As Ohio State prepares for what senior guard Shannon Scott called a “must-need win” game against Northwestern Thursday night in Evanston, the Buckeyes also say they’re re-dedicating themselves to cherishing each and every possession with the basketball like it's their last.
“I still think we lose our focus and we don’t play every possession and that really costs us,” Scott said on Wednesday. “And getting down early in games is a big deal for us.”
"Getting down early in games is a big deal for us."
And considering the nature of Ohio State’s five losses — which have been defined by molasses-slow starts — coach Thad Matta has done just about everything but light himself on fire during practice to seize his team’s attention and jolt a tepid crew to life.
“We’ve had three very, very rough practices just in terms of competitiveness,” he said, “and today will be a little bit more of the same.”
After all, the Wildcats have developed a knack for flustering superior teams on their home court in Evanston. The Buckeyes, who have yet to secure a signature win of any sort this season, aren’t exactly Goliath here.
In what’s been an unimpressive start to Big Ten play, Ohio State’s inconsistency has left them as a middle-of-the-pack team that’s 1-4 on the road. And perhaps most emblematic of such struggles is how the Buckeyes appear to be half-asleep for the first 20 minutes of play before staging furious comebacks that ultimately fail.
“We know that early in the game, we’re getting down (and) we’re playing catch-up ball the whole time. I’m not sure any of losses that we’ve had that we were actually winning in the second half,” Scott said.
“We’re always playing catch up and that’s not easy for any team to do so we know we’ve gotta come out ready to play always if we want to win.”
As such, on Monday’s Big Ten Coaches Teleconference, Matta suggested that he might insert freshman jitterbug Jae’Sean Tate into the starting lineup to provide a spark.
“There is a possibility of a change,” he said.
“If you make any changes, obviously there’s gonna be risk-reward or as you said different things coming into the basketball game.”
With a faint smile, Matta added: “The biggest thing we’re talking about is attempting to get off to a decent start — not even saying that we’re scoring but maybe get a couple shot attempts at the basket in the first few possessions.
While Ohio State is averaging 82 points a game (a significant increase from last season’s squad, whose battle to connect with the basket ultimately doomed it), that kind of damage is often too little too late.
Against quality opposition in teams like Louisville, North Carolina, Iowa and Indiana, slow starts turn into holes too deep to climb out of.
“Hey, in this league, you may play your best and not win ... But damn it: I want to be playing our best basketball every time we take the floor.”
And midway through the season, the Buckeyes are running out of time to address this glaring problem.
They remain optimistic, though.
“I think our best basketball is hopefully ahead of us,” Matta said. “But one of the things that we’ve talked about, 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 Buckeyes appear to have the personnel to compete at the level they desire. While Scott and fellow senior Sam Thompson haven't been transcendent this season, they combine for almost 20 points a night. Freshman guard D'Angelo Russell is a bona fide scorer and a special kind of talent Ohio State hasn't had since Jared Sullinger in 2010. Sophomore forward Marc Loving has made 30 of 60 3-point attempts. Tate, the scrappy freshman from Pickerington, is an energy giver. Kam Williams, a redshirt freshman, shows flashes of being one of the team's best shooters.
There are pieces are in place for Matta's crew to play better and to be better.
Even so, "in this league, you may play your best and not win. I there’s always that risk," Matta said.
"But dammit: I want to be playing our best basketball every time we take the floor.”
