Ohio State Still Searching For Answers After Rough Conference Start

Chris Holtmann's Ohio State Buckeyes are still searching for answers after a rough start to Big Ten Conference play.

After starting the season 11-2, the Ohio State Buckeyes are now 13-8 and have significantly regressed since the turn of conference play. And so far, they are still searching for answers to what could be wrong.

Head coach Chris Holtmann said postgame versus Illinois Tuesday that there have been mishaps on the defensive end — the team has given up 70-plus points in seven of their eight January games and 80-plus in their last three.

“Whether it’s zone or man, there really wasn’t an answer right now,” Holtmann said.

After dropping two to Northwestern and Nebraska by an average of 19.5 points, the Buckeyes suffered in a 12-point loss to Illinois. There were positive signs, however.

Ohio State trailed by seven and didn’t allow a single transition bucket for the Fighting Illini in the first half. Not to mention both sophomore guard Roddy Gayle Jr. and senior forward Jamison Battle were playing extremely well, starting a combined 8-8 for 17 points.

Regardless of what could have happened differently, the Buckeyes lost their third straight. Holtmann said the team has struggled when faced with adversity thus far, but Gayle said he thinks there has been “improvement in our practices.”

“We just had a high level of urgency going into the game but I feel like there’s another level where we’ve got to be to achieve our goals,” Gayle said Tuesday. “I think we still have a great opportunity to make a really good push for the rest of the season.”

Gayle said the team is “not the same as last year” because they are “much more invested” now.

“Everybody on our team wants to win so bad. We got everybody doing whatever they can in their power to be able to win,” Gayle said. “We’re just not getting the results that we want. I feel like we’re putting ourselves in a position to make a play.”

Certainly, the biggest issue Ohio State has faced since the young guard arrived in Columbus has been finishing close games in Big Ten play. In January, they went 2-4 in games decided in the last eight minutes.

Holtmann, sophomore guard Bruce Thornton, and Battle have all reiterated multiple times that experience is the key to finishing games late. But for a team that relies so heavily on their sophomores, that may be difficult.

Where can the Buckeyes look for the remainder of the season?

For starters, sophomore forward Evan Mahaffey, who has come alive on the offensive end as of late, said the team needs to crack down defensively.

“Lot of things we need to focus on defensively,” Mahaffey said Tuesday. “I know we were not our best at all. Getting better at those things that can really push us over that edge and get us where we need to be.”

Ohio State has done a good job in on-ball man defense but is allowing a lot of drive-bys with not a lot of help. Despite ranking No. 4 in the conference in blocked shots, the Buckeyes could pack the paint more to inhibit successful drives from aggressive guards; Illinois’ senior Terrence Shannon Jr. and graduate Marcus Domask took advantage of the Buckeyes in the paint Tuesday.

In addition, Ohio State ranks in the bottom half of the Big Ten in opponent 3-point, field goal, and free throw percentages and is allowing the fourth-worst 3-point percent to opponents.

There was one 3 senior forward Coleman Hawkins had Tuesday when Ohio State got caught going under an off-ball screen and Hawkins would have had five seconds to launch a wide-open shot.

That just cannot happen if you’re Ohio State, a team that is getting exposed in iso ball and when teams set up plays but who is doing phenomenally in stopping the ball in transition?

Gayle said he wants to do what it takes to “not feel that same pain” he did a season ago.

“That feeling, you don’t want to feel that no more,” Gayle said.

Now it’s crunch time. Getting into the toughest stretch of their schedule. If Gayle and the team want something to change, now is the time.