Two steps forward, one step back.
That is what Thad Matta and the Ohio State men's basketball program are dealing with this season. The Buckeyes captured a pair of Big Ten victories — first against Michigan State then at Nebraska — but let a winnable game slip through their fingers on Sunday. Northwestern won its first game in Columbus since 1977, topping Ohio State 74-72.
The loss dropped the Buckeyes to 12-8 overall and 2-5 in conference play. Matta joined Paul Keels and Ron Stokes for his weekly radio show on Monday evening on 97.1 The Fan.
NOTES:
- Matta said Ohio State had to take the day off on Monday due to NCAA practice rules. The Buckeyes host Minnesota at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
- "We're a little banged up right now. So I don't know if that is a good thing or bad thing [to have a day off] heading into Minnesota, we'll see." — Matta
- Kam Williams has a deep thigh bruise and C.J. Jackson twisted his ankle in the loss to Northwestern. Matta said had Ohio State practiced on Monday, each player probably would not have been able to go.
- Matta stressed again that Ohio State did not have a good practice on Friday. He noted how every team is different, in terms of him trying to figure out if his team is ready to go mentally.
- Matta recalled how he didn't feel like shootaround went well the day before Ohio State played Duke in 2011, so he went to the pregame meal and told his assistants he wanted to change things up during those sessions: "Then we went out and beat Duke by 24 points, so."
- "There's an art to getting yourself ready to play ... whatever it is we've gotta be on our best at all times." — Matta
- Matta said Northwestern "has a heckuva basketball team" but noted that Ohio State couldn't make its own breaks when opportunities arose: "That's how you fall against good teams."
- Josh in Pickerington Tim Horton's Coffee With the Coach Question revolved around parity in the Big Ten: “It's another great Big Ten race. You want to be the team that finds its stride, you can't be the team that messes up. You have to protect home court.” Matta said the conference is as deep as it has ever been.
- Matta said everything with the schedule can make "a huge impact" on how the Big Ten race is decided, specifically with who you play home-and-home against. Matta: "It's not like it used to be where you played everybody twice."
- Matta credited Northwestern's length at guard and physicality in the post as making it difficult to score against it: “Things that we need to get better at is playing through the contact.”
- Matta said the timely turnovers and missed free throws decided the game against the Wildcats: “We run some great offense, you get the ball at the rim, get fouled and we came up empty. In a tight ballgame, those are the plays that you have make down the stretch."
- Does Ohio State need to change how it prepares and practices free throws? "I don't know ... some guys get it figured out on their own. But what it comes down to is guys need to just make the free throw."
- Matta likened this season's consistently close contests to how things went three years ago: “It sort of is what it is, there's no question about that.”
- Matta brought up NBA Hall of Famers John Stockton and Karl Malone and how they always came out and played their game, regardless what city they were in: “Now, they are two of the greatest players ever, but they didn't care about things. They just went out and did what they needed to do.”
- Matta said Derek Funderburk has been sick the last few days, which is why he wasn't on the bench during Sunday's game: “We try to do as much preventative stuff to keep our guys healthy.”
- Matta recalled being told by a hotel staffer in the past that she had never seen a basketball team eat so much green food as theirs: “We want to get our guys as much good food as possible but it is on them when they're at home.”
- When Matta worked as an assistant for Charlie Coles at Miami, a player turned the ball over in practice and the opponent went down and dunked it. Coles grabbed the ball and chucked it into the stands before saying, "Look guys, now we can at least set our defense." Matta: "I'll never forget that. But the really bad, timely turnovers hurt us [Sunday]."
- Matta said he felt the ball got the too stagnant on offense against the Wildcats.
- Dave in Columbus called in and asked if Ohio State has a leader on its current roster that steps up when things go south. He also wondered if Keita Bates-Diop will get a medical redshirt this season. Matta confirmed that Bates-Diop will get a medical redshirt and his surgery is scheduled for Wednesday for the stress fracture in his leg.
- On leadership, Matta said that is still something Ohio State is searching for: “Jae'Sean [Tate] is probably the one guy that can be vocal ... we got a lot of guys that can be vocal when things are going well but the second part of that is you have to have a group of guys that want to be led too.”
- Matta: "There are times where we struggle with finding a guy that wants to lead when things aren't going well ... I think it's a societal thing too where people don't want to lead because they are afraid to look bad.”
- Matta said Mike Conley was one of the best leaders he ever had, even though he never said anything: “He would point to guys, or move his head, his shoulders, just so they knew where to go.”
- Matta said he wished Trevor Thompson would have had a few more opportunities to score on Sunday. Thompson finished 4-of-6 from the field: “Our best offense is when the ball is from inside-out ... I think Wisconsin does that better than anybody. That's something that we just have to continue to hammer home.”
- Matta joked, "Whatever happened to afternoon road games?" Ohio State visits Iowa on Saturday, with a scheduled tip time of 8 p.m. ET: "That's a long day. And if I'm not mistaken we play on Tuesday right after that."
- Stokes asked Matta about his INFINITI Coaches' Charity commercial with former assistant and current Dayton head coach Archie Miller, where he takes a charge and plays against him in a suit and tie. Matta said an old college friend called him and told him, "'You did things in that commercial you didn't in college' ... There was also a stunt double involved, of course." Matta said he and Miller weren't on the court more than 10 minutes together filming it.
- Brian in Columbus asked about the balance of recruiting one-and-done players against guys that Ohio State knows will get in the program longer. Matta: "There's such a fine line with that ... I think that's something that we've tried to establish if those guys are going to be one-and-done if they're local guys. We haven't had much success going across the country and recruiting those guys that were going to leave after one year."
- Matta said he knew in October 2014 that D'Angelo Russell would only be at Ohio State for one season.
- "I love the guys that we have coming into the program the next couple years. Really, really excited about them."
- Matta said Conley told him at 2 a.m. the night after the 2007 national championship game that he intended to return to Ohio State for his sophomore season: “I turned to the staff and said, 'He has no idea he is a top-5 pick.'” Matta credited Conley's father for keeping that outside noise away from his son and just forcing him to focus on playing the game. Memphis drafted Conley fourth overall in the 2007 NBA Draft.
- Matta said when he was walking off the court at Nebraska, he kept hearing someone say, "Thad, Thad, Thad ... " and it was Larry The Cable Guy, who lives out there. Matta said he listens to Larry The Cable Guy's comedy radio show with Jeff Foxworthy from time to time. Said Larry has been at two of Ohio State's games during Matta's career, and the Buckeyes have won both: “I told Larry, you're my good luck charm. You should come to more games.”
- Matta said early signee Kaleb Wesson's game has a little bit of Jared Sullinger in it: "I don't think he's has advanced as Jared in the mental sense but he has the soft touch."
- Braxton Beverly, another early signee, reminds Matta a little bit of Steve Nash with a soft touch and great passing ability, but can also score it: “He had 70 in a game last year ... like 16 threes or something. He lets it go and good things happen.”
- Matta said Wesson "looks good" in terms of how he has lost weight before this season.
- On Marc Loving's performance on Sunday: “It was not a Marc Loving-type game ... but he had been playing well. We gotta get him back there as we continue on.”
