Ohio State vs. Clemson
Wesson with 1:39 to go.
“We’re looking for guys that in those moments their eyes light up and they are ready for it,” Holtmann said. “Obviously, losing (Tate) there hurt us late, but I think we’ve got guys. That’s really what you’re looking for in those situations, and it’s been a real learning process for us as a coaching staff to figure out who that is.”
Holtmann said that if the coaches were polled on which players they most trust late in the game, there would be two or three consensus picks and the rest of the names would be “all over the map.”
Fifth-year senior Kam Williams said it comes down to just making the right plays regardless of who is on the court.
“Once we figure out how to execute, we’ll be fine,” he said. “We made some bad decisions as a team and we just didn’t execute.”
One change Holtmann has made the last two games has been to deploy both point guards in Jackson and backup Dakich at the same time.
Against Stanford and Butler, the Buckeyes used nine lineup combinations featuring the two that hadn’t been used the first five games of the season.
That is something Ohio State fans might continue to see even as late-game lineups evolve.
“I think we did that late because we did have the lead in the last 10 minutes of both games and having two ball-handlers helps us, but I also thought Kam gave us some quality minutes and Musa (Jallow) will continue to play in the backcourt some as well,” Holtmann said. 7:15 TONIGHT
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Ohio State 5-2, Clemson 5-1
Ohio State guard Andrew Dakich and Clemson forward/center Andrew Donnal are both playing graduate transfer seasons after being teammates for the last four seasons at Michigan. … Ohio State is 6-9 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and has lost three straight. … Keita Bates-Diop (16.9 points, 10.3 rebounds) is one of two Big Ten players averaging in double figures in both categories. The other is Minnesota’s Jordan Murphy (22.0 points, 12.3 rebounds). G C.J. Jackson, 6-1, Jr., 14.0 G Musa Jallow, 6-5, Fr., 5.6 F Jae’Sean Tate, 6-4, Sr., 13.7 F Keita Bates-Diop, 6-7, Jr., 16.9 C Kaleb Wesson, 6-9, Fr., 10.5
G Kam Williams, 6-2, Sr., 6.7; G Andrew Dakich, 6-2, Gr., 2.9; C Micah Potter, 6-9, So., 6.2; F Andre Wesson, 6-6, So., 2.4; F Kyle Young, 6-8, Fr., 1.2 G Shelton Mitchell, 6-3, Jr., 11.8 G Marcquise Reed, 6-3, Jr., 11.7 G Gabe Devoe, 6-3, Sr., 11.0 F Donte Grantham, 6-8, Sr., 16.0 F Elijah Thomas, 6-9, Jr., 13.0
F/C Mark Donnal, 6-9, Gr., 5.3; F Aamir Simms, 6-7, Fr., 3.6; G Anthony Oliver II, 6-5, R-Fr., 1.6
Tadric Jackson made a layup at the buzzer, Ben Lammers scored 13 points, and host Georgia Tech (4-1) beat Northwestern (4-3). Jackson, in his first start and second game back since serving a three-game suspension for receiving gifts in violation of NCAA rules, finished with 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Northwestern led 51-50 on Dererk Pardon’s
TK Edogi scored six of his 20 points off the bench in the final three minutes to help visiting Iona (2-4) beat Ohio (3-3). Edogi knocked down four free throws and got to the basket for a layup after Ohio’s Gavin Block hit a three-pointer to tie the score at 83. Mike Laster scored 23 points to lead the Bobcats.
Daniel Utomi had 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead host Akron (3-1) over Chattanooga (3-4).