Ohio State head coach Thad Matta had hinted at it all week, but wouldn't confirm it.
Heading into Thursday night's game at Northwestern, and after struggling in the first halves of recent games against Indiana and Iowa, Matta had pondered making a change to his starting lineup. He wanted his team to start games faster so it didn't fall into early holes that were too large to dig out of.
"There is a possibility of a change," Matta said Wednesday.
The most logical swap of the lineup entering Thursday's game would have been to insert Jae'Sean Tate, Ohio State's energetic freshman forward, for sophomore Marc Loving. And about 15 minutes before tipoff when the starting lineups were announced, that's exactly what happened.
But Matta wasn't done. He also sent senior center Amir Williams to the bench in place of graduate senior Anthony Lee in what was somewhat of a surprise move.
The point of the changes was to try and get off to a better start, but that didn't exactly go as planned. Northwestern scored the game's first eight points and held a 21-10 advantage early in the first half.
But unlike the previous five times the Buckeyes had fallen behind by double digits in the first half, this time they were able to come back. Ohio State quickly made up the deficit ending the first half on a 28-13 run. The Buckeyes then led by as many as 11 themselves in the second half before hanging on for a 69-67 win.
Ohio State didn't win last night because of its new-look starting lineup. It won because of freshman guard D'Angelo Russell, who scored a career-high 33 points on 12-of-17 shooting and also grabbed seven rebounds and had six assists.
But as great as Russell is, that's not going to be the norm for him. That's simply asking too much of one player. He's going to need some help along the way.
Tate had a bit of a rough go in his first start. He scored four points and grabbed five rebounds, but was just 2 of 9 from the floor as he struggled going up against Northwestern's length inside. Lee, however, played a solid game down low for the Buckeyes. He was 4 for 4 from the field for eight points, snagged three rebounds and blocked two shots in 22 minutes.
The other big man minutes went to Trey McDonald, who played 15 of them while Williams played just three. Williams did not play in the second half.
It was clear Matta needed to do something to spark some life into his team and he sent a clear message by sending the team's second-leading scorer (Loving) and a senior three-year starter (Williams) to the bench.
"The biggest thing we’re talking about is attempting to get off to a decent start," Matta said prior to the win over the Wildcats. "It’s a process, it’s a growing process and hopefully we’re a little bit better than we were on Saturday (against Iowa) in starting the game.”
It remains to be seen if the Buckeyes' new-look starting five can fix what has been a season-long problem in starting slow. One game isn't enough to make that assessment.
And although Matta didn't get exactly what he wanted Thursday against Northwestern, he'll gladly take a win. Ohio State will take those any way it can get them right about now.
