As the Big Ten season is just a week away, there's still one huge question looming around this year's Ohio State team: Exactly how good are the Buckeyes?
Through the first 11 non-conference games of the season, Ohio State has looked dominant in all of its home contests against unranked opponents. But the Buckeyes have played two games outside of Columbus against ranked foes — one at No. 5 Louisville and the other on Saturday against No. 24 North Carolina in Chicago — and have been exposed in both.
| WHO | WHERE | WHEN | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami (3-7) | Schottenstein Center | 6 p.m. | BTN |
It's certainly a troubling sign for Ohio State, which has its first Big Ten game of the season scheduled for Dec. 30 against Iowa. The Buckeyes are handily beating the teams they are supposed to, but have looked overmatched against the two opponents they've faced with similar talent levels.
There's no time for Ohio State to sulk, however, as it quickly returns to the floor after Saturday's loss with a game tonight at the Schottenstein Center against an in-state opponent in Miami (OH).
Although they come from an upper-level mid-major conference, the RedHawks aren't one of the top teams in the MAC. They visit Columbus this evening with just a 3-7 mark on the season.
Opponent Breakdown
Miami had hit a bit of a rough stretch before picking up a 71-60 win over Longwood its last time out.
The RedHawks had lost six-straight games before that victory after starting out the year 2-1. During that six-game losing streak, they had a nine-point loss to Northwestern and a four-point loss to Dayton.
Junior guard Eric Washington leads Miami in both scoring (13.1 points per game) and assists (5.2 per game), while Geovonie McKnight (10.8 points per game) and Will Sullivan (10.0 per game) are the team's other two players averaging double figures.
The leading rebounder for the RedHawks is junior forward Chris Bryant at just 3.9 per game. That number seems strikingly low, but Miami is one of the worst rebounding teams in Division I, averaging just 27.8 per game as a team. That ranks 347th in the country out of 351 teams.
Buckeye Breakdown
From the losses to Louisville and North Carolina, we've learned Ohio State has trouble against teams with size, length and athleticism in the front court.
Against the Cardinals, the Buckeyes couldn't score against size and it was more of the same against the Tar Heels. But against North Carolina, Ohio State couldn't really get stops inside, either, as it was outscored 34-20 in the paint.
The Buckeyes also fell behind rather quickly in both games, making it nearly impossible to mount a comeback. The slow starts have also been rather concerning.
"We seem to bring the best out of a lot of people," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said following the loss to the Tar Heels. "For us, you could say a positive is scraping, clawing back into it, but we've got to figure out why we're getting in that position in the first half and even early into the second half."
Freshman D'Angelo Russell has been spectacular against most opponents this year, but in Ohio State's two losses, he's gone just 10 for 37 from the field while averaging only 14 points per game. The Buckeyes need their best player to be better night in and night out in Big Ten play.
Sophomore Marc Loving has been very solid for Ohio State in the early going, though, and really kept the Buckeyes' slim hopes alive Saturday against the Tar Heels with a 19-point performance. On the year, Loving is averaging 12 points per game, but he leads the Big Ten and is sixth in the country in 3-point field-field goal shooting at 57.9 percent. He's made 22 of his 38 attempts from downtown this year.
How It'll Play Out
After a disappointing performance against the Tar Heels over the weekend, the quick turnaround with only one day off in between games is a good thing for Ohio State. It surely wants to get back on the court and get the bad taste from Saturday out of its mouth.
The Buckeyes have an opponent coming in that should make that a possibility and they should be able to do it in dominating fashion. Ohio State has significant advantages at every position on the floor.
But Miami is just another opponent where you won't learn much about the Buckeyes so everything seen should be taken in context. The real season for Ohio State begins with next week's matchup against the Hawkeyes.
Still, as Matta says, it's another opportunity for the Buckeyes to improve coming off just their second loss of the season.
"I don't want to say it's early, but it's still December," he said. "We've got January, February and March still to play basketball. How much better can we get in that time?"
