Ohio State coasted to a 94-65 win over The Citadel on Tuesday night from the confines of its home gym and did a number of things well against the Bulldogs.
The Buckeyes shot 50 percent from the floor, dished out 27 assists – the most by an Ohio State team in six seasons – and forced the Bulldogs to shoot just 32.4 percent on the opposite end, the lowest shooting percentage of any OSU opponent this season.
After all of that, however, Chris Holtmann isn't getting too excited about the win, especially with what is up next for the Buckeyes: A matchup with defending national champion North Carolina.
"I don't know how much we can take from a game like this to be honest, outside of the fact that we handled the ball a little bit better, which was good," Holtmann said. "Their zone doesn't really present the kind of size that most effective zones do."
The reality is, Ohio State did what it was supposed to do against The Citadel. Four Buckeyes scored in double figures, and before the game was over, Holtmann was able to empty his bench and play a number of walk-ons for the final three minutes of action.
Ohio State's 27 assists – while they came against an undersized team – were the most since 2011-12, when Aaron Craft and Jared Sullinger were running the show on the court for the Buckeyes.
While Ohio State doesn't appear to have the talent that the Final Four team of 2012 did, the Buckeyes are gradually showing improvement. Holtmann said that the ball movement his team displayed against the Bulldogs' zone defense was encouraging, especially with the Tar Heels on the horizon.
"It shows a willingness to make the extra pass and pass to the open man. We've got to get better with that and I think that we have gotten better at that," Holtmann said. "We have been zoned a lot this year. Our first real extended period against zone was against Gonzaga and they are one of the best zone teams in the country. That was a humbling experience."
After all the things Ohio State did well against The Citadel, one thing that stuck with Holtmann was the amount of offensive rebounds the Buckeyes allowed Tuesday night. Despite a significant size disadvantage, the Bulldogs collected 17 offensive rebounds against Ohio State.
With the defending national champs looming next, Holtmann said the Buckeyes will need to improve in that area before Ohio State tips against the Tar Heels at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
"That was not good. That was us getting beat to balls, that was us getting bum-rushed and not being physical enough," Holtmann said. "I've got to coach that better and we've got to get better at that. That was not good enough. They missed a lot of shots in the first half, but we were really not where we needed to be on the defensive glass."
