With 13 minutes, 55 seconds remaining in Ohio State’s game at Indiana on Sunday, Buckeyes freshman point guard A.J. Harris headed to the scorer’s table to check in.
In any other game, any other circumstance, Harris would have replaced fellow freshman JaQuan Lyle at the point. That’s just how things have gone so far this season.
This was far from a normal game, though. Ohio State was down by 28 points at the time and Buckeyes head coach Thad Matta looked to spark his team.
“Really just [wanted] five guys that could score and defend. I don’t mean that to be simplistic, but we were just — anything we could get,” Matta said after the game. “JaQuan got hot in the second half and we felt like A.J., his quickness defensively, I thought he did a pretty decent job.”
Matta was hesitant to say the pair of freshman point guards were effective in the game — “I don’t know how I can use effective as something we did today,” he said — but he also did not deny the fact there was something to like.
“It didn’t hurt us, let’s put it that way,” Matta said.
Lyle and Harris played the final 14 minutes of Sunday’s game together and while the results weren’t overwhelming — the Buckeyes were plus-three with the two playing at the same time — it was a welcomed change for some and something others were hoping to see for a while now.
Harris played primarily at the point while Lyle shifted to the off-guard spot. Lyle had 24 of his career-high 29 points in the second half and 19 of those came after Harris checked into the game for the final 14 minutes.
“Nothing was different,” Lyle said of his second half. "I think they took their foot off our necks for a little bit and I just had a lane and I just took it.”
That’s an important part to keep in mind here when evaluating this lineup. Indiana had a 30-point lead at halftime and it’s a strong possibility the Hoosiers let up a bit in the second half — especially on the defensive end.
But the results are the results, and Ohio State looked a bit more comfortable on offense with a more traditional two-guard look. Perhaps that warrants further examination from Matta and Co.
Matta said he and his staff have discussed playing the two together a bit more, but the team was in the middle of a seven-game winning streak and changing anything during that stretch would be a risk.
“We thought about it, but it wasn’t — the other guys have been playing pretty well in terms of what we’ve been getting from those guys,” Matta said. “It just hadn’t really presented itself.”
Now, as the Buckeyes look to regroup after that blowout loss at the hands of the Hoosiers, opportunity for change is again there. Matta said it’s unlikely Ohio State goes through any significant wholesale changes right away — it is just one loss, after all — but he didn’t rule out the possibility of using the Harris and Lyle backcourt combination more.
“I think we could,” Matta said. “A.J. was out there fighting. He didn’t know what the score was, he just said, ‘Hey I’m going to play.’ That’s what I love about him.”
At this point, it seems unlikely the Buckeyes’ starting backcourt will consist of both freshman guards — the concerns here go without saying, really. But Matta leaving the door open for the two to play together going forward is interesting.
We will have to wait and see if it happens.
“[Playing with Harris] felt good, but you’ve gotta ask Coach Matta, I’m not the coach,” Lyle said. “That was just what they felt at the time.”
