Ohio State head coach Thad Matta has spoken at length in the past on the ability of redshirt sophomore guard Kam Williams to score in bunches. Williams showed flashes of that potential throughout an up-and-down season last year, and on Tuesday night against an overmatched Grambling side, he did it yet again.
The explosive 6-foot-2 guard out of Baltimore scored a game-high 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting including a 3-for-5 effort from behind the 3-point line. Williams also grabbed five rebounds and recorded four steals in the Buckeyes’ 82-55 rout of the visiting Tigers.
But while many of the 10,799 in attendance saw the spark from Williams at the offensive end — a performance which included a personal 8-0 run in the second half — the sharpshooting guard said it was actually the defensive end of the floor that got him going.
“I think if I’m always in attack mode, that’ll impact me not only on the offensive end, but on the defensive end,” Williams said. “I feel like when my defense is at a high level, that helps me play better. I feel like if I’m locked in on defense, my offensive game will just fill in for itself.”
It certainly looked like Williams was locked in against Grambling and Ohio State’s entire team was, as well, as it just overwhelmed the Tigers from the jump with superior size and athleticism.
Sophomore forward Keita Bates-Diop and junior forward Marc Loving chipped in 14 points apiece and the Buckeyes forced 21 Grambling turnovers as they created constant havoc on the defensive end.
The defensive efforts over the first two games of the season are a bit surprising for Ohio State, despite the fact it has faced a pair of inferior opponents. The Buckeyes didn’t exactly resemble a strong defensive team in their exhibition game against a Division II team and Matta expressed plenty of concern afterward.
Things were better in the season-opening win against Mount St. Mary’s, though, and again Tuesday night against the Tigers.
“I was pleasantly surprised, especially at our start,” Matta said. “I thought we were better tonight than we were on Sunday, especially in the second half with the haste to us in terms of what we were doing.”
That’s important for Matta’s group this season; there needs to be consistent improvement from game to game and from week to week. A young team has to continue to get better as the season progresses.
There is still plenty for the unranked Buckeyes to work on. They turned the ball over 17 times themselves and shot just 13-for-26 from the free-throw line. Ohio State only had four fast-break points and, despite a massive size advantage, only outrebounded Grambling by six.
But those are things that will come with time. And at the end of the day, the Buckeyes did what they were supposed to do against an overmatched opponent: They dominated from the start of the game to the end.
“I think we showed a lot of improvement on the defensive and offensive end,” Bates-Diop said. “Our defense was clicking better and so was our offense.”
It’s pretty clear Ohio State hasn’t seen stellar competition the first two games of this season and it likely won’t until the Nov. 27 matchup with Memphis. The Buckeyes are next in action Friday when they host Texas-Arlington and have a matchup with Louisiana Tech before that showdown in Miami with the Tigers.
But games like Tuesday are important for Matta’s team. It’s a season in which the 12th-year head coach has to do a lot more teaching with so many young players on it and he learned a bit more about his bunch in this particular blowout win.
“That’s something that we are really, really looking at right now just in terms of who can connect out there, who can play,” Matta said. “This was a great opportunity to get some guys more minutes and get them into the flow.”
