The college basketball season is officially underway. There were a slew of high-profile games last night, and Ohio State gets in on the act Wednesday night when it hosts in-state rival Cincinnati.
As with any first game of the year, there’s a lot of unknowns on both sides, but it will be critically important to set the tone for what the Buckeyes will become during the 2019-2020 season. The projections for this team have been all over the place, but there’s little doubt that this will be head coach Chris Holtmann’s most talented squad he’s had to date.
Both teams will be looking to make a splash in game one against quality competition, but only one will start the campaign on the right note. So what does Ohio State need to do to win this one?
Here’s three keys to the game for the scarlet and gray to walk away victorious.
Get Kaleb Wesson engaged early
There’s one thing we know about Ohio State — at least that became apparent during last season. This team’s success is tied to the success and availability of its big man Kaleb Wesson. Simply put, when he was out during stretches of last year, the Buckeyes looked like a shadow of the team it could be when he was active and engaged.
He’ll need to get out to a good start in this one as well. If he’s on the floor, out of foul trouble and being effective down low early on, it’ll make the rest of the offense click into place. He’s also a rebounding presence that will be needed against a Cincinnati team that has the personnel to crash the offensive glass.
As Wesson goes early on here in the season, so to does Ohio State.
Take care of the basketball
Well, duh right?
But it is something that was a very hard thing to do for Ohio State over the last couple of years, especially against teams with athletic defenses that pushed the issue. It sounds simple, but less possessions for the offense, and more possessions for the opposition means more scoring to try and keep up with.
Ohio State is more athletically gifted this year, and as long as it doesn’t give Cincinnati the ball too often, it’s the better team on paper. Upsets are stitched together by turnovers, and it can’t happen here. My guess is that C.J. Walker will be a significant upgrade on the ball in 2019-2020 and this won’t be a weakness any longer.
Push the pace more
It’s not like Holtmann is going to go away from what he believes in, but this team is deep enough, and athletic enough, to do more than playing solid defense and then rolling into half-court sets almost every time down the court. If you have the horses to run, saddle up and go.
Now, you have to be careful with the right personnel on the floor because you can’t wear out Kaleb Wesson, but when the right guys are out in the open court, go with it and use some of the new toys on offense. It should all result in a higher shooting percentage, and speed up a Cincinnati team that will probably not want to get in an up and down game.
This is all subject to change based on what is available and what breaks down, but you should see some more push up the court this year. It should start Wednesday night.
