The announcement came roughly 10 minutes prior to tip Monday night.
That’s about when an Ohio State spokesman released the Buckeyes' starting lineup for the game against Penn State — a group that consisted of A.J. Harris, Jae’Sean Tate, Marc Loving, Keita Bates-Diop and Daniel Giddens.
No JaQuan Lyle. No Trevor Thompson.
The Giddens-for-Thompson swap wasn’t all that shocking; Giddens started for a short period of time earlier this season prior to coming down with an illness that bumped him back to his bench role. He and Thompson have been somewhat interchangeable all season so to see Giddens’ name in the starting lineup didn’t come as a huge surprise.
The one that was surprising was Harris. Or, maybe the bigger shock was the fact Lyle’s name wasn’t included with the starting group. After all, he had been one of Ohio State’s best players all season despite his inconsistencies averaging nearly 10 points, five assists and four rebounds per game. Seeing Harris and Lyle starting together wouldn’t have even been a big surprise.
But instead, it was Harris starting at point guard with Lyle to the bench. One freshman point guard replacing the other.
“I think that you’re constantly trying to send a message to your team,” Buckeyes head coach Thad Matta would say afterward of the changes. “I want these guys to understand with where this team is right now, Thursday night we’ll turn the halfway mark of the Big Ten and we’ll be nine games down, you’ve got to step out of your comfort zone.”
Matta continued: “You step out of your comfort zone every day and that’s something this team needs. This team can’t ever feel comfortable, we can’t feel good about what we’ve just done because it’s so hard moving forward. I hope that guys understand that when we come back in here [Tuesday], strap it on and we’ve got to continue to get better.”
Message sent.
“I think that you’re constantly trying to send a message to your team. I want these guys to understand with where this team is right now, Thursday night we’ll turn the halfway mark of the Big Ten and we’ll be nine games down, you’ve got to step out of your comfort zone.”– Thad Matta
Changing the starting lineup this late in the season is certainly risky, but it’s also something that probably needed to be done by Matta. Ohio State was reeling a bit, losers of three of four prior to Monday night’s 20-point win over Penn State.
Matta admitted after the win over the Nittany Lions the decision to shake up the starting lineup was related to practice. Remember, Harris and Kam Williams claimed on Saturday the Buckeyes' second unit regularly beat the starters when they go head-to-head.
“Both [A.J.] and Daniel had really, really practiced well leading in and we had a couple days there to really, really get after it, really really compete,” Matta said. “I don’t want to say it was easy, but it was something that those guys probably earned the right to start.”
Harris played 20 minutes against Penn State — the most he has played in his career. He scored four points on 2-of-7 shooting with four assists and just one turnover. Lyle played just 18 minutes — the fewest of his career — and scored six points on just a pair of shot attempts and recorded just one assist.
Giddens logged a career-high 28 minutes against Penn State and scored five points and grabbed nine rebounds. Thompson, meanwhile, played just 11 minutes — only three in the second half — and did not score, but did pull down four boards.
The numbers are a bit skewed and that’s understandable as Matta must adapt to a new rotation and learn who to play at what time. Lyle probably needs more than 18 minutes for Ohio State to be at its best, but the only way that’s probably possible without cutting into Harris’ minutes would be to play the two together.
This appears like it will be a fluid situation and Matta is going to continue to push certain buttons with his group as the Big Ten season nears its halfway point.
“In practice, coach has been mixing up the lineups so that we are comfortable with whoever is on the floor,” Tate said. “I don’t think anybody knew until we walked out onto the floor who was starting. Just being able to play with whoever on the team, on the floor at the same time is something we have been working on in practice.”
Matta said both Lyle and Thompson responded well to their move to the bench and that’s a critical part of this going forward. Changing the starting lineup this late in the year can be dicey, especially when you’re dealing with young players. Lyle is a freshman, Thompson a sophomore.
It's often said desperate times call for desperate measure. And while Ohio State maybe was desperate, it was close. Matta felt it was time to make a change.
“I want to see them fight, I want to see them come back and play harder, practice a little bit better,” Matta said. “I think that hopefully, not only those two, but everybody says, ‘Hey, this practice thing is for real. We’re not going to come in here wasting time, we’re going to compete, we’re going to get after it.’ I think with that said, hopefully we’re moving in the right direction.”
