Thad Matta has had nothing but good things to say over the last month about the four newcomers to his team this season. You’d hardly expect Ohio State’s head coach to say or do anything else during the preseason, but the praise for Micah Potter, C.J. Jackson, Derek Funderburk and Andre Wesson has been hard to ignore.
And when the starting lineups were announced for Sunday’s exhibition game against Walsh, it was pretty clear Matta wasn’t blowing much smoke. Potter started at center for the Buckeyes ahead of Trevor Thompson, a junior who started 28 games a season ago.
“Micah has been tremendous for us. You look at the 32 practices that we’ve had and just his consistency all the way through,” Matta said afterward of the decision to start a true freshman at center. “He was a little bit nervous at the beginning, but I thought he really did a heck of a job in the second half and that kid’s got a chance to be a heck of a basketball player here.”
Ohio State’s success in the 2016-17 season will ultimately be determined by the growth of the core of guys it brought back from last year’s team. But the Buckeyes certainly look like they might have some fine complimentary parts with their four newcomers, too.
Potter finished Sunday’s exhibition, an 85-67 victory against Division II Walsh, with six points and five rebounds in 16 minutes. Modest numbers at best in a game that featured 45 fouls called between the two teams.
But for Potter, and the rest of Ohio State’s newcomers, it’s not really about the numbers. This was the first chance to get a glimpse at the group and what each could bring to the table this season for the Buckeyes.
Jackson provided some nice minutes off the bench in replace of starting point guard JaQuan Lyle. The junior college transfer plays hard but under control at the same time, a hard combination to find. Jackson finished with five points, six assists and zero turnovers in 16 minutes off the bench.
Wesson played 13 minutes and did not make a shot from the field, but the freshman from nearby Westerville, Ohio did Sunday exactly what he was brought to Ohio State to do: defend and rebound. Wesson is listed at 6-foot-6 and can play multiple positions for the Buckeyes. He grabbed six rebounds against the Cavaliers.
Funderburk was the last of the newcomers to see the court, entering the game with just under four minutes to play in the first half. But the 6-foot-9 Cleveland native showed why Matta and Co. are so high on him. Funderburk’s length and athleticism stand out, and he finished with three points and five rebounds in 12 minutes.
“I’m pretty sure all of our shots, like we missed the first shot,” Funderburk joked. But after that we got comfortable. It’s just like in football when you get your first hit you get comfortable or the first play you make you get comfortable.”
“That’s all it was was just getting comfortable after those first couple-minute jitters.”
Lyle, Keita Bates-Diop, Jae'Sean Tate, Marc Loving and Kam Williams are going to do the bulk of the production this season for Ohio State. But the Buckeyes are going to need some contributions from these four new players, as well.
Sunday was just an exhibition game against a Division II opponent, but it certainly provided us with an opportunity to see what kind of talent Ohio State brought in.
“Us coming in as freshmen, we’ve never been at this level before and we’ve never been in this kind of situation before,” Potter said. “All the guys are really good at just calming us down and allowing us to express ourselves in a way that we can play but also pinpointing some deficiencies and how we can get better.”
“They’re all really good role models for us and they’re all really good teammates.”
