shots in the first half.

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Twitter: @lemons_connor

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