Ohio State was routed by Connecticut on Saturday, 75-55, to fall to 4-5 on the season. The Buckeyes will next be in action Wednesday when they host Northern Illinois before traveling to Brooklyn, New York, one week from Saturday for a date with No. 5 Kentucky.
The Huskies never trailed in the game, and used a 12-2 first-half run to open up a lead that was never threatened by a young Ohio State team. The Buckeyes cut a 21-point halftime deficit to 12 early in the second half, but UConn responded with a run of its own where it made 10 straight field goal attempts.
Let's take a look at five areas where things went really wrong for Ohio State on Saturday.
Shot Selection
Like most things that worked against the Buckeyes on Saturday, this was largely an issue in the first half. UConn continued to attack the basket off the bounce, while Ohio State settled for long, contested jump shots.
The Buckeyes made just 9 of 29 first-half field goal attempts and were only 2 of 9 from behind the 3-point line. Continuing to take long jumpers when shots weren't falling forced Ohio State to fall behind early into a hole it simply couldn't recover from.
Containing Dribble Penetration
Conversely, Ohio State made things way too easy for UConn on the other end of the floor as the Huskies seemingly got whatever they wanted inside for most of the game.
This happened, though, because of the Buckeyes' poor perimeter defense and their inability to keep the UConn guards out of the paint. Once inside, Rodney Purvis, Jalen Adams and Co. either got open looks themselves, dished off to a big guy for a finish or kicked out for an uncontested 3-pointer.
Poor Perimeter Shooting
Tying back in with the shot selection in the first half, Ohio State simply couldn't throw the ball in the ocean for the majority of the game. Most notably, JaQuan Lyle, Keita Bates-Diop and Marc Loving combined to shoot 0 for 11 from behind the 3-point line. As a team, the Buckeyes shot just 5 for 22 from 3-point range.
UConn Interior Domination
The Huskies set the tone for this one quite early as they got dunks on their very first two possessions of the game. From there, it was all UConn inside.
The Huskies outscored the Buckeyes by nearly 20 points in the paint, 38-20, and shot 60 percent from the field for the game. UConn also held a 34-26 advantage on the glass; Ohio State's starting center Trevor Thompson played 13 minutes and didn't have a single rebound. Daniel Giddens returned after missing the previous two games and logged 23 minutes, scoring seven points and grabbing six boards, but the Buckeyes were minus-25 points with Giddens on the floor.
Point Guard Play
JaQuan Lyle simply has to be better for Ohio State. He has played well at times this season, but his bad games — like Saturday's — really hold the Buckeyes back.
Lyle played 26 minutes at the point against UConn and was held scoreless, missing all seven of his field goal attempts. He had just one assist and three turnovers.
To put this kind of loss on Lyle is silly — Ohio State was dominated in nearly every phase of the game — but he has to play better if the Buckeyes want to be a competitive team going forward.
