Connor Lemons
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Ohio State underwhelms, but finds a way to win season opener against Oakland, 79-73
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
Nobody feels great about it, but the Buckeyes were able to avoid disaster at the Schott and pick up their first win of the year.
It’s been 240 days since the Ohio State men’s basketball lost to Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament, squashing its slim hopes of finishing off a miraculous run and sneaking into the NCAA Tournament after a horrendous regular season. The 13-seed Buckeyes went farther than any first-team day had ever gone, making it all the way to the semifinals of the conference tourney.
The momentum was strong, and progress was clearly made. But that loss still sent Ohio State into an off-season that included no postseason participation play and a sub-.500 record hanging around their necks. Tonight’s game against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies represented the Buckeyes’ first chance to begin cleansing themselves of last season’s struggles.
Chris Holtmann’s first starting lineup of the season was the same five we saw in Ohio State’s exhibition game against Dayton last month — Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle, Jamison Battle, Evan Mahaffey, and Felix Okpara. Greg Kampe, who has led the Oakland program since 1984 (!!) went with a starting lineup of Rocket Watts (yes, that Rocket Watts), Blake Lampman, Jack Gohlke, Trey Townsend, and Chris Conway.
Kampe threw a zone at Ohio State to start the game, and the Buckeyes didn’t do a good job moving the ball against it. Six of their first 10 shots came from beyond the arc, but they only hit one, courtesy of Jamison Battle. Oakland, on the other hand, started the game 4-8 from the floor and took an 11-5 lead into the first media timeout, 5:26 into the game.
To their credit, the Grizzlies knocked down a bunch of tough, contested shots in the first half, and still held a 24-20 lead when we arrived at the under-eight media timeout. The Buckeyes continued to struggle against the zone, but scored several buckets purely off hustle — namely from Scotty Middleton, who always seemed to be around the basket and ready to recieve a pass if Ohio State missed their first attempt.
Ohio State took the lead for one minute at the very end of the half, but Townsend’s baseline jumper put the Grizzlies up 35-34, and that was our halftime score. The Buckeyes put themselves in an early six-point hole early, and then outscored Oakland 34-29 the final 17 minutes or so of the first half. However, their inability to work the ball inside against Oakland’s zone killed them, and was the main reason Ohio State wasn’t able to ever separate themselves. Also, Oakland hit a ton of three-pointers and Ohio State did not. The Grizzlies went 6-12 from downtown in the first half, while Ohio State went 3-15.
The teams continued to trade buckets, and Oakland held on to a 50-47 lead at the under-12 media timeout with 11:10 remaining. The Buckeyes were dominating the rebounding battle, but their inability to guard the perimeter or get consecutive stops made it difficult to establish any kind of lead.
Gayle and Zed Key gave the Buckeyes a burst, combining to score 20 points in a row for Ohio State, as they took a slim lead with 10 minutes remaining in the game. Gayle only had three points in the first half, but came alive in the second, while also riling up the home crowd and imploring them to get loud. The Buckeyes held a 67-63 lead at the final media timeout with 3:39 remaining, but the Grizzlies had absolutely no plan of going away — clearly.
It wasn’t pretty, and Ohio State never had this game in the bag until the final buzzer sounded, but the Buckeyes were able to stave off Greg Kampe’s Grizzlies and win their season-opener, 79-73.
If you weren’t able to catch Ohio State’s season-opening win tonight because it was on stinky Big Ten+, here’s a quick rundown of how it went down at the Schott:
Rather than going man-to-man, Oakland employed a zone defense to start the game, and the Buckeyes did a really poor job breaking it. Six of Ohio State’s first 10 shots came from beyond the arc, as they passed the ball around and around the perimeter, failing to get the ball close to the basket. This was a theme of the entire first half — Ohio State struggled mightily getting high percentage looks. There were a few fast break lobs to Okpara at the rim, but aside from that, the Buckeyes generated very little offense around the basket in the first half.
Oakland, on the other hand, hit a handful of contested shots in the first half as well as hitting six of their first 12 three-pointers.
Middleton struggled with the ball in his hands in his first college game, missing a few three-pointers in the first half and failing to take open ones due to his own hesitation as well. However, it was the stuff he did without the ball that made a difference in tonight’s game.
Whether it was jumping passing lanes and then diving into the bench to save the loose ball he just tipped away, tapping in missed layups or simply being in the right place at the right time, Middleton was able to contribute in a myriad of ways despite looking a little rough on designed plays for him, or in spots where he had time to set his feet and shoot.
Thornton, who most people think will lead Ohio State in scoring this season, was held scoreless for the first 16 minutes of tonight’s game. In fact, Thornton only took two shots over the first 16 minutes. However, over the final four minutes he scored seven points on two pairs of free throws and a three, helping the Buckeyes hang around in a game that they absolutely should’ve been winning at halftime.
Thornton began forcing the issue more in the second half, dribbling into traffic below the traffic to try and clog up the lane. He wound up getting fouled on multiple drives, sending him to the line for easy points.
It kind of felt like Ohio State was banging its head on the wall as it continued to try and shoot over the zone, but damnit, they got a few to drop. After looking a little sluggish with the ball in his hands in the first half, Middleton banged back-to-back triples from the far corner with 13 minutes to go in the game to tie it up, 44-all.
After Middleton tied it up, Oakland returned the favor by hitting threes on back-to-back possessions to go back up, 50-44. DQ Cole knocked down his second of the game, followed by the third three of the game from Gohlke, who was 2-9 from distance before knocking down his step-back triple.
After Thornton picked Cole’s pocket in front of the Oakland bench and connected with Gayle for a thunderous alley-oop to give Ohio State the lead, Gayle ran back down the court, lifting his arms emphatically and asking the crowd to get into it.
On the very next play, Gayle attacked the right side of the tin, floating it up off the glass for another bucket while being fouled by Conway, who fouled out of the game on the play. The crowd got into it, and Gayle went to the line. He sunk it for his 14th point of the game, giving OSU a 56-52 lead.
After Gohlke knocked down his sixth three-pointer of the game to pull Oakland back within one, Thornton knocked down his first shot in nearly 10 minutes — a three from the corner — to put the Buckeye back ahead 71-67 with two minutes remaining in the game to put Ohio State back up, 71-67.
Ohio State has a new arena announcer, whose name I currently do not have. But to say he was too loud, might not get the point across. It sounded like he was shouting into the mic, which was turned up to max volume, which felt like it was being shoved directly into your earholes the entire game.
Additionally, there were multiple panels on the scoreboard that weren’t working, leaving small black spots on the screen that hangs high above the court. There hasn’t been a game played here since March, so I’m really not sure how these things weren’t sorted out prior to the season opener.
Hopefully the production teams gets these kinks worked out before Friday, or else there will be a few more deaf people living in Columbus after going to Buckeye games.
Ohio State (1-0) has three days off before welcoming No. 15 Texas A&M to the Schottenstein Center for the first game of a home-and-home series that will take will take the Buckeyes to College Station next year. The Aggies are No. 24 in KenPom, were picked to finish second in the SEC this season, and have the pre-season SEC Player of the Year in guard Wade Taylor.
Ohio State’s game against Texas A&M will tip off at 7:00 p.m. and will be broadcast exclusively on Peacock.
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Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
Nobody feels great about it, but the Buckeyes were able to avoid disaster at the Schott and pick up their first win of the year.
It’s been 240 days since the Ohio State men’s basketball lost to Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament, squashing its slim hopes of finishing off a miraculous run and sneaking into the NCAA Tournament after a horrendous regular season. The 13-seed Buckeyes went farther than any first-team day had ever gone, making it all the way to the semifinals of the conference tourney.
The momentum was strong, and progress was clearly made. But that loss still sent Ohio State into an off-season that included no postseason participation play and a sub-.500 record hanging around their necks. Tonight’s game against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies represented the Buckeyes’ first chance to begin cleansing themselves of last season’s struggles.
Chris Holtmann’s first starting lineup of the season was the same five we saw in Ohio State’s exhibition game against Dayton last month — Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle, Jamison Battle, Evan Mahaffey, and Felix Okpara. Greg Kampe, who has led the Oakland program since 1984 (!!) went with a starting lineup of Rocket Watts (yes, that Rocket Watts), Blake Lampman, Jack Gohlke, Trey Townsend, and Chris Conway.
Kampe threw a zone at Ohio State to start the game, and the Buckeyes didn’t do a good job moving the ball against it. Six of their first 10 shots came from beyond the arc, but they only hit one, courtesy of Jamison Battle. Oakland, on the other hand, started the game 4-8 from the floor and took an 11-5 lead into the first media timeout, 5:26 into the game.
To their credit, the Grizzlies knocked down a bunch of tough, contested shots in the first half, and still held a 24-20 lead when we arrived at the under-eight media timeout. The Buckeyes continued to struggle against the zone, but scored several buckets purely off hustle — namely from Scotty Middleton, who always seemed to be around the basket and ready to recieve a pass if Ohio State missed their first attempt.
Ohio State took the lead for one minute at the very end of the half, but Townsend’s baseline jumper put the Grizzlies up 35-34, and that was our halftime score. The Buckeyes put themselves in an early six-point hole early, and then outscored Oakland 34-29 the final 17 minutes or so of the first half. However, their inability to work the ball inside against Oakland’s zone killed them, and was the main reason Ohio State wasn’t able to ever separate themselves. Also, Oakland hit a ton of three-pointers and Ohio State did not. The Grizzlies went 6-12 from downtown in the first half, while Ohio State went 3-15.
The teams continued to trade buckets, and Oakland held on to a 50-47 lead at the under-12 media timeout with 11:10 remaining. The Buckeyes were dominating the rebounding battle, but their inability to guard the perimeter or get consecutive stops made it difficult to establish any kind of lead.
Gayle and Zed Key gave the Buckeyes a burst, combining to score 20 points in a row for Ohio State, as they took a slim lead with 10 minutes remaining in the game. Gayle only had three points in the first half, but came alive in the second, while also riling up the home crowd and imploring them to get loud. The Buckeyes held a 67-63 lead at the final media timeout with 3:39 remaining, but the Grizzlies had absolutely no plan of going away — clearly.
It wasn’t pretty, and Ohio State never had this game in the bag until the final buzzer sounded, but the Buckeyes were able to stave off Greg Kampe’s Grizzlies and win their season-opener, 79-73.
If you weren’t able to catch Ohio State’s season-opening win tonight because it was on stinky Big Ten+, here’s a quick rundown of how it went down at the Schott:
Ohio State struggling to work against the zone
Rather than going man-to-man, Oakland employed a zone defense to start the game, and the Buckeyes did a really poor job breaking it. Six of Ohio State’s first 10 shots came from beyond the arc, as they passed the ball around and around the perimeter, failing to get the ball close to the basket. This was a theme of the entire first half — Ohio State struggled mightily getting high percentage looks. There were a few fast break lobs to Okpara at the rim, but aside from that, the Buckeyes generated very little offense around the basket in the first half.
Oakland, on the other hand, hit a handful of contested shots in the first half as well as hitting six of their first 12 three-pointers.
Scotty Middleton doing all the little things
Middleton struggled with the ball in his hands in his first college game, missing a few three-pointers in the first half and failing to take open ones due to his own hesitation as well. However, it was the stuff he did without the ball that made a difference in tonight’s game.
Whether it was jumping passing lanes and then diving into the bench to save the loose ball he just tipped away, tapping in missed layups or simply being in the right place at the right time, Middleton was able to contribute in a myriad of ways despite looking a little rough on designed plays for him, or in spots where he had time to set his feet and shoot.
Thornton invisible for much of the first half
Thornton, who most people think will lead Ohio State in scoring this season, was held scoreless for the first 16 minutes of tonight’s game. In fact, Thornton only took two shots over the first 16 minutes. However, over the final four minutes he scored seven points on two pairs of free throws and a three, helping the Buckeyes hang around in a game that they absolutely should’ve been winning at halftime.
Thornton began forcing the issue more in the second half, dribbling into traffic below the traffic to try and clog up the lane. He wound up getting fouled on multiple drives, sending him to the line for easy points.
Middleton knocks down back-to-back threes to tie it
It kind of felt like Ohio State was banging its head on the wall as it continued to try and shoot over the zone, but damnit, they got a few to drop. After looking a little sluggish with the ball in his hands in the first half, Middleton banged back-to-back triples from the far corner with 13 minutes to go in the game to tie it up, 44-all.
Oakland won’t go away, goes back up six
After Middleton tied it up, Oakland returned the favor by hitting threes on back-to-back possessions to go back up, 50-44. DQ Cole knocked down his second of the game, followed by the third three of the game from Gohlke, who was 2-9 from distance before knocking down his step-back triple.
Gayle pumps up the crowd, wills Buckeyes to lead
After Thornton picked Cole’s pocket in front of the Oakland bench and connected with Gayle for a thunderous alley-oop to give Ohio State the lead, Gayle ran back down the court, lifting his arms emphatically and asking the crowd to get into it.
On the very next play, Gayle attacked the right side of the tin, floating it up off the glass for another bucket while being fouled by Conway, who fouled out of the game on the play. The crowd got into it, and Gayle went to the line. He sunk it for his 14th point of the game, giving OSU a 56-52 lead.
Thornton’s corner three pushes the lead to four
After Gohlke knocked down his sixth three-pointer of the game to pull Oakland back within one, Thornton knocked down his first shot in nearly 10 minutes — a three from the corner — to put the Buckeye back ahead 71-67 with two minutes remaining in the game to put Ohio State back up, 71-67.
The Schott was definitely not in mid-season form
Ohio State has a new arena announcer, whose name I currently do not have. But to say he was too loud, might not get the point across. It sounded like he was shouting into the mic, which was turned up to max volume, which felt like it was being shoved directly into your earholes the entire game.
Additionally, there were multiple panels on the scoreboard that weren’t working, leaving small black spots on the screen that hangs high above the court. There hasn’t been a game played here since March, so I’m really not sure how these things weren’t sorted out prior to the season opener.
Hopefully the production teams gets these kinks worked out before Friday, or else there will be a few more deaf people living in Columbus after going to Buckeye games.
Up Next:
Ohio State (1-0) has three days off before welcoming No. 15 Texas A&M to the Schottenstein Center for the first game of a home-and-home series that will take will take the Buckeyes to College Station next year. The Aggies are No. 24 in KenPom, were picked to finish second in the SEC this season, and have the pre-season SEC Player of the Year in guard Wade Taylor.
Ohio State’s game against Texas A&M will tip off at 7:00 p.m. and will be broadcast exclusively on Peacock.
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