When Thad Matta looks at his Ohio State team on paper and compares it to Arizona, he can’t help but wish he had a couple more big bodies to throw into the rotation.
“In terms of what we have to do, you know, obviously I think from the standpoint of you can’t really combat their size, I’d need David (Bell) and Trevor (Thompson) to play as well,” Matta said Friday.
Matta was of course joking, because Thompson is sitting out after transferring from Virginia Tech and Bell is redshirting because he needed a year to hone his game. Their services won’t be available for 10th-seeded Ohio State's game with the second-seeded Wildcats Saturday afternoon in Portland, Ore., a matchup between two head coaches who go way back with the winner heading to the Sweet Sixteen.
“I think it says a lot about the jobs that both us have done,” Matta said of Sean Miller, Arizona’s head coach and one of his best friends. “I think you’ve got two of college basketball’s top programs in terms of what have stood the test of time.”
Since Matta’s taken over at Ohio State, the Buckeyes have had plenty of success in the NCAA tournament (24-12) and Miller’s constantly had Arizona at or near the top of the Pac-12 in what is now his sixth season.
The last time the two met, though, Matta got the better of Miller in the Sweet Sixteen two years ago. A dagger 3-pointer by LaQuinton Ross pushed the Buckeyes into the Elite Eight that year, 73-70, where they lost to Wichita State.
Now, the two meet again but with a few different faces on both sides. The likes of Aaron Craft, Deshaun Thomas and Ross are gone for Ohio State, while Mark Lyons, Solomon Hill and Nick Johnson have moved on from the Wildcats.
Arizona has immense size in the paint with 7-footers Kaleb Tarczewski and Dusan Ristic, as well as a stud freshman Stanley Johnson and heady point guard T.J. McConnell.
How will each team match up at the respective positions when the ball is tipped at 5:15 p.m.? Let’s take a look.
POINT GUARD
Arizona: Senior T.J. McConnell, 6-foot-1, 195 pounds
Ohio State: Senior Shannon Scott, 6-foot-1, 185 pounds
Breakdown: Both McConnell (2.1 steals per game) and Scott (1.7) are excellent defenders and decent scorers. Many thought McConnell should have won Pac-12 Player of the Year and he is a better shooter than Scott, but both have logged a lot of minutes in their careers and undoubtedly will go at each other’s throats often Saturday.
SHOOTING GUARD
Arizona: Sophomore Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, 6-foot-7, 220 pounds
Ohio State: Freshman D’Angelo Russell, 6-foot-5, 180 pounds
Breakdown: Jefferson is more of a forward because of his size, but he’ll draw the task of shutting down the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year mainly due to his length.
“He can score the basketball. He’s good at what he does, he executes extremely well,” Hollis-Jefferson said Friday of Russell. “Just limiting, making everything tougher for him. He’s a great player.”
Along with McConnell, Jefferson was named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team this season. How he and the rest of the Wildcats try to limit Russell will be something that is sure to determine largely into the game’s outcome. It always does with this Ohio State team.
“Like I said, I live for these moments. Obviously a lot of pressure on both teams, because they got everything to lose and we’re the underdogs,” Russell said. “Just preparing the best way we can.”
SMALL FORWARD
Arizona: Freshman Stanley Johnson, 6-foot-7, 230 pounds
Ohio State: Senior Sam Thompson, 6-foot-7, 200 pounds
Breakdown: Johnson, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, leads the Wildcats in scoring with 13.9 points per game. Thompson is Ohio State’s best defender, so it makes sense that Matta will elect to put him on the bullish forward who’s built like a defensive end.
“I see him bulldozing over all the defenders playing against him,” Scott said. “He’s really athletic as well. I think the biggest thing is just keeping him in front of us. If he’s going to the rim we gotta find a way to say in front of him and the rim.”
Scott could get switched off on Johnson too, but regardless who is on him, Ohio State must body up and keep him out of the lane.
POWER FORWARD
Arizona: Junior Brandon Ashley, 6-foot-9, 230 pounds
Ohio State: Freshman Jae’Sean Tate, 6-foot-4, 230 pounds
Breakdown: Tate is clearly undersized compared to Ashley, who is second in scoring for the Wildcats at 12.4 points per game. You can say that against pretty much every guy Tate faces off against in the post, though, but he’ll use his solid footwork and banger-mentality to try and slow down Ashley. On the other end of the court, Tate said his role could differ than it has in recent games.
“Our offensive scheme will change a little bit,” Tate said. “If I have a slower defender on me I’ll come out to the perimeter if I need to.”
CENTER
Arizona: Junior Kaleb Tarczewski, 7-foot, 245 pounds
Ohio State: Senior Amir Williams, 6-foot-11, 250 pounds
Breakdown: Williams played one of his best games of the season Thursday against VCU, scoring 13 points and blocking two shots. He still only managed to grab two rebounds, however, a number that must change if Ohio State wants to have a prayer at hanging with Arizona.
Tarczewski averages 9.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 58.4 percent from the field. He rotates with another 7-footer, Dusan Ristic, just like Williams does with Trey McDonald. If Ohio State can’t keep them off the glass, which its struggled to do plenty this season, Arizona could get easy second-chance buckets and quickly blow the game wide open.
Arizona is 15th in the country in points allowed, giving up just 59 a game. A nearly seven-minute scoring drought almost derailed Ohio State’s chances against VCU, but if the Buckeyes get down big against the Wildcats, chances of coming back are slim.
“We’re going to have to make some. We can’t go through a spell like we did (Thursday) where we missed 10 straight shots,” Matta said. “We’re going to need to be a little bit more consistent in putting the ball in the bucket, knowing it’s going to be very difficult.”
Old friends meet for the second time in three seasons, but with different teams at their disposal and one team being a bonafide national title contender and the other still searching for consistency. Arizona’s size will be an issue for Ohio State, but as long as Russell’s on the court the Buckeyes have a chance to overcome glaring mismatches.
“Just from when the freshmen moved in in June, the job that our upperclassmen have done of kind of opening their arms and saying, ‘Hey, the fact that you got a great player in D’Angelo, you’re starting another all-freshman team player in Jae’Sean Tate,’ those guys have been tremendous,” Matta said.
