CHICAGO – It will be a happy Christmas holiday for coach Chris Holtmann and his Ohio State men’s basketball team.

The 15th-ranked Buckeyes used their defense to surge ahead in the second half and defeat UCLA 80-66 in the CBS Sports Classic Saturday afternoon at the United Center.

Ohio State improved to 11-1 overall in winning its fifth straight game. OSU rallied to take a 33-30 halftime lead and then built its lead out to double digits in the final seven minutes.

“I am really proud of the effort of our guys, particularly the second half,” said OSU coach Chris Holtmann. “I thought UCLA's length bothered us. I know, I give them credit, I think they played a hard game the other night on the road (at Cincinnati), and we thought that we would see zone but.

“I'm not sure we thought we would see that much. But give our guys credit, they responded well. I thought UCLA, they were difficult to attack in that zone because of their length and their size.”

Senior guard C.J. Jackson scored 20 of his team-high 22 points in the second half to fuel the win. He also had seven rebounds and six assists for the Buckeyes. Jackson was 7 of 16 from the floor (3 of 7 on threes) and hit all five of his free throws.

Jackson’s finish belied his rough start: He was benched just five minutes into the game after a pair of turnovers.

“The biggest thing was my teammates, they were looking out for me,” Jackson said. “I started hitting a couple of shots, got an easy floater in the beginning.

“When I was struggling in the first half, all the coaches and players stayed on me and said keep shooting, and that's how they are in practice when you're struggling. They tell you to keep going because they have seen the success out of each player. It's always easy to play for guys like that.”

Sophomore center Kaleb Wesson enjoyed another double-double as he finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds. The 6-9 Wesson won the battle against UCLA’s 7-1 freshman center Moses Brown, who finished with nine points and two rebounds.

“It made me work on my lower body more, trying to get in their legs and weed out space for myself for rebounding and finding angles for my teammates to find me,” Wesson said of going against lanky Brown.

Sophomore forward Kyle Young was on the business end of a pair of nifty alley-oop passes and added 11 points and six rebounds for the Buckeyes.

Andre Wesson had nine points and five blocked shots on defense. Luther Muhammad also had nine points and Duane Washington Jr. scored eight for the Buckeyes.

Keyshawn Woods also had a huge impact with six points, four rebounds and 10 assists with no turnovers in just over 35 minutes of work. Woods started the game in a three-guard look in place of Young, who usually starts at power forward.

The Buckeyes will have a week before their last nonconference game against High Point and two weeks until they resume Big Ten play against No. 10 Michigan State at home. OSU went 3-1 in its nonconference games against major conference opponents, also winning games at Cincinnati and Creighton and falling to Syracuse at home.

This is OSU’s best start in five seasons, dating to a 15-0 beginning in the 2013-14 season.

“Last year, we did not do a great job in nonconference games that are going to be evaluated at the end of the year by the NCAA Tournament selection committee,” Holtmann said. “That was something we were trying to be a little more aware of, but you know, I doubt we're going 15-3 in the Big Ten this year.

“So to have a nonconference where we could pick up some wins that are important was good, but more than anything, you know, we have to keep growing and getting better.”

Kris Wilkes had 18 points and seven rebounds to lead UCLA (7-5), which lost its third game in a row.

Jaylen Hands added 13 points and Cody Riley scored 10 for the Bruins. UCLA was a rough 22 percent on threes for the game (4 of 18) and got outrebounded 41-34.

“I thought obviously that was a very good team that we played today,” said UCLA coach Steve Alford. “They do a lot of good things, both offensively and defensively, and I thought that offensively, I liked our shots that we got. We didn't make a lot, 4-for-18 from 3. We are normally a better shooting team than that, so we didn't make some shots there. Getting rid of them around the rim for a while, it happened late, and I really like what we did defensively in the zone in the first half.

“In the second half, we just gave up way too many offensive rebounds. I think how we went about things, it was a much better effort than what it was Wednesday night when it snowballed. I thought we made some strides tonight, but against a very good team like this, you can't give them second opportunities; we gave them 15.”

As It Happened UCLA opened in a man-to-man defense but the Bruins quickly switched to a zone, and that created problems for Ohio State much of the half. The Buckeyes led 33-30 after a deliberate first 20 minutes despite hitting just 36 percent of their shots from the floor (13 of 36). Kaleb Wesson had 10 first-half points and Muhammad chipped in seven for OSU. UCLA led much of the half. The Bruins connected on 48 percent of their first-half shots (14 of 29) and also got 13 first-half points from the explosive Wilkes. But 12 UCLA turnovers helped keep Ohio State in the game. Kaleb Wesson hit an early three and a pair of free throws for a 5-2 lead. But Wilkes scored on a rebound to put UCLA ahead 6-5. Wesson tied it at 8-8 with a free throw. But UCLA’s Jaylen Hands hit a three for an 11-8 lead. OSU’s Kyle Young tied it at 13-13 with a three-point play with 13:56 left in the half. But UCLA moved ahead 18-13 after Wilkes had a steal for a layup and then canned a three. The Bruins maintained that lead over the next eight minutes as OSU struggled against the UCLA zone. Wilkes rebounded his own miss for a 22-19 lead with 6:03 left in the half. This is when the Buckeyes finally came alive and strung together some made shots. Andre Wesson had a one-hander in the lane off a Keyshawn Woods pass before Andre hit brother Kaleb with a bounce pass for a layup and a 23-22 lead with 5:01 left in the half. Jackson hit Muhammad with a crosscourt pass in transition for a three and a 26-24 lead with 3:45 left in the half. Muhammad had a steal for a jam, Washington hit a three off an inside-out three from Kaleb Wesson and Muhammad stuck a pullup jumper as the Buckeyes went up 33-30 at the break. “We were a little bit passive early against the zone,” Holtmann said. “I think that hurt us early with probably the first four or five possessions, and you know, I've obviously got to do a better job of making sure that our guys are more aggressive and attacking in the zone. “Their length bothered us. I think their first two possessions, they had two steals off of C.J.'s passes. I just thought we were more aggressive. We drove them a little bit more in the zone and we posted and moved it a little bit quicker, which was instrumental for us.” The Buckeyes quickly got the lead out to nine early in the second half. Jackson had a layup off a steal and Woods assist. Young had a reverse off a Kaleb Wesson feed, Woods got a layup off a Jackson assist and Andre Wesson hit a sidestep three off a Jackson pass for a 43-34 lead with 10:37 left. UCLA’s Cody Riley had a layup and a three to cut the gap to 43-39 with 14:30 left. But OSU answered as Kaleb Wesson fought through traffic to score inside before Washington threw over the zone to Young for an alley oop and a 47-39 lead with 13:37 left. Washington splashed a three off a Muhammad assist after a UCLA rebounder had deflected the ball off a teammate’s face. That spree put OSU up 51-42 with 12:16 left. Jackson hit a three off a Muhammad pass and made a one-hander in the lane for a 57-50 lead with 8:40 left. UCLA got it down to six at 59-53 after a Riley free throw. OSU lost Kaleb Wesson with his fourth foul at that point. But the Buckeyes kept the hammer down at both ends. Jackson scored on a one-hander on the baseline. After a UCLA miss, Woods brought the ball to halfcourt and threw a long alley oop to the streaking Young for the dunk and a 63-53 lead with 6:10 left. UCLA called timeout to regroup. But OSU’s Young and Andre Wesson each deflected shots on defense. Then, at the other end, Andre missed a shot but Young rebounded. He got it out to Muhammad, who reversed it to Woods. Woods found Jackson in the right corner for a clutch three and a 66-53 lead. Andre Wesson’s two free throws pushed it to 68-53. Jackson was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws for a 71-55 lead with 4:19 left. Fittingly, Woods drove into the lane and dished to Jackson in the right corner. His three made it 78-62 with 1:33 left. After the way Jackson’s day started, Holtmann was glad he and Woods were around for the end. “I was really proud of (Jackson) because I thought he was struggling a little bit early and I thought he had a stretch there that kind of broke the game open in the second half when we moved him off the ball,” the coach said. “I thought Keyshawn, having ten assists and zero turnovers might have been as instrumental as anything because he can see things in the zone, and he's really good. “That's why I couldn't take him out, because he's really good at attacking zones, driving gaps and finding right -- finding the right guys. So moving C.J. off the ball helped us."

Also Notable * Kaleb Wesson leads the team with 10 double-figure games, followed by Jackson with nine, Muhammad with five, Woods, Young and Washington with four each and Andre Wesson with three. * This was the third time Jackson has led the team in scoring this season. Kaleb Wesson has led the team in scoring six times, followed by three times for Jackson, twice by Woods and once by Andre Wesson * Kaleb Wesson has been in double figures in each of his last nine games, averaging 18.4 points and 7.6 rebounds in those games. This was his second double-double of the season and third of his career. * With 22 points, Jackson came up three points shy of his career mark of 25 set earlier this season against Purdue Fort Wayne. Over his last three games, Jackson has posted spiffy averages of 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists. * Woods’ 10 assists are a collegiate career high for him, breaking his previous mark of nine set against Boston College while playing for Wake Forest in 2017. * Poll Rankings: Ohio State, 15th in the AP poll, 14th in the USA Today coaches poll; UCLA, unranked. * CBS Sports Classic Details: This is the fifth year for the CBS Sports Classic. OSU lost to UNC in the first Classic in 2014 in Chicago, then defeated Kentucky in 2015 in Brooklyn, N.Y. (74-67), lost to UCLA in 2016 in Las Vegas (86-73) and lost to North Carolina last year in New Orleans (86-72). OSU will face Kentucky in Las Vegas on Dec. 21, 2019. Asked about playing in this marquee event, Holtmann said, “We love it. We love this event. I've said that. We’ve struggled in this event; I think they were maybe 1-3 coming into it. “So to be able to get a win is important. We love the event. It's really well done. It's obviously three other basketball schools, three schools that have a tradition that's really unparalleled, so for us to kind of align ourselves in an event like that's great.” * OSU-UCLA Series: UCLA still leads the all-time series 6-5. The series is 2-2 in games played on neutral courts. Prior to the teams’ meeting in the 2016 CBS Sports Classic (won by UCLA 86-73), the schools had not met since the 1980 NCAA Tournament. UCLA won that Sweet 16 game played at Tempe, Ariz. (72-68). This was Holtmann’s first match-up as a head coach going against UCLA. Alford is now 8-9 all-time as a coach against Ohio State, including a 7-8 record while the coach at Iowa (1999-2000 through 2006-07) and the win for UCLA in 2016. * Ohio State returned to the United Center for its second game in just over two weeks. The Buckeyes took a 77-67 win over Illinois there on Dec. 5. Ohio State appears to now be 14-8 all-time in games played in the United Center. That includes a 12-7 record in Big Ten tournament games, including championship wins there in 2007 and 2013. The overall record also includes a loss to North Carolina there in the CBS Sports Classic in December 2014. OSU will be back at the United Center for the Big Ten tournament in March. * OSU spent the last half of last season in the polls and was 10-5 as a ranked team a year ago. OSU is 7-1 as a ranked team this year. OSU is 510-149 all-time when ranked among the top 25 in the AP poll. * NET Rankings: The NCAA has adopted the new NET Rankings system to replace the RPI. Ohio State is currently 22nd in those rankings, while UCLA is 51st. * Next On The Docket: OSU will have the next week off for the Christmas holiday. The Buckeyes will wrap nonconference play next Saturday, Dec. 29, at home against High Point (noon, Big Ten Network). High Point is 6-5 going into a game with Richmond on Saturday. The Buckeyes resume Big Ten play on Sat., Jan. 5, at home against No. 10 Michigan State (9-2). That game will tip at noon and will be televised by FOX. * Click here for our look at key prospects Ohio State is tracking for the 2020 and 2021 recruiting classes. Do you have your copy of Undisputed Champions? Click here for ordering information.

OSU coach Chris Holtmann press conference

OSU players press conference

UCLA players press conference: Hands and Wilkes