Buckeyes get chance to respond after loss
With about 16 minutes left in the game on Friday against Texas-Arlington, Keita Bates-Diop made a three-pointer in front of the Ohio State bench.
The basket pulled the Buckeyes within five points, and coach Thad Matta immediately called a timeout. What followed was a red-faced, blistering message to his players, who had allowed the Mavericks to open the half with a 12-2 run before Bates-Diop’s basket.
“We talked about coming out with energy we didn’t have in the first half, coming out with energy and playing hard and getting stops,” Bates-Diop said. “We came out and did the exact opposite. He was pretty mad about it.”
It wouldn’t get much better, as the Buckeyes suffered their first home loss to a non-major-conference opponent in 151 games. Even for a young group well outside the national spotlight, a loss to the team picked to finish eighth in the Sun Belt Conference was a shocker.
Tonight, the Buckeyes get their first chance to respond when Louisiana Tech visits Value City Arena. In between the two games, sophomore Jae’Sean Tate said the Buckeyes have learned three deficiencies that sunk them on Friday.
“It was just a toughness issue, an energy issue and just defensive tendencies,” he said. “That was what was key in practice this week, just getting back to Ohio State basketball, being able to defend. And hopefully we do a better job.”
Matta said the coaching staff showed the players “play after play after play” where they fell short. After starting the same lineup for the first three games, he also told them after the loss that he didn’t have any starters at the moment.
Bates-Diop said he’s not worried that the younger players don’t know what’s
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Ohio State 2-1; Louisiana Tech 3-0
Freshman Daniel Giddens blocked six shots against Texas-Arlington, fourth-most by an Ohio State freshman. … The Buckeyes have not lost consecutive nonconference games since falling to North Carolina and Butler in the 2007-08 season. … The Bulldogs are led by Alex Hamilton, who is averaging 14.0 points this season. expected of them because they have been watching the Buckeyes for years and been in the program since June.
G Lyle, 6-5, Fr., 9.7
G Bates-Diop, 6-7, So., 13.3
F Tate, 6-4, So., 10.7
F Loving, 6-7, Jr., 13.7
C Thompson, 6-11, So., 4.7
G Williams, 6-2, So., 9.3; G Grandstaff, 6-4, Fr., 4.0; C Giddens, 6-10, Fr., 7.3; C Bell 6-10, Fr., 1.5; G Harris, 5-9, Fr., 1.7
G Hamilton, 6-4, Sr., 14.0
G Robinson, 6-4, Jr., 6.3
G Griffin, 6-5, So., 7.0
G Davis, 6-6, Sr., 12.0
F McCree, 6-8, Jr., 16.7
G Jean, 6-2, Fr., 12.3; G Luckett, 6-4, Sr., 6.0; C White, 7-0, So., 4.0; G Boykins, 6-6, So., 10.0; F Washington, 6-8, Fr., 6.0
As for why Ohio State is lacking in the areas Tate highlighted, Matta is still looking for answers.
“There’s always been the old saying that freshmen want to play, sophomores want to start, juniors want to score and seniors want to win,” he said. “We don’t have any (seniors on scholarship). We’ve got to do our deal, and we’ve got to grow up. We have to accept things for what they are and get better.”
On paper, Louisiana Tech presents a more formidable challenge than Texas-Arlington. The Bulldogs are ranked 117th nationally according to KenPom.com, highest among Ohio State’s first four opponents, and beat Texas-Arlington 80-68 on Nov. 17.
As has been the case in the first three games, Matta said he’s not sure what he will see.
“We have to move forward,” he said. “We have a really good basketball team coming in here, and we have to be more prepared, we have to be more prepared mentally, we have to be more prepared physically to play the game than we were the other night.”