Ohio State remembers the feeling it had walking off the floor at Maryland a few weeks back. It was rather unpleasant.
“There were definitely a lot of teachable moments to where we have to learn form those type of mistakes that we made in that game," junior forward Marc Loving said Saturday.
| WHO | WHERE | WHEN | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland (18-3, 7-2) | Value City Arena | 1 p.m. | CBS |
The Terrapins blasted the Buckeyes on that day by 35 points in their 100-65 win. It was the worst loss in Thad Matta's tenure as Ohio State coach and was also likely the lowest point in a season that's been filled with ups and downs.
But the Buckeyes, to their credit, responded well from that embarrassing defeat at the hands of what is currently the eighth-ranked team in the country. Ohio State has won its last two games entering Sunday's rematch with the Terrapins.
"You only can build on something like a performance after that one; there wasn’t much room to go down," Loving said. "We only could improve.”
The Buckeyes have certainly gotten better since that game at Maryland just two weeks ago, but there's no doubt the Terrapins have too and they are heavy favorites once again despite this contest being played at Value City Arena.
It's a huge game for both teams. For Maryland, it's an opportunity to keep pace in the chase for a regular-season Big Ten title. For Ohio State, it's a shot add a huge quality win to its somewhat lacking resume.
“The message is simply we must play better than we played in that game," Matta said. "You can look at all sorts of different things, but we did not play well, [Maryland] played great and we allowed them to play great.
"Hopefully, quite honestly, we’re just a better basketball team [Sunday].”
Opponent Breakdown
Maryland is coming off its biggest win of the season — a 74-68 win over the Big Ten's top team, Iowa, on Thursday. The victory was, somewhat surprisingly, the first for the Terrapins all season over an RPI top-50 team.
It was your typical balanced Maryland attack in that win over the Hawkeyes. Rasheed Sulaimon and Robert Carter each scored 17 points while Melo Trimble and Jake Layman each added 11. Diamond Stone, the Terrapins' star freshman, finished with nine points and four rebounds.
"Maryland is who Maryland is," Matta said. "They’re a veteran basketball team, they’ve got all the pieces of the puzzle. They’re going to run their offense, they’re going to play their defense and maybe a few subtle changes here and there, but they really had their way with us and hopefully we can combat that better this time.”
The Buckeyes had no answer for really anybody on Maryland's team in the last meaning, but in particular it was Sulaimon and Carter who carried the way for the Terps. Sulaimon scored 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting while Carter, a transfer from Georgia Tech, had a game-high 25 points.
Ohio State is expecting much of the same from Maryland.
"They still like the pick and roll with Trimble and the bigs; they play high-low," Buckeyes sophomore center Trevor Thompson said. "It’s all about us and our preparation and our mental preparation coming in to this game and just being focused and being ready.”
Buckeye Breakdown
After that embarrassing loss to the Terps, Ohio State had to go on the road again and play another top-tier Big Ten team in Purdue. The Buckeyes lost, 75-64, but were far more competitive in what was a one-point game with under eight minutes to play.
From there, Ohio State rattled off back-to-back victories including Thursday night's overtime win at Illinois. The Buckeyes tried their best to blow the game — Ohio State held a 13-point lead with 6 minutes, 34 seconds to play — but, in the end, were able to escape Champaign with an overtime victory.
“We didn’t panic," Loving said. "I mean, I still feel like we had a pretty good control of the game even though Illinois was able to hit some pretty tough shots and tie the game up. We didn’t rush anything we didn’t feel like the game was slipping away from us. We just tried to stay poised and it worked out for us.”
Inconsistent play has plagued Ohio State all season. Matta is hoping that's not the case when Maryland comes to town Sunday. He wants the Buckeyes to carry over what they've done on the floor their last two times out.
"I think that’s the one thing that throughout the course of the season we’ve been saying with everybody is we need consistent play," Matta said. "That’s the biggest thing for me is whatever it takes to get these guys — if it’s free throws, if it’s a blocked shot, whatever, just give me your best.”
How It Plays Out
I feel pretty safe in saying Ohio State will be more competitive this time around against Maryland — that's not really all that difficult — but it's still hard to envision the Buckeyes winning this game. The Terps are more talented and, when clicking, one of the best teams in all of college basketball.
Playing at home will certainly help a bit for the Buckeyes, and I think this game might actually be pretty close at halftime. In the end, however, I think Maryland will just be too much down the stretch and will pull out a road win.
Tim's prediction: Maryland 78, Ohio State 67
