As Ohio State went back and looked at the film from last Friday's loss to Texas-Arlington, there were a handful of things that jumped out at sophomore forward Jae'Sean Tate.
"We just went back and dissected the film, everything we did wrong and everything we could improve on, and it was really just a toughness issue, an energy issue and just defensive tendencies," Tate said Monday. "That's what was key in practice this week, just getting back to Ohio State basketball, just being able to defend and hopefully we do a better job [Tuesday]."
| WHO | WHERE | WHEN | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana Tech (3-0) | Schottenstein Center | 8 p.m. | BTN |
The Buckeyes welcome undefeated Louisiana Tech to the Schottenstein Center on Tuesday night for their first game since that 73-68 upset loss at the hands of UT-Arlington.
It was just the second loss ever to an unranked, non-conference opponent in the Thad Matta era and it left Ohio State's head coach wondering how his young team would respond moving forward. Tuesday is an early-season test for the Buckeyes before they face Memphis and Virginia in back-to-back games.
"I hope that it’s correctable," Matta said. "As we told them, 'You are going to get it corrected or you won’t play,' and I think from the standpoint of our performance Friday night was not one of our better outings. We’ve got to learn from it, we’ve got to move forward."
Opponent Breakdown
The Bulldogs come to the Schottenstein Center with an unblemished, 3-0 record and are, on paper, the best team Ohio State will have played so far this season ranked No. 116 in KenPom's ratings. Louisiana Tech has two wins over common opponents it has with the Buckeyes, defeating Grambling by 19 and Texas-Arlington — the team that beat Ohio State — by 12.
Currently with five players averaging in double-figures, Louisiana Tech features a balanced, yet potent offensive attack. The Bulldogs are averaging 87 points per game over the first three contests of the season and are shooting it from the field near a 50-percent clip.
Junior forward Erik McCree is the team's leading scorer at 16.7 points per game to go along with 6.7 rebounds, while senior guard Alex Hamilton averages 14 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest. Derric Jean (12.3), Qiydar Davis (12.0) and Jacobi Boykins (10.0) are also averaging in double figures for the Bulldogs.
Matta knows his team has its hands full if it wants to avoid back-to-back losses heading into two of Ohio State's marquee games in the non-conference schedule.
"They are long, they’re athletic, they’ll press, they’ve shown zone, 3-2, 1-2-2," Matta said of Louisiana Tech. "Offensively, they are a ball-screen team with guys that can really, really shoot the basketball so they force your hand in terms of rotations and switches and those types of things. It’s a game where communication needs to be an all-time high.”
Buckeye Breakdown
Ohio State played quite poorly on both ends of the floor in last week's loss to UT-Arlington. The Buckeyes allowed the Mavericks to score 34 points in the paint and grab 18 offensive rebounds, while Ohio State shot only 42 percent from the field and was a dismal 13-for-27 from the free-throw line.
It was an eye-opening performance, certainly, because of the way the Buckeyes played in their two games leading up to the matchup with UT-Arlington. Ohio State looked like it wouldn't have any trouble playing some of the mid-major teams on its non-conference schedule, but the Buckeyes had some flaws exposed against the Mavericks.
“Losses sting, you try to win every single game, but I feel like this one stung a little bit more because it was a little bit earlier in the season," sophomore forward Keita Bates-Diop said. "We didn’t have our energy and we’re supposed to have our energy all the time especially this early.”
Matta shrunk his rotation in the second half of the loss as Tate, Bates-Diop, Marc Loving, JaQuan Lyle and Daniel Giddens saw the bulk of the minutes. Matta also didn't rule out changes to the starting lineup when he met with the media Monday afternoon.
Either way, Matta is curious to see how his young team bounces back after an underwhelming performance.
"I’m not going to know until [Tuesday] night," Matta said. "Practice [Sunday] was good, but we practiced well last week and didn’t play well. We’ve got to try to get that collectively together in terms of how we practice is how we play. We’ve got to get that together.”
How It Plays Out
Louisiana Tech is a step up in competition from Ohio State's first three opponents on the year. The Bulldogs were the Conference USA regular-season champions a year ago and made the NIT after being upset in the league tournament. But Louisiana Tech is projected to finish near the top of its league again this season and will certainly provide the Buckeyes with a challenge.
If Ohio State doesn't come out ready to play again like Friday night, it will find itself on the losing end of this one. However, it's hard to imagine Matta doesn't have his guys ready to go, so expect the Buckeyes to come out firing.
Ohio State should get the win, but this one won't be a blowout. The Buckeyes will have to earn this one, and they should find out a lot about themselves in the process.
Tim's prediction: Ohio State 72, Louisiana Tech 66
