At the first mention of Trevor Thompson’s name during the postgame press conference, Kevin Ollie just blurted out the first word that came to his mind to describe the performance put on by Ohio State’s junior center.
“Monster,” Connecticut’s head coach said.
It might have been an understatement.
Thompson was huge for the Buckeyes in Saturday night’s 64-60 win over the Huskies with 17 points and 17 rebounds in 30 minutes off the bench. It was a much-needed performance in a game Ohio State simply had to have following Tuesday’s upset loss to Florida Atlantic.
“Honestly, I just wanted to win,” Thompson said. “I just wanted to do the things my coaches and my teammates needed of me. I was surprised when I saw the stat sheet because I wasn’t keeping track, I was just playing and letting the game come to me.”
On a night when Ohio State couldn’t throw it in the ocean — the Buckeyes shot just 34 percent from the field and were 2-for-18 from behind the 3-point line — it got a huge lift from a rather unlikely candidate.
Thompson doesn’t start for the Buckeyes — Micah Potter is the starting center — but he’s shown drastic improvement this season compared to last year as a sophomore. He took over against UConn, a team which featured a pair of 7-footers in Amida Brimah and Steven Enoch.
“I thought Trevor was really good tonight,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said. “The focus, he can drift sometimes so keeping him dialed in, keeping him focused. The biggest thing he did tonight, 17 and 17, was he only had one foul. I thought he played a lot smarter in terms of not picking up some of those fouls that he has typically picked up.”
“Given the inside presence he has right now, he’s doing a heck of a job.”
JaQuan Lyle scored 16 points, had a career-high four steals and went 6-for-6 at the free-throw line and Jae’Sean Tate chipped in 13 points to assist Thompson in the production for Ohio State. It was much-needed, too, as the Buckeyes simply couldn't afford a loss against the undermanned Huskies after what happened Tuesday night.
Losses in December don’t usually make or break seasons, but after Ohio State fell to Florida Atlantic it certainly felt like things could snowball and, eventually, lead to serious trouble. The Buckeyes had to play UConn on Saturday night and one week from now they face second-ranked UCLA.
A loss against the Huskies and suddenly a 7-4 start to the season was a real possibility.
“It was obviously a big game,” Matta said. “I was proud that they did a decent job of getting back.”
Ohio State found itself in a tie ballgame at the final media timeout against UConn, a very similar situation to earlier games this season against Virginia and Florida Atlantic. The Buckeyes lost those games. They didn’t Saturday night.
At 54-all, Ohio State scored the next eight points — all at the free-throw line as they continued to attack the Connecticut defense. Thompson made the first two from the stripe and Lyle poured in six straight to push the game out of reach.
“I feel like we thought about Tuesday night,” Lyle said. “I feel like we thought we were in the same situation and we didn’t make smart plays in crunch time and tonight I feel like we did. Myself, I didn’t turn the ball over so that’s a plus and I feel like we all stayed focus and made winning plays and made smart plays.”
The Buckeyes made 26 of their 34 free-throw attempts against the Huskies. Ohio State committed just seven turnovers. These are things that plagued the Buckeyes at times this season.
And with Thompson's performance, Ohio State also got a lift from an unexpected source in Saturday's win. But perhaps with the way Thompson has played through 10 games this season it shouldn't be unexpected anymore.
Against UConn, the Buckeyes got a win they desperately needed. The Florida Atlantic nightmare is officially behind Ohio State, and it's on to the rest of the season.
“As I told our guys," Matta said, "our whole focus this week is we’ve got to be a better basketball team when we take the floor on Saturday [against UCLA].”
