Thad Matta only spoke about the 2007 national championship game for a few minutes Friday, but Ohio State's head coach could have went on for hours if he wanted. It has stuck with him a bit over the years.
| WHO | WHERE | WHEN | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida (20-14) | Value City Arena | noon | ESPN |
“I think about it a lot, to be honest with you," Matta said, before recalling several changes he would have made if he had a chance to do things over. He wouldn't have taken Mike Conley out of the game in the first half after picking up his second foul, he would have pressed earlier, he would have given Greg Oden more touches.
"But I'm over it," he joked.
It remains the toughest loss in Matta's career to date and even though Sunday is far from a chance at redemption — it's an NIT matchup against the Gators, after all — it still means something to Matta. It's been nine years, but this is still the program that ripped away his chance at leading Ohio State to a national championship.
"We've had some pretty good battles since then," Matta said. "Honestly, I just want them to come in and compete strictly from the standpoint of it’s another game, it’s a big game. It’s Ohio State-Florida from the basketball side of things to the football side of things. I think, with that said, they’ll be ready to roll.”
Opponent Breakdown
Like in Columbus, it's a bit of a transitional year down in Gainesville, Florida for first-year coach Mike White. White, of course, took over for longtime coach Billy Donovan, who is now coaching Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA.
The Gators are just 20-14 in White's first year at the helm and they finished eighth in an SEC which sent only three teams to the NCAA tournament. It's certainly not what Florida fans are used to.
But Matta sees a stiff challenge for his young group, particularly with how the Gators defend. Florida ranks 18th nationally in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom's advanced statistical ratings.
“One of the biggest things is they’re very, very solid defensively in the half court," Matta said. "Offensively, it’s funny because they can put points on the board at an alarming rate."
Added Buckeyes redshirt sophomore guard Kam Williams: "They’re a good half-court defensive team and they’re really good crashing the glass on the offensive end so we know we need to get some stops and try to run in transition and put as much pressure on the defense."
In Florida's opening-round NIT win over North Florida, the Gators made 16 3-pointers, which is abnormal for a team that shoots just 32 percent from downtown on the season.
Florida is led by senior Dorian Finney-Smith, who averages a team-high 14.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, and freshman guard KeVaughn Allen, who averages 11.4 points per contest. The Gators will be without their second-leading scorer, sophomore center John Egbunu, who is averaging 11.5 points per game on the season but is out for the rest of the year due to thumb sugery.
"Trying to slow them down in terms of getting on a roll like that is going to be huge,” Matta said.
Buckeye Breakdown
Ohio State knocked off Akron in its opening-round NIT game, but just barely. The Buckeyes survived the Zips in overtime, 72-63, on Tuesday night to advance to Sunday's game against the Gators.
Keita Bates-Diop did not play in that win for Ohio State — Matta said he is out due to illness — and he remains questionable for Sunday's game.
"We still don’t know if he’ll be able to go on Sunday," Matta said Friday.
In his absence, Williams, Marc Loving and JaQuan Lyle each scored 18 points for the Buckeyes, but each also played at least 44 minutes — all career-highs. Ohio State, which only played seven players against the Zips, obviously would need all three to have big games again in order to beat the Gators should Bates-Diop not be able to go.
"We’ve already had one guy [Jae'Sean Tate] go down so it’s not anything that we weren’t familiar with so, I mean, we all knew we all were going to have to contribute to make up for his loss," Loving said. "I feel like guys stepped up in different areas to fulfill Keita’s role.”
Williams started in Bates-Diop's place — the first start of his career — and said he'd be more than willing to fill-in again should he need to do so.
“I think I’d be pretty comfortable," Williams said. "I try to stay as ready as possible. It’s a game and we need a win and that’s pretty much all the motivation I need in order to stay ready for whatever role I’m in.”
How It Plays Out
The NIT is about as unpredictable as it gets as you never really know how teams truly feeling about playing in this "consolation" tournament.
Ohio State is saying all the right things about being here, though, and I think the Buckeyes will start better than they did against Akron. Ohio State has that first game out of the way, so there may be a shift in mindset toward, 'Why not?'
This game is obviously much more difficult for the Buckeyes to win if Bates-Diop does not play, but Florida being without Egbunu is essentially an equalizer. Ohio State must defend the 3-point line well again — Akron was just 9-for-42 from deep Tuesday — because even though the Gators don't shoot a high percentage on the season, their performance against North Florida shows they're capable of getting hot.
This one feels like it's going to be played close throughout, but I'll take the home team here to earn a close win and move on.
Tim's prediction: Ohio State 68, Florida 66
