Ohio State has talked on a number of occasions this season about playing up — or down — to its level of competition.
The Buckeyes say they have no issue getting up for their big games — Virginia, UCLA, Providence, UConn, etc. — but they do have trouble, at times, playing with that same effort and energy level against some of the mid-major opponents that come with a non-conference schedule.
On Tuesday, when Ohio State hosted Youngstown State at Value City Arena, that was hardly an issue. The Buckeyes rolled the visiting Penguins, from start to finish, in a 77-40 victory.
“I wanted to play like this,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said afterward.
Wanted to play like that because the Buckeyes were coming off a loss against No. 2-ranked UCLA and the last time Ohio State played following a big game, things didn’t go so well. The Buckeyes were sluggish in a win over Fairleigh Dickinson and then followed that performance up with a loss to Florida Atlantic.
Dominating an inferior opponent like Youngstown State, from the jump, was important.
“We challenged the guys Saturday after the game of, ‘Let’s see what we’re made of,’” Matta said. “I liked the focus that we had just in terms of sticking to the details of what we were doing. Youngstown State was a team that we had seen on film that they could really get going and start banging shots and I thought we did a tremendous job in the first half of challenging every shot they had.”
With an inconsistent offense that had been slumping the last three games, Ohio State’s calling — all year, really — has been defense. The Buckeyes rank 17th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency following their win over the Penguins, according to KenPom.com.
Youngstown State couldn’t find anything at the offensive end of the floor as the Penguins shot just 21 percent from the field for the game and were 2-for-21 from behind the 3-point line. Senior guard Cameron Morse, who entered the game third nationally in scoring at 23.8 points per game, scored just six points on 1-of-12 shooting from the floor.
“We knew coming in they were a very high-powered offensive team,” Ohio State redshirt junior guard Kam Williams said. “We just wanted to continue to do what we do every game, continue with our defensive system. When we get into gambling and doing things that are uncharacteristic to our system, we shoot ourselves in the foot. We’ve got to stop doing that and just stay solid and play Ohio State defense for 40 minutes so when we do that, we’ll be fine.”
Youngstown State is far from elite competition — the Penguins rank just 298th nationally in KenPom — but for an Ohio State team that had struggled as much offensively over the last three games at this one, the Penguins came to town at perhaps the perfect time.
The Buckeyes shot 50 percent from the field, hit five 3-pointers and put four players in double figures on their way to the 37-point win. Williams, who was just 2 of his last 17 from downtown, went 3-for-4 from behind the arc and scored 15 points. Jae’Sean Tate and Keita Bates-Diop each also scored 15 and Trevor Thompson scored 11 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for his third double-double of the year.
It was about as solid a performance as Matta could have hoped for and Ohio State did it without its starting center. Micah Potter sprained his left ankle on the opening jump ball when he came down and landed on the foot of the official.
“I’ve been doing this a long time,” Matta said, “and I’ve never seen that before in my life.”
Potter is day to day with that ankle sprain and the Buckeyes have a quick turnaround before they host UNC Asheville on Thursday. It’s Ohio State’s final non-conference game of the season as Big Ten play begins Jan. 1 at Illinois.
For a team coming off a loss in a big-time game and hoping to regain its footing heading into conference play, Tuesday’s win over an overmatched mid-major opponent could be exactly what Ohio State needed.
“I feel like today we really played together. We had fun and that’s the biggest thing we were focusing on just coming into this game was just having fun, enjoying ourselves and playing for each other,” Thompson said. “I definitely feel we took a good step forward in continuing to get better and it’s good momentum going into this game on Thursday.”
