Gayle’s turnovers continue to mount for OSU as Bonner sits
Guard Roddy Gayle Jr. tied a season high with his five turnovers in Ohio State’s loss at Indiana on Saturday, matching the total he had in a win against Minnesota on Dec. 3.
Gayle has now not had a game with fewer than three turnovers since he had just one against Miami (Ohio) on Dec. 6. In his past six games, Gayle is averaging 3.7 turnovers.
On a night where Gayle made only 3 of 17 shots, Holtmann said he didn’t sense the sophomore pressing.
“I think his decision-making needs to improve,” Holtmann said. “I really don’t think it was a situation where he was pressing.
Gayle’s issues scoring and taking care of the ball against the Hoosiers didn’t mean an increase in playing time for fifth-year guard Dale Bonner. The Baylor transfer only played two minutes during the second half, finishing the game with 2 points on 1-of-5 shooting with two assists and no turnovers.
Bonner is now 2 for his last 16 from the floor in Ohio State’s past four games.
Big lineup pays dividends
During the preseason, the Buckeyes discussed the possibility of playing Felix Okpara and Zed Key together in certain situations primarily against bigger teams. The Hoosiers fit that bill, and the two centers were on the floor together more against the Hoosiers than they had played together all season to this point.
Against Indiana, they were on the court together for 7:34. Ohio State was
outscored 11-10 with the two of them together.
“I thought in this game they did a pretty good job,” Holtmann said. “They were really good on the glass. It was hard not to play Felix because of his length. It matched up with their length, particularly with (Kel’el) Ware. He was so active. We really needed him in the game as much as we could have him in the game.
“He and Zed, they did OK. I thought Zed gave us some good moments outside of a couple defensive errors there late that he’s got to clean up but he gave us some really, really good moments.”
Okpara had a career-high 15 rebounds, five of which were offensive boards, and had 6 points on 2-of-5 shooting. Key finished with 11 points and five rebounds, four of which were on the offensive end.