For a team that's never made the NCAA tournament and is perennially near the bottom of the Big Ten, Northwestern sure seems to give Ohio State a tough time whenever the two square off in Evanston.
The Buckeyes have won the last three times they've traveled to play the Wildcats, but every game has been closely contested. Ohio State last traveled to take on Northwestern during the 2012-13 season; the Buckeyes came away a 63-53 winner in what was a four-point game with two minutes remaining.
| WHO | WHERE | WHEN | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northwestern (10-8, 1-4 B1G) | Welsh-Ryan Arena | 7 p.m. | ESPN |
Tonight, Ohio State will face off with the Wildcats for the only time this season as it hits the road for the fourth time in five games. It marks the start of a key three-game stretch for the Buckeyes, who are coming off one of their poorest performances of the season in a 76-67 loss to Iowa. Ohio State hosts No. 23 Indiana on Sunday and No. 13 Maryland next Thursday.
“I think with where you are right now and obviously keeping the focus on us and knowing everybody has to play everybody else and there’s going to be winners and losers and all that stuff, this is a big stretch for us," Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said Wednesday. "(Tonight) concludes our fourth out of five games on the road. You’ve got a chance to go 2-2 in those games which is not what we wanted but it’s still not that bad. From that perspective, that’s where it is in my mind in terms of it’s a very, very important basketball game.”
Opponent Breakdown
The Wildcats' conference record is ugly, but looks can be deceiving. Except for its 23-point blowout loss to No. 6 Wisconsin, Northwestern has been right there in every Big Ten game it has played this season.
The problem for the Wildcats, though, is they haven't been able to close. Their other three conference losses came 84-77 in overtime at Michigan State, 72-67 against Illinois and a 56-54 loss at Michigan on Saturday.
“You look at the losses they’ve had and every game has been (close), with the exception of maybe one to a really good team. They’re right there," Matta said. "They run great offense and they’re going to exploit the things that you don’t do well defensively. They’re looking to push the ball and if you don’t get back in transition they’ll score a layup or shoot a 3 on you in a heartbeat."
Unlike what Ohio State has in D'Angelo Russell, the Wildcats don't have a go-to scorer. Instead, they rely on the trio of Bryant McIntosh, Tre Demps and Alex Olah.
McIntosh, a freshman guard, averages 11.9 points and 4.7 assists for Northwestern while shooting 41 percent from 3-point range. His backcourt mate, Demps, also scores 11.9 points per game and pulls down four boards while Olah — the Wildcats' 7-footer in the middle — scores 10.9 points, grabs 7.2 rebounds and blocks 1.7 shots per contest.
"They’re going to be a great team and we always struggle with them sometimes at their place along with every other team there," Ohio State point guard Shannon Scott said. "It’s going to be a tough game for us but I think we have a good plan coming up where we can beat them.”
Buckeye Breakdown
There has been a common theme in all five of Ohio State's losses this season: The Buckeyes fall behind by double digits in the first half and can't rally in the second.
“We don’t have a lot of time to keep making mistakes. You’ve got to fix it right away if you want to be considered a great team and make it far in the postseason.”– Shannon Scott
It has hindered the team's ability to earn a quality win to this point and has put it on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State does not have a "bad loss" on its resume either, but losing to the Wildcats would fall into that category.
"We don’t have a lot of time to keep making mistakes," Scott said. "You’ve got to fix it right away if you want to be considered a great team and make it far in the postseason.”
The last time the Buckeyes took the court, they looked out of sync from the get-go. Ohio State turned the ball over on its first three offensive possessions and fell behind 9-0 early. It simply couldn't recover from that slow start.
There were some bright spots, in particular Russell's performance. Despite the losing effort, the prized freshman guard from Louisville turned in the first double double of his career, going for 27 points and 14 rebounds.
Still, it wasn't enough.
"The greatest thing in my mind is I don’t remember the last games," Matta said. "I remember them, but I don’t think about them so tomorrow night is like a fresh, new beginning for me and hopefully it is for these guys.”
How It'll Play Out
To put it mildly, Ohio State cannot afford a loss to Northwestern. Not if it wants to make the NCAA tournament, anyway.
The Buckeyes are deeper and more talented than the Wildcats. But as we've seen this season — and every season, really — in college basketball that hardly matters. Any team can win on any given night.
Playing on the road again, Ohio State needs to come out with energy and not put itself in an early hole. One way to do that might be a shake-up of the starting lineup, which Matta has hinted at. Jae'Sean Tate could start tonight for the Buckeyes.
Whether or not Matta makes that change shouldn't matter much. Ohio State just needs to put together a solid, 40-minute effort against the Wildcats no matter who is on the floor.
"I think that our best basketball, hopefully, is ahead of us," Matta said. "One of the things that we talked about is in the five losses we’ve had, we’ve shown moments of playing really, really good basketball. Not perfect basketball, but just in terms of the cohesiveness, the synergy going in the right direction. The problem has been is we haven’t had it for the length of time that we’ve needed in some games."
