Three words came to mind when Ohio State head coach Thad Matta thought back to last year's game against Marquette — a 52-35 grind-it-out-win for the Buckeyes.
"That was brutal," he said Monday.
Ohio State shot just 42 percent from the field and was a dismal 3 for 18 from 3-point range during that difficult-to-watch contest which was tied at just 19-all at halftime. The Buckeyes' 52 points were actually fewer than the football team's 60 put up on the very same day against Illinois.
| WHO | WHERE | WHEN | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marquette (1-0) | Schottenstein Center | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN2 |
"I thought maybe the first one to 20 was gonna win that game," Matta joked.
This year's game will likely be a different story, though, as both teams looked vastly different than they did a season ago.
The 20th-ranked Buckeyes are coming off a 92-55 rout of UMass-Lowell in their opener last Friday night where all 10 players found the scoring column in a game that was pretty much over from the opening tip. Marquette was also victorious in its season-opener, dropping Tennessee-Martin, 79-63.
Tonight will be a good test to see where Ohio State stands at this point in the beginning of the season. The Buckeyes don't have many opportunities for big non-conference wins as they only have three teams from major conferences on the schedule before Big Ten play begins and the Golden Eagles are one of those squads.
“We know Marquette’s gonna be a great team," point guard Shannon Scott said. "They’ve got a lot of talent, they’re gonna be really physical and play tough against us so we know that if we don’t come ready to play they could beat us so it’s gonna be a great challenge for us.”
Opponent Breakdown
Marquette's season last year certainly didn't go the way many had thought it would coming off a trip to the Elite 8.
The Golden Eagles, who were ranked No. 17 in the country at the time of last year's meeting with Ohio State, finished the year just 17-15 overall and 9-9 in the Big East. They were eliminated by Xavier in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.
Enter new coach Steve Wojciechowski, who takes over the job from Buzz Williams after Williams departed for Virginia Tech.
It's Wojciechowski's first head coaching job after being an assistant at Duke under coach Mike Krzyzewski since the 1999-2000 season. Wojciechowski was a standout point guard for the Blue Devils during his playing days under Krzyzewski.
He was known for his toughness and hard-nosed attitude as a player. That's also something the Marquette program had been famous for under Williams.
“I don’t know him well, but I think just from the standpoint of watching the Tennessee-Martin game it appears that he’s not straying away too far in terms of how they’re defending, how they’re trying to push the tempo offensively," Matta said. "A lot of ball screen stuff, spacing seems to be huge for them on the offensive end and like I said defensively they’re up, they’re pressuring, they’re picking up full court, they’re doing what it looks like he’s accustomed to.”
One thing Marquette is lacking, however, is size on the interior.
The Golden Eagles only have one player taller than 6-foot-7 on their roster and he won't be eligible to play until December because of NCAA transfer rules. It's a bit of a different look than the previous Marquette team gave the Buckeyes.
“Height-wise they might be smaller but they’ve got a lot of pressure defenses that we’re gonna have to be ready for," Scott said. "They’ve got a lot of players that can press us and really pressure the ball so it’s gonna be tough for us.”
Leading the way for Marquette in its season-opener was Jajuan Johnson, who had 20 points, four rebounds and four steals. Juan Anderson also added 16 points, seven rebounds and four steals for the Golden Eagles, who were picked to finish seventh in the Big East this season.
Buckeye Breakdown
Ohio State did exactly what it was expected to do against the overmatched River Hawks, dominating from start to finish.
Freshman sensation D'Angelo Russell was as good as advertised, filling up the stat sheet to the tone of 16 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals. The Buckeyes got other contributions, though, as Marc Loving, Anthony Lee, Sam Thompson and Kam Williams all scored in double-figures.
It was a strong offensive performance overall, but tonight's matchup with Marquette will be a much tougher test.
“I think we succeeded in a lot of our offense during the UMass-Lowell game," Scott said. "There’s still a couple things that we’ve gotta improve on but for the most part we got a good feel for how we’re gonna run our offense this year so we really like that.”
Defensively, the Buckeyes harassed the River Hawks with their 2-2-1 press mixed with a 2-3 zone look and forced 19 UMass-Lowell turnovers.
Look for Ohio State to continue that same type of defensive pressure against the Golden Eagles as it will try to use the 10-man rotation Matta has to its advantage.
“We haven’t seen them go against zone, but we’ve gone back and looked at Duke tape, we’ve looked at Drake tape — one of their assistants was a head coach at Drake — just trying to get a gauge as much as we possibly can," Matta said. "But as we told the guys Friday night and we’ll tell them again, we don’t know what to expect. It’s gotta be a high communication and really trying to figure out what we’re gonna do.”
How It'll Play Out
Fans certainly shouldn't expect to see another 37-point win like they saw in the opener against UMass-Lowell as Marquette comes from a strong league and has some length and athleticism on the wings.
The Golden Eagles don't have much size to contend with the bigs of the Buckeyes, however. And while that's certainly not the strength of this Ohio State team, it can be a strength in this particular matchup.
If Lee, Amir Williams and Trey McDonald are able to control the paint on both ends of the floor like they should be able to against an undersized team, the Buckeyes should walk away as winners.
“As every coach in the country, we’re not quite where we want to be just yet," Matta said. "But knowing that, guys gotta keep up their end of the bargain and if they wanna play they gotta practice well and they’ve gotta play well in games.”
Expect Ohio State to start the first half somewhat slow as it gets used to playing against a team with similar-type athletes, but the Buckeyes should be able to wear down the Golden Eagles with their size on the interior and overall depth during the game's final 20 minutes.
