Ohio State defeated Rutgers on Saturday, 79-69, to move to 16-10 overall and 8-5 in the Big Ten.
It was the Buckeyes' second-straight win after they knocked off Northwestern on Tuesday and Ohio State will host Michigan next Tuesday in a game that is a huge opportunity to pick up a resume-building win.
But while Saturday's game will be filed in the win column, there is certainly a lot to examine for the Buckeyes as this was far from a strong showing. You never want to be overly critical in a game that a team wins by double digits on the road in the Big Ten, but Ohio State was far from perfect Saturday.
Let's take a closer look at how things went in the Buckeyes' win.
The Big Three
We'll start with the good and that was Keita Bates-Diop, Jae'Sean Tate and Kam Williams. The trio combined to score 65 of Ohio State's 79 points and it was obvious Rutgers had no answer for any of these three.
Bates-Diop led all scorers with 24 points to go along with 14 rebounds for a double-double; Tate also had a double-double with 22 points and 13 boards; and Williams got quite hot off the bench to score 19 for the Buckeyes.
The most impressive part, though, may have been how efficient each player was. Bates-Diop was 10-for-16 shooting to get his 24 points and knocked down 3-of-6 attempts from behind the 3-point line. Williams scored his 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including a 5-for-8 performance from downtown. And perhaps most impressive was Tate, who was 9-for-11 from the floor to get his 22.
There needs to be a bit of perspective with everything that happened Saturday because it was against Rutgers, which is 6-19 overall and 0-12 in the Big Ten, but the performances of those three guys was certainly what stood out most. Ohio State now needs its other guys to join them.
Point Guard Shuffle
Buckeyes coach Thad Matta has juggled his two point guards all season and Saturday was no exception. JaQuan Lyle had two really strong performances leading into the game against Rutgers, but the freshman point guard just didn't have it Saturday, especially in the second half.
Lyle looked a bit careless at times and finished the game with just four points on 1-of-6 shooting. He had five assists, but also three turnovers — two of which came at the end of the game when Ohio State was trying to run things out and Lyle got loose with his passes. Lyle played just eight minutes in the second half after playing 18 in the first.
The Buckeyes' other freshman guard, A.J. Harris, only played two minutes in the first half largely because he picked up a quick pair of fouls. But in the second half he played 12 minutes while Lyle sat on the bench and, for the most part, did a good job of running the show for Ohio State. Harris didn't score and only took two shots, but he finished with seven assists — five of which came in the second half.
Ohio State's point guard situation seems like it is going to be fluid throughout the rest of the season much like it has been all year, and at this point Matta seems like he is just going to ride whoever is playing better on that night.
The Curious Case of Marc Loving Continues
We have seen Marc Loving struggle at times this season, but continue to stay on the floor for large periods of time. Matta has been asked about that before, and Ohio State's coach said he likes some of the other things Loving brings to the table if he is not shooting particularly well.
On Saturday, though, Matta did not have Loving out there for what seems like the first time all season. The Buckeyes' lone junior played only 16 minutes in the game and just five in the second half. It's hard to blame Matta for sitting Loving, though, as he did not score in the game and went 0-for-5 from the field with a pair of turnovers.
I don't believe Matta will remove Loving from the starting lineup going forward, however I do think the fact Matta made the decision to bench him should not be overlooked. He has been hesitant to do that all year, and this could mean going forward Matta won't be afraid to do it again should Loving be playing poorly.
Moving Forward
Look, like mentioned earlier, it's hard to be that critical of any team that earns a double-digit road victory in the Big Ten, but there are certainly things Ohio State needs to do better down the stretch. Four of the Buckeyes' five remaining regular-season games are against teams that will be in the NCAA tournament and I'm not sure Ohio State can win any against those tournament teams playing like it did Saturday.
But the Buckeyes have three of those four games at home so that should help them out; Ohio State just hasn't had a solid, all-around performance away from Columbus all season outside of its win over Kentucky.
The Buckeyes need to get better and only have a short period of time to do so before Michigan comes to town Tuesday.
