As the calendar flipping to mid-November often means the heart of the football schedule is upon us, it also represents the start of college basketball season. And while Ohio State is in the middle of chasing another Big Ten championship on the gridiron, the Buckeyes basketball team will open play Sunday.
| WHO | WHERE | WHEN | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount St. Mary's | Schottenstein Center | noon | ESPNU |
Ohio State hosts Mount St. Mary's noon Sunday at the Schottenstein Center for its first game of the 2015-16 campaign. Expectations for the Buckeyes, led by head coach Thad Matta in his 12th-year at the helm, aren't as high as they have been in previous seasons as Ohio State features one of the youngest teams in the country.
Led by just four returners — Jae'Sean Tate, Keita Bates-Diop, Marc Loving and Kam Williams — the Buckeyes will feature six additional faces Sunday who have never played a collegiate game. Ohio State did not receive a single vote in the AP poll for the first time since Matta's initial season in Columbus.
But perhaps that's what's most intriguing about this year's version of the Buckeyes; there are so many unknowns that nobody truly knows what to expect.
Opponent Breakdown
The Mountaineers, led by head coach Jamion Christian, will come to Columbus having already played a game in the 2015-16 season — against a good opponent, too. Mount St. Mary's fell to No. 3 Maryland in its opener Friday night, 80-56.
In that game, junior guard BK Ashe went for 18 points and seven rebounds, while junior forward Will Miller also reached double-figures with 10. The Mountaineers attempted 33 3-pointers in that game against the Terrapins, connecting on 10.
Last year, Mount St. Mary's was led by Ashe, who averaged a team-high 11.9 points per game. Senior forward Gregory Graves was the only other returning player in double-figures a year ago, averaging 10.1 points per game. Graves also led the team in rebounding at 7.4 per game.
The Mountaineers like to shoot the ball from deep as they averaged more than 15 attempts from behind the 3-point line a year ago. That's a concern for the Buckeyes, who allowed Walsh to make 14 3-pointers in the team's exhibition last Sunday.
Mount St. Mary's doesn't have a ton of size, but it does have a 7-footer who played roughly 19 minutes per game a year ago in redshirt senior Taylor Danaher. No other player on the Mountaineers' roster, however, is listed above 6-foot-9.
The Mountaineers finished last season just 15-15, but did make the NCAA tournament in 2014. They were part of the First Four playing in Dayton and lost to fellow No. 16 seed Albany, 71-64.
"Mount Saint Mary’s, from what we’ve seen and just watching them from last year, they’ve shown fast-paced. They’re not afraid to pull a quick three, run a bunch of ball screens, different kind of ball screens," Matta said. "I think the way Walsh lived and died by the 3 the other day is probably as good a preparation s we could get going in to this game.”
Buckeye Breakdown
The only thing we've seen so far out of this Ohio State team is its performance in last Sunday's exhibition, a 92-82 win over a Division II team. Loving and Bates-Diop each played great all-around games — Loving had 24 points and 10 rebounds while Bates-Diop scored 26 points with eight boards and four blocks — and freshman point guard JaQuan Lyle flirted with a trouble-double, scoring 17 points to go along with nine rebounds and seven assists.
The Buckeyes played that exhibition without Tate, who was sidelined with an ankle sprain. Tate returned to practice for the first time Thursday and when he was asked if he planned to play in Sunday's season-opener, Tate said, "Yes sir."
Matta wasn't pleased with his team's defensive effort in that exhibition against the Cavaliers. Like it had been previously mentioned, Ohio State allowed Walsh to make 14 3-pointers and score 82 points. The Buckeyes also committed 20 fouls as a team, 14 of those coming in the first half.
"Defense wasn't a plus on the film this week," Loving said Thursday. "We worked on a lot of defense, transition and different rotations throughout the week. I feel like from our younger guys all the way up, we have a better grasp of where we'll be in certain situations."
Sunday's game will be a good test to see if Ohio State got some things worked out on the defensive end. With such a youthful group, Matta's hope is that each time his team takes the floor, it improves.
"With such a young team we just really have to put emphasis on how we prepare defensively for a game," Tate said. "It might be certain adjustments you have to make that you might not have seen in practice.”
How It Plays Out
Games for this year's Ohio State team are going to be a little harder to predict, especially early in the season as we just don't know much about it yet. As the season progresses, it will become easier to forecast how things may go.
With that said, the Buckeyes should get a win Sunday against the visiting Mountaineers. Ohio State is young, yes, but it still has a much more talented team than Mount St. Mary's. If the start to this college basketball season has proven anything, though, it's that there are plenty of mid-major teams capable over knocking off big-time programs.
This shoul serve as one of four tune-up games for the Buckeyes, however, before they face their first major test of this season in the non-conference, a Nov. 27 matchup with Memphis in Miami.
"The greatest thing that came out of Sunday’s game is our guys believe they didn’t’ play very well," Matta said. "To a man they each said we have to get better individually, we have to get better collectively. ...Those are the types of things I think guys are getting better at.”
