This wasn’t the first time this season you saw it.
But it was probably the first time you noticed it.
Ohio State spent the majority of the second half of Tuesday night’s 71-63 win against Northwestern in a 1-2-2, three-quarter court zone press after made baskets and stoppages. The Buckeyes sped the Wildcats up, forced a few turnovers and scored some transition baskets as a result.
It was, by far, the most effective the look had been all season.
“We were in a little bit of scramble mode and we thought it could be effective even though I didn’t know it was going to be quite as effective,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said after the game. “I think the reward was worth the risk that we took and I thought it really sort of took them out of their rhythm in terms of what they were trying to run offensively.”
The Buckeyes forced 14 Northwestern turnovers in the game and were able to turn those into 18 points. Not all of them came from this specific defensive look, of course, but there were a few and it visibly frustrated the Wildcats’ guards. On one occasion, Ohio State even forced Northwestern into a 10-second violation.
The press starts at the top with sophomore wing Keita Bates-Diop, whose length — he is 6-foot-8 but has a wingspan that eclipses the 7-foot mark — creates a big problem as teams try to advance the ball up the floor. Active guards behind Bates-Diop — this was JaQuan Lyle and Kam Williams on Tuesday — also gave the Wildcats fits.
“I think that Keita was phenomenal up there in terms of the angles he was taking,” Matta said. “The second and third lines were doing a good job and there were a couple times where they were open over the top, but Keita had his hands up and they couldn’t make the pass.”
It’s probably not very realistic to think one performance like Tuesday will cause Matta to make the full-time switch to this defensive look after made baskets. After all, Ohio State has tried it before this season and gotten mixed results with it.
But it is definitely something for Matta to think about. The Buckeyes struggle playing in a halfcourt game — on the offensive end — and playing this style of defense, which speeds the game up, allows them to get out and run at the other end. Even if Ohio State does not force a turnover, if it can bait a team into taking a rushed shot, the Buckeyes can quickly get their break started the other way.
It was the spark Ohio State needed Tuesday night to beat Northwestern. And who knows, maybe it’s a change that could ignite the Buckeyes down the stretch run of the season?
“We just need some type of spark,” junior wing Marc Loving said. “And our press really switched it up and we were able to get the tempo going a little faster than it was going at the time and we were able to come up with some key turnovers that we were able to convert into easy buckets.”
Added Matta: “It was beautiful to see because five guys were moving on the bounce and on the pass and that was big for us.”
