In a game the Buckeyes had to have, they failed to show up in the first half and it cost them the game, and might be the catalyst towards a slide off the bubble of the NCAA Tournament.
The Buckeyes could only muster four field goals and seventeen total points during the first twenty minutes, and it was just too big of a hole to climb out of despite an early attempt at a rally in the second half.
Northwestern never trailed in a 68-50 blowout.
Ohio State now has to find someway to beat Wisconsin at home — likely without Kaleb Wesson again — to wiggle its way back into some bracket projections. You can bet that they are out of some of those projections as of today.
I know there’s no Wesson, but c’mon …
One player shouldn’t make the Ohio State offense this bad
Yeah Kaleb Wesson is by all accounts and measures Ohio State’s best player, but one guy shouldn’t mean this much to a team right? I mean four of twenty-eight shooting, seventeen total points, and an absolute abomination of offensive duds in a half without one player?
If anything, that tells you all you need to know about if this team should be an NCAA Tournament team. I get taking one player (any player) off of a team and having some challenges in areas, but not to the level we’ve seen over the last couple of games with Wesson out.
The guys wearing scarlet and gray are all on scholarship, but man oh man does this team lack an identity without the big man down on the blocks.
I don’t know where you go from here, and I get the impression the coaching staff doesn’t either.
Next … Guys trying to do too much
The Buckeyes have a lot of guys that try to do more than they should
When you feel like offense is at a premium, it’s natural to press at times. But nothing could be more counterproductive than to forget you have teammates, discard offensive sets and try to play one-on-one matchup basketball.
And that’s what Ohio State has been doing. There’s too much dribbling one on one, too much stuff going away from the basket, and not enough sharing and flow within the offense.
Head coach Chris Holtmann is known as a good X’s and O’s guy, but it doesn’t do squat if the players don’t buy-in and execute. The season is still salvageable, and the NCAA Tournament in reach, but not unless guys play together as a team and get good shots through execution and patience.
Next … When will Kaleb Wesson be back?
Kaleb Wesson, paging Kaleb Wesson
There is absolutely no way the Buckeyes get things done against Wisconsin without Wesson playing — home game or not. But I wouldn’t expect him to be back, nor should Holtmann trade his principles for trying to buy a win here late.
Nobody yet knows what Wesson did to deserve the suspension, but it must be something that Holtmann feels very strong about or he’d be in the lineup down the stretch here in the most important games of the season.
Wesson is the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, and without him, sadly, this team is NIT bound. Without knowing what’s going on behind the scenes, it could be poetic justice for all we know.
