Ohio State is officially past the midway point of its conference season, but is running out of chances to add quality wins to an already weak NCAA Tournament résumé.
The Buckeyes (14-9, 6-4 Big Ten) fell to No. 3 Maryland, 66-61, Sunday at the Schottenstein Center, missing a chance to notch a massive victory in conference play. Ohio State only plays once this week, Thursday at Wisconsin (13-9, 5-4). Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
Matta joined Paul Keels and Ron Stokes on 97.1 The Fan Monday evening for his weekly radio show to talk about the loss to the Terrapins and road trip to Madison this week.
- Matta on Sunday's loss to Maryland: "We put ourselves in a place to have a chance to win the basketball game. Our margin for error is really really small. But we cannot let one little thing blend into more errors."
- What did Ohio State do better the second time around against Maryland in order to be in a position to win the game? "Everything." The Terrapins shellacked the Buckeyes by 35 points Jan. 16 in College Park, Maryland.
- Matta: "It's inevitable with this team, when something happens, a guy misses a shot and then he gets scored on. You're trying to get through to these guys that you've gotta get on to the next play. Those are things that hopefully we'll take out of this game and get better at moving forward after watching the film (Monday)."
- On playing in Madison, Wisconsin, a notoriously difficult place to play: "It's unique because the fans are right on top of you and they do a really good job." Ohio State will have one player, Marc Loving, with playing experience at the Kohl Center. Matta also added the last time the Buckeyes beat the Badgers up there (2014) they had cold showers after the game.
- Ohio State finished 14-of-24 from the free-throw line Sunday against Maryland. Matta: "We're getting to a point now where you can't be missing them like that ... You've gotta be able to shut everything out around you and shoot the free throw."
- Matta likened Jae'Sean Tate to David Lighty with the way he can get things done despite being undersized, but playing with heart: "Both guys play so hard and do anything you ask them."
- On switching defenders through screens, Matta spoke about how the game has changed where that happens more and more. Plenty of it depends on matchups and who is guarding whom throughout the course of the game.
- On Maryland, specifically Rasheed Sulaimon defensively: "He was so active and being a fifth-year senior, he plays extremely hard, but he has great intelligence too. He was very, very disruptive (Sunday). We were trying to run action to keep him away from it."
- Matta spoke about how Sulaimon helped Maryland win the game defensively, in a similar way that Aaron Craft used to solely win games with his defense.
- Matta said he thought Marc Loving was going to get going after hitting his jumper while being fouled Sunday: "He had so many open looks, they just didn't go down for him."
- Matta said he is getting over a cold that has been going around the team. He said he asked his doctor what he should take if he had the worst cold of his life: "I know they have a special pill somewhere, because I've never seen a sick doctor." Matta said he felt the worst he has in a long time Saturday during practice.
- Wisconsin is still running the same swing offense and playing the same defense under interim coach Greg Gard as it was before Bo Ryan retired, Matta said.
- Matta singled out junior Nigel Hayes as "someone we've got to constantly know where he is" for Thursday's game. Hayes leads the Badgers with 17.0 points per game.
- Gard took over for Ryan after the latter retired following a victory Dec. 15, 12 games into the season. Matta called Ryan a "great coach" and credited him for never deviating from his system and the way he went about things, regardless what level he coached.
- While at Butler, Matta coached against Ryan, who was at Wisconsin-Milwaukee: "We had some battles."
- Asked by a caller if he ever thought about playing Daniel Giddens and Trevor Thompson at the same time, Matta said, "We've looked at it in practice sometimes, but it goes back to matchups. Both guys would not be real effective guarding a skilled four-man yet."
- The same caller asked if Matta has thought about benching JaQuan Lyle more due to his turnovers. Matta noted how he Lyle scored 29 points at Indiana and then recorded a triple-double against Rutgers, but "we've gotta get him back to playing the way he is capable."
- Matta added that not only Lyle, but everyone on the team needs to have an understanding that at this level you don't out-talent people: "You've gotta have great focus, you've gotta have a great understanding of what is going on ... there's a thinking component to it. It's not just JaQuan, I hope all our guys are realizing you can't just show up and play."
- Asked by a caller about leadership from his team, Matta said Ohio State is still trying to find that guy that wants to lead when things aren't going well. He singled out Tate as someone who is beginning to do that.
- Matta spoke about the body language of the team and how he and his staff have pointed it out both in film sessions and during practice how poorly things can look as opposed to "a champion's poise." Ohio State is still a work in progress in that area, as well.
- Matta said the effort Ohio State gave Sunday will put it into position to win the bulk of games it plays: "We've gotta keep hitting the rock. I keep telling our guys, I don't know what number it's going to be, but eventually we're going to break the rock."
- Matta noted how Thursday's game will be entirely different than Sunday's because of how slow and deliberate Wisconsin plays.
- On Kam Williams, Matta loves the growth he's made this season particularly in the area of dealing with more attention from defenses: "You've gotta get him open, but you've also got to find ways to play off him in terms of how much attention he's getting."
- Matta said he thinks the way Trevor Thompson played at Illinois (team-high 16 points of the bench) showed the potential he has offensively: "He's got a nice touch down there, and he can defend well in the post."
- Evan Turner's No. 21 is set to get raised to the rafters Feb. 16 at halftime of the Michigan game, which has Matta excited: "I look back to where Evan started as a freshman to where he was when he left to where he is now, that's an honor that without a doubt as a coach I'm very excited. Every time I look up there and see it I will have a smile on my face."
- Matta said he takes great pride in his former players that talk to him after losses and wins asking if there is anything they can do to help the program: "I love having guys come back and see us."
- Matta said he walked into the weight room at one time this past summer and saw 18 former players working out at 9 a.m.
