With just four games remaining in the regular season, Ohio State head coach Thad Matta is not concerned about where his team stands in the eyes of the NCAA tournament selection committee.
He just wants his guys focusing on the task at hand and doesn't deem it necessary to have them worry about where they stand in the grand scheme of things.
"I think they know that," Matta said Wednesday as he met with reporters to preview Thursday's home game against Nebraska. "The four seniors that have been here would be telling them those things, but I’m sure they know that. I don’t like to bring it up.”
The Buckeyes, who probably felt comfortable about their place in the NCAA tournament two weeks ago, have somewhat faltered of late after losing back-to-back games at Michigan State and Michigan. They've fallen from a second-place tie in the Big Ten standings all the way to sixth.
Still, Ohio State has finally ended its rigorous stretch of playing eight out of 12 games on the road in the middle of the conference season and will play three of its last four inside the Schottenstein Center to close out the regular-season. That stretch begins Thursday against the Cornhuskers.
"Nebraska poses some serious problems in terms of when they’re on in their ability to score and that sort of thing," Matta said. "We had probably a longer practice than we normally do yesterday and we’ll probably be long again today.”
Notes:
- Matta said following Sunday's loss to the Wolverines he wouldn't rule out using a smaller lineup going forward. On Wednesday, in regards to the challenges of going small, he said, "I don’t care so much about the risk if we’re getting what we need out of that lineup. You can sacrifice some things from rim protectors or whatever it could be for the betterment of more offensive energy, more movement and those types of things.”
- After looking at the film against Michigan, Matta wasn't pleased with how his team didn't fight when it got hit early. "Where I thought we were lacking was we didn’t stay with what we needed to do," he said. "We were allowing them to do really whatever they wanted to and that was, I think, the biggest problem.”
- The Buckeyes have finished a brutal stretch where they played eight out of 12 games on the road and in this latest stint of four out of their last five coming away from Columbus, Ohio State has played just one home game in the last 27 days. "I knew in July when the Big Ten schedule game out, I said, ‘My God, coming out of Ann Arbor if our heads are above water and we’ve got a decent mojo about us, we’ve got a shot,’" Matta said. "It’s been difficult with eight of (12) games on the road and now we get it coming up here with three out of four at home."
- Despite being just 14 for 41 from the field over the last three games, Matta said he doesn't believe D'Angelo Russell is trying to force too many things. "I think you’ve got to give sometimes the defenses credit," he said.
- Matta said he's not exactly sure why sophomore forward Marc Loving hasn't been as effective after coming back from suspension, but called Loving "an X-factor" for the Buckeyes going forward.
- Matta said freshman Keita Bates-Diop could be seeing some added playing time after being much more effective in recent games. "Keita’s just progressively gotten better and better and better."
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Matta offered good insight into the situation Nebraska is currently going through, where head coach Tim Miles has locked his team out of the locker room because he hasn't been pleased with their performance.
"From that perspective, as a coach you’re doing everything you can and at times you almost feel like you’re begging guys at a certain point of the season to do their best and you’re constantly looking to create environment, motivation, tactics, whatever it is," Matta said. "Nobody in the world understands the No. 1 person that wants his players to play the best is the head coach. Our lives are tied to it so whatever a coach deems to be something in his mind that may work — if it’s out of the locker room or it’s uniform-issued stuff or whatever — you’ll do whatever you can because it’s our lives."
