During its last time out on the floor, Ohio State didn't play its best game of the year. The Buckeyes still won by 27 points.
That's just the way it goes sometimes when you completely overmatch your opponent in every aspect of the game.
| WHO | WHERE | WHEN | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Madison (4-1) | Schottenstein Center | 4 p.m. | BTN |
"I didn’t think we had a lot of energy, a lot of juice," Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said following the 91-64 win over Campbell. "That was probably what I was more disappointed with — we didn’t have the attack the way I wanted to."
On Tuesday, Ohio State won't have that advantage when it travels to No. 6 Louisville for a date with the Cardinals in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. But on Friday afternoon, the Buckeyes will have their final tune-up and have that distinct advantage over their opponent — James Madison.
Opponent Breakdown
The Dukes enter this afternoon's matchup with a 4-1 record and on a four-game winning streak. They opened the season with a 28-point loss to Virginia, but have won four straight against fellow mid-major opponents.
Riding that four-game winning streak, James Madison will also get a boost as it welcomes back last year's leading scorer and preseason all-Colonial Athletic Association, Andre Nation, who was suspended for the season's first five games.
Nation averaged 15.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last year for the Dukes from his guard spot. He returns to a James Madison team which has been led by 6-foot-7 guard Jackson Kent (15.2 ppg.), guard Ron Curry (11.0 ppg.) and forward Yohanny Dalembert (10.6 ppg.).
"We’ll debrief this game, we’ll take a look and say here’s what we have to get better at and we’ll set the stage for James Madison," Matta said after the win over the Camels. "With James Madison, if I’m not mistaken, their two best players are coming back for our game."
Buckeye Breakdown
Ohio State was far from perfect against Campbell.
The Buckeyes looked disinterested at stretches during the game and only outscored the Camels by four points in the second half.
The main area of concern was the offensive glass. Playing in a 2-3 zone this season, the Buckeyes are susceptible to giving up offensive rebounds, but against Campbell they surrendered 13 of them — far too many.
“We were relaxed at times," sophomore forward Marc Loving said. "Different spurts in the game we needed to regroup and we didn’t. We’re definitely going to take care of that in practice."
Ohio State did, however, continue its hot shooting to start the year. The Buckeyes shot over 60 percent from the field against the Camels and continue to lead the country in field-goal percentage at 60.8 percent.
Ohio State also had tremendous balance against Campbell with five players again in double figures. That has a strong chance of happening again today against the Dukes.
"Just preparing for our next opponent, we’ve got to get better at it every game," freshman guard D'Angelo Russell said. "It’s a learning process and I feel like we’re gonna get better at it every game.”
How It'll Play Out
Matta has been adamant this season about not looking past any opponent and it certainly looks like his team is buying in as the Buckeyes haven't played a close game yet this year.
With a date against Louisville looming, it might be easy to see how that could happen today against James Madison, but Ohio State's talent advantage is so significant it might not even matter.
This game might play out different than the Campbell game in a sense that the Buckeyes likely won't coast during the second half against James Madison as Matta expressed his displeasure with their play Wednesday evening.
Ohio State should roll rather easily and improve to 5-0 as it prepares for a matchup with the undefeated Cardinals on Tuesday.
"I told these guys there’s two types of teams over break – we’re on break right now," Matta said. "There’s teams that play really, really well because they don’t have a lot to do and there’s teams that become lethargic. I know which team I want us to be."
