Forward Marc Loving scored 20 points and forward Keita Bates-Diop had 13 to carry Ohio State to a 78-63 victory over Minnesota in the teams' Big Ten opener Wednesday night at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

The Buckeyes (9-5, 1-0 Big Ten) won their fifth consecutive game and posted their seventh victory in the past eight games.

Freshman point guard JaQuan Lyle contributed a career-high 13 assists, and sophomore forward Jae'Sean Tate scored 10 points for Ohio State, which shot 64 percent from the field (16-for-25) in the second half and 50.9 percent (29-for-57) for the game.

Minnesota (6-7, 0-1), coming off a loss to Milwaukee in its last nonconference game, was led by freshman guard Carlos Morris with 18 points and six rebounds. Forward Jordan Murphy scored 11 points, and guard Nate Mason finished with 10.

The Gophers claimed their only lead to start the second half after scoring the first five points on a 3-pointer by Morris and two free throws from Murphy.

Ohio State went back in front to stay at 41-39 on two free throws by Bates-Diop with 16:21 left and rebuilt its lead from there with a 20-5 run over 6:44. The biggest margin was 19 with 6:00 left.

The Buckeyes finished with 24 assists to the Gophers' eight. Minnesota shot just 36.2 percent (21-for-58) from the floor.

Ohio State surged to a 11-0 lead to start the game and extended the lead to 15 points in the first 10 minutes. Minnesota cut the deficit to six twice before the Buckeyes boosted their lead back to 12 points before the Gophers ended the first half with a 10-1 run to close within 37-34 at the break.