Ohio State vs. No. 5 North Carolina
1:30 P.M. TODAY
Smoothie King Arena; New Orleans CBS (Channel 10)
WBNS-FM/AM (97.1/1460)
Ohio State 10-3; North Carolina 10-2
The Buckeyes are 1-2 in the CBSSports Classic. They beat No. 4 Kentucky in 2015 and lost to No. 24 North Carolina in 2014 and No. 2 UCLA last season. … In his first season at Butler, Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann beat No. 5 North Carolina as part of the Battle 4 Atlantis. … This is the 3,000th game in Tar Heels history. They are the fifth team to reach the mark and have won 73.9 percent of their games (2,216-783). 13.0 G Kam Williams, 6-2, Sr., 8.0 G Jae’Sean Tate, 6-4, Sr., 12.9 F Keita Bates-Diop, 6-7, Jr., 18.2 C Kaleb Wesson, 6-9, Fr., 12.3
C Potter, 6-9, So., 4.6; G Jallow, 6-5, Fr., 4.2; G Dakich, 6-2, Gr., 3.5; F A.Wesson, 6-6, So., 2.7; F Young, 6-8, Fr., 2.5 G Joel Berry II, 6-0, Sr., 17.1 G Kenny Williams, 6-4, Jr., 13.2 G/F Theo Pinson, 6-6, Sr., 8.6 F Garrison Brooks, 6-9, Fr., 6.8 F Luke Maye, 6-8, Jr., 19.3
G Johnson, 6-8, Gr., 10.0; C Manley, 6-11, Fr., 6.8; G Platek, 6-3, Fr., 3.7; G Felton, 6-3, Fr., 3.6; F Huffman, 6-10, Fr., 3.1
playing hard,” he said, “and also just the curiosity of how this team could be.”
But in the same breath, Tate discounted the narrative of Ohio State being the underdog.
“No matter who we play, our preparation is going to be the same,” he said. “We want to string (wins) together until we look up and we’ve done enough to get into the (NCAA) Tournament.”
It was worth noting that, as the Buckeyes beat The Citadel on Tuesday night, former point guard JaQuan Lyle was in attendance. He quit the team during the spring.
His appearance made Holtmann’s postgame comments even more interesting.
“If you have a few moments, a few games where you don’t come out with effort or you have poor body language or you quit because things get hard or you get down, then that (positive) sentiment can change,” he said. “It’s on us for it not to.”