Thank goodness college basketball is a marathon with thirty or so games and not judged by a five game stretch. That’s because the Ohio State basketball team has now lost three of its last five after losing a sloppy and bruising game against Wisconsin Friday night .
It now drops to 1-2 in the Big Ten and clearly has some things things that have risen up as cracks in what was a fantastic start to the season. Chris Holtmann won’t be happy in the postgame locker room after this one, and we’re here to try and pick up the pieces from what just happened on the court. There are clearly things that need to be cleaned up moving forward, and the head man should at least have his team’s attention now.
As always, here’s three things we learned.
Next … This team needs a lesson in composure
Where’s the composure?
Look, it’s not time to hit the panic button just yet. I mean Ohio State does still have some of the most quality wins of any team in the country, but we’re starting to see some troubling things with this team.
I keep harping on it, but the turnovers are killing this team. The Buckeyes had another fourteen turnovers tonight and you have to wonder how to turn it around. Against Wisconsin, it’s really tough to run your sets and score, but there’s not unbelievable ball pressure, there were just poor decisions, especially down the stretch.
Composure in the face of adversity is usually how you stop the turnover bug from hitting, but that’s not happening here lately. I don’t know how, but it has to be figured out quickly or it’s time to reset expectations for this team.
Next … Kyle Young’s absence
Ohio State missed Kyle Young today
This was forward Kyle Young’s type of game, and boy did Ohio State miss his presence today. Not only is he going to mix it up in the lane and get tough rebounds, he does a little bit of everything well.
In this game, OSU got out-rebounded and frankly out-toughed. On any given night, Young can pick up the slack and provide a spark when the tough gets going. He wasn’t there for it tonight, and one can only hope that he has a speedy recovery before this team’s psyche starts to become damage.
Doubt has to be creeping in at this point.
Next … Paging the freshmen
Where were Ohio State’s dynamic freshmen?
Welcome to the Big Ten young fellas. Forward Alonzon Gaffney’s day will come, but both point guard D.J. Carton and forward E.J. Liddell are a big part of this team’s rotation. But they were curiously missing in action tonight.
Liddell got some touches with mixed results — only scoring two points and garnering one assist. Carton was even more ineffective. He was hesitant to take the ball off the dribble and had all kinds of issues finding open shots from the outside.
The physical nature of this game seemed to bother the young guns, and hopefully it is a learning experience that they can take and move forward with. This team won’t make it deep into March without both of them.
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