Ohio State hit double-digit losses in a season earlier than any other time in coach Thad Matta's career Thursday at Wisconsin, dropping a 79-68 decision at Wisconsin. In what is now Matta's 12th season, Ohio State has suffered double-digit losses in only five times.
The Buckeyes (14-10, 6-5 Big Ten) spotted the Badgers 11 points to open the game, but bounced back to actually lead at one point before faltering down the stretch and leaving too many shooters open. Wisconsin hit a season-high 13 shots from beyond the arc.
Matta hit the 97.1 The Fan radio airwaves with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes Monday for his weekly show. The Buckeyes host Northwestern (16-8, 4-7) Tuesday at 8 p.m. The Wildcats beat Minnesota Thursday to end a five-game losing streak.
Notes:
- Matta said his weekend was "very busy" even though Ohio State didn't play a game this weekend. He said the length of his team's practices were longer than normal due to the time off.
- Matta said he wanted Peyton Manning and Denver to win Super Bowl 50 because he felt like the quarterback's career is over, but found himself rooting for Carolina because of how many former Buckeyes were on the team.
- Ohio State had planned to be off practice Friday and not Saturday, but flipped due to how it finished the Wisconsin game.
- Matta said when they were walking off the practice court Monday, a player told him "I've got this under control." Matta retorted that he and his staff corrected him on the same mistake he made in the Wisconsin loss, and it is past due time for Ohio State to start fixing the little errors.
- Despite the close loss on the road, Matta said he sees his team taking the scouting and game planning better with more experience: "We've just got to get away from the bad couple minutes each half."
- Matta spoke about how difficult it is to replicate game situations in practice, but "it comes to a certain point" where a group of guys need to separate themselves from the others to show they can be on the court at vital times to make winning plays.
- Speaking on the facilities in college basketball and how they are improving for recruiting purposes, Matta credited Ohio State's luxuries but admitted he's never been a "frivolous" guy in the sense that wanting to go to somewhere for a locker room other than the school as a whole.
- The dressing rooms Ohio State travels and uses on the road does make Matta's players appreciate what they have in Columbus. When the team arrived at the Kohl Center in Madison last week, its locker room was set at 84 degrees.
- JaQuan Lyle scored a game-high 27 points in Thursday's loss to Wisconsin, a performance Matta said he expected with how he practiced the days before: "I didn't think he would explode like that, but that was good to see. Hopefully we can keep him going."
- Matta said he told Lyle Monday to "practice like this is the last practice of your life." His goal was to see the directive and intensity carry over to Tuesday's game against Northwestern, so Lyle can put together back-to-back solid performances.
- Such a mindset goes beyond Lyle, however, Matta said: "We've got to get to a point where that isn't an issue."
- The cold and flu bug is finally through the team, Matta said. He said everyone should be healthy Tuesday.
- On Northwestern, Matta said the Wildcats have 7-footer Alex Olah back in the lineup from injury and mentioned how much they like to shoot 3-pointers: "You've got to have a hand up and be ready to close out."
- A caller mentioned Marc Loving's body language to Matta and how if he misses a few shots it leads to multiple mistakes on the other end: "That's something that we've talked about with Marc and everyone else on the team," Matta said.
- "Coaching this basketball team, you're doing your best to keep the big picture in mind." — Thad Matta
- A caller asked Matta if Ohio State has any booster clubs and if there are individuals expressing what they would like to see changed during a down season. Matta mentioned The Sixth Man club, before adding: "I learned a long time ago not to listen or worry about what other people think about things, because I know nobody wants to win more than I do."
- Matta said one area of focus is the inside-out game, getting the ball to the post players early in the shot clock: "I think that's kind of the next step for our team: The inside presence and then that would lead to the outside presence."
- More on Lyle, Matta said he attacked the basket well at Wisconsin: "That's what we had to do against them."
- Jae'Sean Tate missed a few layups in recent games, and Matta joked, "I've never really known a player who has tried to miss a shot ... but we've got to get some of those to go down."
- Asked about former players and current Boston Celtics Evan Turner and Jared Sullinger, Matta said the latter told him recently he's never felt closer to a team than since he was at Ohio State. The Celtics beat the Cavaliers Friday at the buzzer in Cleveland.
- On long offensive rebounds killing the Buckeyes Thursday at Wisconsin, Matta said that is the best time to shoot 3-pointers: "We've been working that hard."
- Unlike it past years with a more veteran team, Matta said he isn't taking his foot off the pedal in practice intensity because it is February. Matta said they can ill afford to do that with this young group.
- On the polls and peaking at the right time, Matta mentioned his team's history with playing well in February: "There's going to be a lot of movement here in the near future and we need to get it going right now for us."
- Matta admitted it's been frustrating dealing with the inconsistencies on his team, a message he says he is telling his players needs to be a thing of the past because as season winds down.
- On making a trying season fun, Matta said the joy comes after winning close games and riding home. Yet another thing he's doing his best to instill in his team.
- Before their game two weeks ago at Illinois, the Buckeyes tossed around an egg during shoot-around with the message of take care of the basketball. Matta said Daniel Giddens thought it was a hard-boiled egg, but was disappointed when he found out it wasn't.
