Kansas +3.5 at tOSU (ov/un 141.5) Sat 4 CBS

[Mike80]

Ok....I had some time to back off and re-think about it...

I can't say I can agree in the idea that they won't shoot this badly again when they are facing elite level competition, especially down low. However, I can say that even though they were shooting like absolute crap for nearly 20 minutes, they didn't slack on defense - Kansas just executed better.

Kansas was just the better team today. It's a bloody miracle the margin was only 8 points. Games like these with coaches like Matta are the ones the players learn the most from. They really need a ball-handler that can get to the net at-will. They really haven't had that since ET, although Lighty could do it at times.

 

[jhawkor]

Good game, and good luck the rest of the year, guys. Hopefully ANOTHER rematch in the Final 4. :)

 

[DaveyBoy]

Self is starting a trend of abusing Thad

I can't believe he kept Ravenel in so long

I don't think we lose more than 5 B1G games. I see us as a 4-seed in the Dance; nothing today indicated to me that we're not a top-15 team.

We had trouble hitting shots today against one of, if not the single, best defensive team(s) in the nation. And Matta kept Ravenel in way too long -- against KU, we needed to see Trey McDonald in there as Amir's relief. Ravenel just got abused by Withey. IMO Matta was badly outcoached by Bill Self.

It's just one game, though, and I'm sure we'll learn from it. We need to find ways to rotate LQR in more when we need points; we just don't have enough shooters to do otherwise, and his D has improved by leaps and bounds (it may have surpassed DeShaun's at this point). But this Buckeye team still has lots of talent, and there's lots of time to gel between now and March.

 

[lvbuckeye]

My thoughts:

• We shot 30% from the field, and 25% in the second half, and we lost by 8. This is two games where we've lost by single digits to Top 10 teams despite shooting 20+% worse from the field than they did. Maybe it's just me being naive, but I don't think that we're going to continue to shoot this bad.

• That being said, we really need to find someone who can be a consistent 3 point shooter. Teams are starting to bring doubles and triples at Deshaun when he gets the ball, and having someone who teams fear for us to kick out to will definitely prevent that.

• They keep saying they're working on Craft's shooting motion, but I think it's significantly regressed. Now he's got that elbow flared out, and he is rotating his body and jerking his elbow in during his shot, it looks horrid. I don't remember him having that elbow out like that last year.

• I don't know if Ross just has awful hands, or if he's coming into the game without focusing, but he's got to be able to catch the ball on kick outs. He looked lost out there today.

• Teams with rim protectors like Withey (luckily the only other one I can think of is Louisville) are going to give us fits because we're not a consistent drive and kick team. I don't think it's something we're going to have to deal with consistently.

I still think that our shot-making will improve and our defense is good enough that we're going to be competitive in the B10. I would predict us as a 6 or 7 loss team.

I appreciate your optimism but this team has too many holes to go 13-5 or 14-4 in the Big Ten to end up a 6-7 loss team.

I don't think we lose more than 5 B1G games. I see us as a 4-seed in the Dance; nothing today indicated to me that we're not a top-15 team.

We had trouble hitting shots today against one of, if not the single, best defensive team(s) in the nation. And Matta kept Ravenel in way too long -- against KU, we needed to see Trey McDonald in there as Amir's relief. Ravenel just got abused by Withey. IMO Matta was badly outcoached by Bill Self.

It's just one game, though, and I'm sure we'll learn from it. We need to find ways to rotate LQR in more when we need points; we just don't have enough shooters to do otherwise, and his D has improved by leaps and bounds (it may have surpassed DeShaun's at this point). But this Buckeye team still has lots of talent, and there's lots of time to gel between now and March.

we've played two good teams so far this year, lost both of them, shot the ball dreadfully in both of them, and generally just looked absolutely lost on offense.
there are more than 5 good teams in the B1G.

i'll be amazed if the Buckeyes are a 4 seed this year. and even more amazed if they actually make the Sweet Sixteen.

recruiting is great. actual coaching not as great.

 

[Coqui]

recruiting is great. actual coaching not as great.

Four final fours in 6 years?

Matta didn't miss all those shots.

 

[NJ-Buckeye]

sure makes ya miss the days of having LIGHTY + DIEBLER + BUFORD

 

[Best Buckeye]

JMO but I think they were not able to maintain their poise when they had to make shots. Sure hope they get settled in before much longer if that's the case.
I saw them hurry a lot of shots.

 

[DaveyBoy]

FF in 2007 with 3 first rounder fresh, 1 sr, 1 jr
FF in 2012 with 1 first rounder,1 senior, 3 sophs

Matta definitely didn't mss those shots. But a team needs to be able to fall back on a great finisher at the rim when the shots aren't falling

We don't have it this year

Four final fours in 6 years?

Matta didn't miss all those shots.

 

[buckeyesin07]

Four final fours in 6 years?

Matta didn't miss all those shots.

Maybe not, but he sure didn't change the offensive game plan when the Buckeyes were ice cold. And keeping Ravenel in way too long, giving up layup after layup to KU on baseline out of bounds plays, etc. OSU isn't significantly less talented than KU last year and this year...and yet OSU is 0-3 against KU. That should tell you something.

 

[utgrad73]

FF in 2007 with 3 first rounder fresh, 1 sr, 1 jr
FF in 2012 with 1 first rounder,1 senior, 3 sophs

Matta definitely didn't mss those shots. But a team needs to be able to fall back on a great finisher at the rim when the shots aren't falling

We don't have it this year

We make two of those missed DT threes and one less inbound bucket by Kansas and it's a tie game. This team went cold. but I agree that we could have used some help at the rim.

 

[RCJH]

Ball goes in you win, ball bounces out you lose. Pretty much sums the game up to me. If you guys shoot only slightly better, then it's a different story. I think you guys can easily be top 5. There aren't 5 teams in the country that play that kind of demonic defense. Shots start falling OSU is going to be damn hard to beat.
Good luck the rest of the year, rooting for you to beat Michigan.

 

[LitlBuck]

Bob Hunter commentary

It would be a mistake to say that Ohio State shot itself in the foot against Kansas, because it obviously would have missed.

The Buckeyes lost 74-66 because they put on an impressive display of poor shooting in the second half, missing open shot after open shot after open shot, much as they did in the only other high-profile game of the nonconference season, a 73-68 loss at Duke.

At one point in the second half, OSU was 2 of 17 from the floor and hadn’t scored a field goal in more than 10 minutes. It went 2 of 18 from three-point range after halftime, an indelible reminder that whatever offensive success this team achieves down the road likely will come from transition baskets created by good defense and not from its pure shooting skills.

Is this an overreaction? Maybe. This is what happens when the schedule has more clunkers than a junkyard. The Buckeyes have shot the basketball well at times, but you draw conclusions from good shooting displays against Albany, Savannah State or UNC Asheville at your own risk.

It explains why coach Thad Matta was asked whether this team would have to find other ways to win during the Big Ten season, and why he first cracked a joke in response.

“I asked Santa for Christmas to improve our jump shooting,” he said. “So we’ll find out.”

He flashed an awkward smile, as if he knew that the joke might ultimately be on him. Did he make that request after the game?

“Yeah,” he said, sheepishly. “I changed my list.”

That joke begat more snickers, but it also led to serious answers about a serious question.

“We have to continue to get better defensively, because transition is great to us,” Matta said. “If we can get out and get some easy ones, hopefully (that) ignites us. But all of these guys have shown they can shoot the ball. … Somehow, some way we’ve got to figure out how we’re going to play our best on game night.”
This is an interesting Ohio State team, a talented one that also remains very much a work in progress.

When most of his teammates are missing shot after shot — Lenzelle Smith Jr. was 3 of 13, Aaron Craft 2 of 9, Sam Thompson 3 of 10, LaQuinton Ross 1 of 5 — scoring machine Deshaun Thomas finds life increasingly crowded. Yesterday, he went more than 10 minutes at one point without taking a shot — he finished 4 of 11 from the floor and scored 16 points, four below his average — which he explained as “trusting” his teammates to make their open looks.

But can they? Craft is mired in a shooting slump; in his past seven games, he is 14 of 51 (27 percent).

More Dispatch

 

[LitlBuck]

Matta was pleased with the effort so that makes me feel a little bit better. Cold shooting is going to happen to any team. It just so happens that it has happened to the Buckeyes in their two biggest names of the season. Hopefully, it will not continue.

At one point in the second half, coach Thad Matta said he turned to his assistants on the bench and said, ?Hey, let?s call a play where we score.?

Unfortunately for Ohio State, and its first sellout crowd of the season, there weren?t many of those when the Buckeyes most needed them yesterday in Value City Arena.

It was d?j? vu Duke for the seventh-ranked Buckeyes as they went more than 10 minutes of the second half without a field goal and lost for the second time this season, 74-66 to No. 9 Kansas.
The Buckeyes (9-2) made only 9 of 36 field goal attempts in the second half and shot 30.8 percent for the game. In their only other loss, Nov. 28 at Duke, they shot 33.8 percent.

?I thought we battled. I thought we played with an element of toughness and tenacity we needed to,? Matta said.

?But a lot of it just comes down to you?ve got to put the ball in the basket in a game like this, and we couldn?t do it, and it became contagious throughout.?

Deshaun Thomas led Ohio State with 16 points but got only three shots from the field in the last 14 minutes, and missed them all, while being smothered by Kansas wing Travis Releford on the perimeter and double-teamed by 7-foot Jeff Withey or another Jayhawks post player when he tried to go inside.

Thomas said he tried to free himself for more chances.

?I crashed the boards and got offensive rebounds,? he said. ?I knew they weren?t going to help (off me).

?We had great looks, wide-open looks, and I trusted my teammates? to make them, he said. But, as was the case at Duke, they did not.

Shannon Scott scored 15 points, 10 of them in a first half in which he energized the Buckeyes off the bench and changed the momentum of the game.

But starting guards Aaron Craft, Lenzelle Smith Jr. and Sam Thompson were a collective 8 of 32 from the field, and LaQuinton Ross made 1 of 5 shots.

?I?m getting open looks and not making them,? Craft said. ?It?s not for lack of work (or) lack of effort. All of us are in (the gym) every day trying to get better.

?Unfortunately, we?ve had some days where the ball hasn?t been going in, and that?s when we have to concentrate more on our defensive side of the ball. Our best offensive game is our transition. We did some (of that) the first half. The second half, we couldn?t.?

More Dispatch

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Matta was pleased with the effort so that makes me feel a little bit better. Cold shooting is going to happen to any team. It just so happens that it has happened to the Buckeyes in their two biggest names of the season. Hopefully, it will not continue.

Yep. Keep in mind that despite shooting like absolute shit, our two loses have been to top-flight program by nearly identical scores (74-66 and 73-68), not exactly getting blown out in either. I still think this team is quite capable of making it to the Final Four, and once there, anything can happen.

 

[zincfinger]

...Cold shooting is going to happen to any team. It just so happens that it has happened to the Buckeyes in their two biggest names of the season...

I think the caliber of the opposing defenses significantly influenced the poor shooting performances, rather than it being just random bad luck.