Brett Ludwiczak
Guest
Ohio State men’s basketball vs Rutgers: Game preview and prediction
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Candice Ward/Getty Images
Something has to give this afternoon in Columbus, as both Rutgers and Ohio State enter today’s contest riding two-game losing streaks.
Ohio State’s men’s basketball team (5-3) enters today’s game against Rutgers riding a two-game losing streak. After suffering a heartbreaking loss in overtime last week at home to Pitt, the Buckeyes were thoroughly dusted on Wednesday night in College Park against Maryland in their first Big Ten game of the season.
Jake Diebler’s team provided no resistance for the Terrapins in the first half, as Maryland took a 50-17 lead into the halftime break.
Only two Buckeyes reached double figures in scoring in Wednesday night’s blowout loss. Devin Royal nearly notched his third double-double of the season, finishing the game with a team-high 18 points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes. John Mobley Jr. added 15 points in 24 minutes off the bench, hitting three triples in the loss. With his trifecta of three-pointers, Mobley has now hit at least three three-pointers in six of Ohio State’s eight games this season.
Not only was Ohio State without Aaron Bradshaw on Wednesday night as the Kentucky transfer continues to be sidelined as he is being investigated for a domestic incident, a number of Buckeye starters struggled mightily against the Terrapins. Meechie Johnson Jr. went 2-13 from the field, scoring just eight points. Micah Parrish missed all five of his field goal attempts, scoring his only two points in the game from the free throw line. Even Bruce Thornton wasn’t very active on the offensive end, failing to reach double figures in scoring for just the second time this season.
The Buckeyes can’t hang their head too long as they have a tough contest this afternoon against Rutgers, who enter this game with the same 5-3 record as Ohio State. Last year the Buckeyes swept the regular season series with the Scarlet Knights, winning 76-72 in Columbus, followed by a 73-51 rout of the home team in New Jersey. The victories extended Ohio State’s edge in the all-time series to 13-5, and the Buckeyes are still perfect against Rutgers in Columbus, winning all eight times they have hosted the Scarlet Knights.
When the teams met at Value City Arena last season, Bruce Thornton had one of his best games of the season, scoring 24 points and dishing out seven assists. Entering today’s game, Thornton is leading Ohio State in scoring, averaging 15.5 points per game. Now in his third season as a Buckeye, Thornton has scored 1,045 points, sitting 10 points behind Ken Johnson and Jamie Skelton, who are tied for 53rd in school history. With 13 points, Thornton would move past Kam Williams’ career total of 1,057 points. Along with his scoring prowess, Thornton currently sits fourth in the country with a 5.3 assist-to-turnover ratio.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25777623/usa_today_24872811.jpg "NCAA Basketball: Pittsburgh at Ohio State")
Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
While Thornton has been a steadying force in the backcourt for Ohio State this year, the most exciting Buckeye has been freshman John Mobley Jr, who is currently leading the Big Ten in three-point shooting. Not only are the 3.00 three-pointers per game that Mobley is hitting leading the Big Ten, he is also shooting 55.8 percent from beyond the arc. With Mobley’s help, Ohio State has now hit at least one three-pointer in 349 straight games. The last game where the Buckeyes weren’t able to hit a three came back in March 2014 against Indiana.
Opposing Ohio State this afternoon are the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, who had some lofty expectations entering this season because of a talented freshman class. The most notable first-year Scarlet Knights are Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, son of former NBA player Ron Harper and younger brother of former Rutgers star Ron Harper Jr. Harper is the team’s leading scorer through the first eight games, averaging 23.8 points per game. Harper scored 36 points against Notre Dame in the Players Era Festival - Impact Tournament in Las Vegas last week, and followed it up with 37 points the next night against Alabama.
With those scoring outputs, Harper not only has posted the highest scoring games by a freshman in the country so far this season, the McDonald’s All-American became the first Rutgers player since Quincy Douby in 2006 to score 30 points in back-to-back games. Harper can do more than just put the ball in the basket, as he is averaging 4.5 rebounds per game, along with 4.6 assists per game.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25777626/2187620099.jpg "Players Era Festival: Texas A&M v Rutgers")
Photo by Candice Ward/Getty Images
The other highly-touted freshman to suit up for Rutgers this year is Ace Bailey, who missed the first two games of the season before making his debut last month by scoring 17 points against Monmouth. Bailey has really started to find his scoring touch lately, combining for 46 points in losses to Alabama and Texas A&M last week in Las Vegas, The Tennessee native is averaging 18.8 points per game, making him the only other Rutgers player besides Harper to enter today’s game averaging double figures in scoring this season. By pulling down 10 rebounds last time out, Bailey now has two double-doubles this season.
To compliment the talented freshman duo, head coach Steve Pikiell dipped into the transfer portal over the past two years. Prior to last season, Pikiell brought in guard Jeremiah Williams, who had previously attended Iowa State and Temple. Williams played in 12 games last season after making his debut in early February, averaging 12.2 points per game. This season, Williams is scoring 9.1 points per game in 23.1 minutes per contest. Along with Williams, joining Rutgers from the transfer portal are guards Jordan Derkack of Merrimack, Tyson Acuff of Eastern Michigan, and PJ Hayes IV from San Diego. In the front court, Zach Martini stayed in the Garden State, moving from Princeton to Rutgers in the offseason.
Pikiell is in his ninth season as head coach of the Scarlet Knights, posting a 137-124 record after accepting the position prior to the 2016-17 season after spending 11 seasons at Stony Brook. The former point guard at UConn has led Rutgers to the NCAA Tournament twice, most recently falling in a First Four game to Notre Dame in 2022. Last season the Scarlet Knights were bounced in overtime in the first round of the NIT by Hofstra. With two of the top freshmen in the country, Rutgers and Pikiell will be trying to reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1979.
Even though both teams enter this game on two-game losing streaks, there is more optimism surrounding Rutgers because of Harper and Bailey. Plus, the Scarlet Knights have had a week off to catch their breath after three games in Las Vegas, with two of those contests coming against No. 10 Alabama and No. 22 Texas A&M, two of the tougher teams in the SEC this season. After a slow start to their pairing on the floor after Bailey missed the first two games of the season, it looks as if Harper and Bailey are really starting to gel with each other, as well as those surrounding them on the court.
Right now morale around the Ohio State basketball program is at its lowest point of the young season so far. Along with the drama surrounding Bradshaw and his alleged “domestic incident”, the Buckeyes are coming off their worst performance of the season. The win against Texas in the season opener seems like forever ago. Since then, the Buckeyes have feasted on cupcakes and failed to meet the moment against tougher competition. While Ohio State should have beaten Pitt last week, they were no match in road contests against Texas A&M and Maryland.
Unfortunately these two teams look to be trending in opposite directions. The Buckeyes have a talented roster that hasn’t played to their potential yet. Meechie Johnson hasn’t lived up to expectations since returning to Columbus after spending the last two seasons at South Carolina. Another disappointment so far this season has been Duke transfer Sean Stewart, who hasn’t come close to living up to the hype coming out of high school. Stewart’s ineffectiveness in the front court has been magnified by Bradshaw being away from the team, as well as the recent injury to Colin White.
As nice as it would be to predict an Ohio State win today, the explosiveness of Bailey and Harper will be a little too much for the Buckeyes to withstand. Ohio State has had trouble with power conference teams so far this season, and the Scarlet Knights should be able to exploit the weaknesses of the Buckeyes and earn their first win ever in Columbus in a tight game that isn’t decided until late in the second half.
ESPN BPI: Ohio State 82.3%
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
TV: FS1
Continue reading...
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Candice Ward/Getty Images
Something has to give this afternoon in Columbus, as both Rutgers and Ohio State enter today’s contest riding two-game losing streaks.
Ohio State’s men’s basketball team (5-3) enters today’s game against Rutgers riding a two-game losing streak. After suffering a heartbreaking loss in overtime last week at home to Pitt, the Buckeyes were thoroughly dusted on Wednesday night in College Park against Maryland in their first Big Ten game of the season.
Jake Diebler’s team provided no resistance for the Terrapins in the first half, as Maryland took a 50-17 lead into the halftime break.
Only two Buckeyes reached double figures in scoring in Wednesday night’s blowout loss. Devin Royal nearly notched his third double-double of the season, finishing the game with a team-high 18 points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes. John Mobley Jr. added 15 points in 24 minutes off the bench, hitting three triples in the loss. With his trifecta of three-pointers, Mobley has now hit at least three three-pointers in six of Ohio State’s eight games this season.
Not only was Ohio State without Aaron Bradshaw on Wednesday night as the Kentucky transfer continues to be sidelined as he is being investigated for a domestic incident, a number of Buckeye starters struggled mightily against the Terrapins. Meechie Johnson Jr. went 2-13 from the field, scoring just eight points. Micah Parrish missed all five of his field goal attempts, scoring his only two points in the game from the free throw line. Even Bruce Thornton wasn’t very active on the offensive end, failing to reach double figures in scoring for just the second time this season.
Preview
The Buckeyes can’t hang their head too long as they have a tough contest this afternoon against Rutgers, who enter this game with the same 5-3 record as Ohio State. Last year the Buckeyes swept the regular season series with the Scarlet Knights, winning 76-72 in Columbus, followed by a 73-51 rout of the home team in New Jersey. The victories extended Ohio State’s edge in the all-time series to 13-5, and the Buckeyes are still perfect against Rutgers in Columbus, winning all eight times they have hosted the Scarlet Knights.
When the teams met at Value City Arena last season, Bruce Thornton had one of his best games of the season, scoring 24 points and dishing out seven assists. Entering today’s game, Thornton is leading Ohio State in scoring, averaging 15.5 points per game. Now in his third season as a Buckeye, Thornton has scored 1,045 points, sitting 10 points behind Ken Johnson and Jamie Skelton, who are tied for 53rd in school history. With 13 points, Thornton would move past Kam Williams’ career total of 1,057 points. Along with his scoring prowess, Thornton currently sits fourth in the country with a 5.3 assist-to-turnover ratio.
While Thornton has been a steadying force in the backcourt for Ohio State this year, the most exciting Buckeye has been freshman John Mobley Jr, who is currently leading the Big Ten in three-point shooting. Not only are the 3.00 three-pointers per game that Mobley is hitting leading the Big Ten, he is also shooting 55.8 percent from beyond the arc. With Mobley’s help, Ohio State has now hit at least one three-pointer in 349 straight games. The last game where the Buckeyes weren’t able to hit a three came back in March 2014 against Indiana.
Opposing Ohio State this afternoon are the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, who had some lofty expectations entering this season because of a talented freshman class. The most notable first-year Scarlet Knights are Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, son of former NBA player Ron Harper and younger brother of former Rutgers star Ron Harper Jr. Harper is the team’s leading scorer through the first eight games, averaging 23.8 points per game. Harper scored 36 points against Notre Dame in the Players Era Festival - Impact Tournament in Las Vegas last week, and followed it up with 37 points the next night against Alabama.
With those scoring outputs, Harper not only has posted the highest scoring games by a freshman in the country so far this season, the McDonald’s All-American became the first Rutgers player since Quincy Douby in 2006 to score 30 points in back-to-back games. Harper can do more than just put the ball in the basket, as he is averaging 4.5 rebounds per game, along with 4.6 assists per game.
The other highly-touted freshman to suit up for Rutgers this year is Ace Bailey, who missed the first two games of the season before making his debut last month by scoring 17 points against Monmouth. Bailey has really started to find his scoring touch lately, combining for 46 points in losses to Alabama and Texas A&M last week in Las Vegas, The Tennessee native is averaging 18.8 points per game, making him the only other Rutgers player besides Harper to enter today’s game averaging double figures in scoring this season. By pulling down 10 rebounds last time out, Bailey now has two double-doubles this season.
To compliment the talented freshman duo, head coach Steve Pikiell dipped into the transfer portal over the past two years. Prior to last season, Pikiell brought in guard Jeremiah Williams, who had previously attended Iowa State and Temple. Williams played in 12 games last season after making his debut in early February, averaging 12.2 points per game. This season, Williams is scoring 9.1 points per game in 23.1 minutes per contest. Along with Williams, joining Rutgers from the transfer portal are guards Jordan Derkack of Merrimack, Tyson Acuff of Eastern Michigan, and PJ Hayes IV from San Diego. In the front court, Zach Martini stayed in the Garden State, moving from Princeton to Rutgers in the offseason.
Pikiell is in his ninth season as head coach of the Scarlet Knights, posting a 137-124 record after accepting the position prior to the 2016-17 season after spending 11 seasons at Stony Brook. The former point guard at UConn has led Rutgers to the NCAA Tournament twice, most recently falling in a First Four game to Notre Dame in 2022. Last season the Scarlet Knights were bounced in overtime in the first round of the NIT by Hofstra. With two of the top freshmen in the country, Rutgers and Pikiell will be trying to reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1979.
Prediction
Even though both teams enter this game on two-game losing streaks, there is more optimism surrounding Rutgers because of Harper and Bailey. Plus, the Scarlet Knights have had a week off to catch their breath after three games in Las Vegas, with two of those contests coming against No. 10 Alabama and No. 22 Texas A&M, two of the tougher teams in the SEC this season. After a slow start to their pairing on the floor after Bailey missed the first two games of the season, it looks as if Harper and Bailey are really starting to gel with each other, as well as those surrounding them on the court.
Right now morale around the Ohio State basketball program is at its lowest point of the young season so far. Along with the drama surrounding Bradshaw and his alleged “domestic incident”, the Buckeyes are coming off their worst performance of the season. The win against Texas in the season opener seems like forever ago. Since then, the Buckeyes have feasted on cupcakes and failed to meet the moment against tougher competition. While Ohio State should have beaten Pitt last week, they were no match in road contests against Texas A&M and Maryland.
Unfortunately these two teams look to be trending in opposite directions. The Buckeyes have a talented roster that hasn’t played to their potential yet. Meechie Johnson hasn’t lived up to expectations since returning to Columbus after spending the last two seasons at South Carolina. Another disappointment so far this season has been Duke transfer Sean Stewart, who hasn’t come close to living up to the hype coming out of high school. Stewart’s ineffectiveness in the front court has been magnified by Bradshaw being away from the team, as well as the recent injury to Colin White.
As nice as it would be to predict an Ohio State win today, the explosiveness of Bailey and Harper will be a little too much for the Buckeyes to withstand. Ohio State has had trouble with power conference teams so far this season, and the Scarlet Knights should be able to exploit the weaknesses of the Buckeyes and earn their first win ever in Columbus in a tight game that isn’t decided until late in the second half.
ESPN BPI: Ohio State 82.3%
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
TV: FS1
LGHL score prediction: Rutgers 78, Ohio State 74
Continue reading...