ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Ohio State players, coaches and fans alike had seen this movie one too many times before. The Buckeyes dig themselves an early hole, fight and claw their way back into the game in a tough, hostile environment, then ultimately come up short.
It happened back in December in non-conference games against Louisville and North Carolina. It happened again once Big Ten play began versus Iowa and Indiana. And on Sunday, against archrival Michigan, it happened once more as Ohio State fell to an undermanned, but scrappy Wolverines team, 64-57.
“We preached “Don’t take them light’ all week and we clearly took it light on them,” said Buckeyes star freshman guard D’Angelo Russell, who scored a team-high 16 points but was just 6 for 15 from the floor. “They were desperate for a win. They came up short in a few games after losing their top players. They wanted it more than us.”
Desperate to get a victory is certainly one way to describe it. Michigan entered Saturday’s game in the midst of a five-game losing streak. It was also playing without its two best players — Caris LeVert and Derrick Walton Jr. — as it had done for most of the season.
None of that seemed to matter, though. The Wolverines scored the game’s first seven points, led by as many as 20 in the first half and never trailed the 24th-ranked Buckeyes.
“I wish I could give you a detailed answer,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said of his team’s slow start. “Give them credit, they came out and were banging shots and we weren’t able to draw the line and get the stops that we needed. We were kind of sloppy offensively in terms of taking care of the basketball, but we dug ourselves in such a hole.”
It turns out the 16-point halftime deficit was too much for the Buckeyes to overcome. They fought hard, cutting Michigan’s lead to just three at 49-46 with 6 minutes, 59 seconds remaining, but couldn’t get closer than that.
The Wolverines had an answer for seemingly everything Ohio State tried, much to the delight of their boisterous home crowd.
“It’s real frustrating,” Ohio State senior forward Sam Thompson said. “We had eight days off. Nobody’s tired, nobody’s legs are hurting, nobody is injured. To come out like that is inexcusable.”
Yet, this is not the first time the Buckeyes have started slow. In nearly every one of their losses, that’s been the common theme. Coming off a heartbreaking loss at Michigan State last weekend, one probably would have expected them to have an added intensity to this game.
It’s certainly not the most opportune time for Ohio State to lose back-to-back games for the first time all season, either. The Buckeyes are fighting to be one of the top-four teams in the Big Ten so they can receive a double-bye in the conference tournament, but now, they may be fighting for more than that.
After what many would consider a bad loss to the Wolverines and with Minnesota being Ohio State’s best road win this season, an NCAA tournament bid isn’t looking like such a sure thing anymore.
Still, Matta insists he nor his team has thought much about that.
“Never have. We’ve got to get this team better,” he said. “We’ve got to learn from this loss and thinking about that stuff doesn’t do a damn thing for you. You’ve got to put it into action.”
Ohio State has just four games remaining in its regular-season. The end to the college basketball season has somewhat snuck up on the Buckeyes. Time is running out on what has been an up-and-down season.
“I just feel like we gotta be more desperate and more alert from the start,” Russell said. “We have terrible starts we we’re kicking and scratching, trying to fight at the end of the game and it comes back and haunts us and it’s always too late.”
