The Drought is Over
Caleb Downs scores Ohio State’s first punt return touchdown since 2014.
Ohio State head coach Thad Matta is an avid reader so it should not come as much of a surprise when Matta said Wednesday he recently started a new book.
Matta wouldn’t disclose his new reading material of choice when meeting with the media to preview the Buckeyes’ game Thursday at Purdue — “I never like to divulge my information,” he joked — but he did say he’s sharing more of his readings with his young basketball team.
Matta is looking for something, anything to help get his group back on the right track.
“I told them [Tuesday], I had a bunch of stuff, and I said, ‘The good news is I just started a new book and there’s like 250 pages so you’re going to get a lot more,’” Matta said.
Added freshman point guard JaQuan Lyle: “Coach Matta started a new book and I think he said yesterday he’s on page 36 and yesterday he read us four quotes out of the book. He said it’s 230 pages so who knows how many quotes we’ll get for the rest of the week.”
However many it takes to get the Buckeyes to play better on the road may be the only correct answer.
Ohio State is coming off the worst loss in Matta’s 12 years after seventh-ranked Maryland blasted the Buckeyes on Saturday, 100-65. On the road before that one, Ohio State found itself down by 30 points at halftime in an eventual 25-point loss at the hands of Indiana.
Things won’t get easier for the Buckeyes on Thursday when they travel to Mackey Arena to play the 22nd-ranked Boilermakers, who are coming off a 50-point drubbing of Rutgers on Monday night.
“I want to see how we play tomorrow night,” Matta said. “These guys, they’ve worked hard and we’re going to continue to work hard and we’ll see if we’re a little bit better, a little bit tougher and can accept challenges more.”
Added sophomore forward Jae’Sean Tate: “I think as a team, we’re definitely hungry to get back out there. In practice this week we’ve been going at it really hard, just trying to become a tougher basketball team. This is another opportunity for us to face a top-25 team and prove to our fans and ourselves that we are one of the top teams in this conference.”
Ohio State could use a win.
A week ago, the Buckeyes had the opportunity to creep back onto the NCAA tournament bubble. But after a pair of 25-plus point losses in their last three games, the tourney talk subsided.
Still, Ohio State sits at 4-2 in the Big Ten — a position Matta would have been thrilled with had you told him back in July. The Buckeyes have plenty of time to make up for those crushing losses and there’s a wealth of opportunities in front of them to earn quality wins.
That all starts Thursday night against Purdue.
Perhaps Matta’s new reading material will help guide Ohio State in the right direction.
“You’ve got to strap it back on,” Matta said. “This is the fourth game out of five that’s been on the road with a young basketball team and we’ve gotta go in tomorrow night and play better than we did last week, period.”
