Matta ties school wins mark in 77-67 victory over Penn St

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Ohio State’s Thad Matta tied a school record for coaching victories Wednesday night and quickly noted that players such as D’Angelo Russell make him a better coach.Russell scored 28 points and No. 23 Ohio State’s 77-67 victory over Penn State placed Matta in a tie with Fred Taylor with 297 wins against 91 defeats in 11 seasons with the Buckeyes. A victory Sunday over No. 6 Wisconsin would give Matta (399-122) his 400th career win. That was why he didn’t cite any special significance just yet for his coaching numbers.”This game was big for us so for so many other reasons,” Matta said. “When the time’s right, I’ll sit down and have a nice glass of wine and think about it. We have to get ourselves ready; we’re playing the best team in the Big Ten on Sunday.”Russell sparked Matta’s record-tying win. He was 8 of 16 from the field, 5 of 8 from 3-point range and 7 of 11 from the free-throw line. He added six rebounds and three assists.”He makes me a better coach,” Matta said. “No doubt about it, we were struggling from the free-throw line. He started making shots and we started making free throws.”He did a tremendous job of keeping his composure. …

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