Following a pair of impressive home victories over Michigan State and Maryland, Ohio State hits the road again for a matchup with Rutgers, the team that ended the Buckeyes' 2016-17 season in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.
| Who | Where | When | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rutgers (11-7, 1-4) | Rutgers Athletic Center | 7 p.m. | BTN |
Since then, the two teams have been on different paths, at least in the new year.
The Buckeyes are 5-0 in conference play and sit atop the Big Ten standings along with No. 5 Purdue. The Scarlet Knights have limped to a 1-4 start in conference play, but have not been without a few close calls against quality opponents.
Rutgers welcomes Ohio State to Piscataway, N.J., fresh off of taking Michigan State to overtime, coming up just short in a 76-72 loss. After watching the Scarlet Knights' performance against the Spartans, Chris Holtmann said his team will need to be ready to play a physical brand of basketball in order to come away with a victory on Sunday.
"I watched Rutgers play Michigan State last night, they are one of the toughest teams in college basketball," Holtmann said following Thursday's win over Maryland.
With a win against Rutgers, the Buckeyes would likely make their first appearance in the Associated Press Top 25 since late in the 2014-15 season.
Opponent Breakdown
The Scarlet Knights pride themselves on physicality on the defensive end. Rutgers leads the Big Ten in scoring defense, allowing just 61.7 points per game.
Conversely, Rutgers struggles to score the basketball, averaging 70.2 points per contest, 13th in the Big Ten ahead of only Wisconsin, the only team the Scarlet Knights have beaten in conference this year.
The disparity between three-point shooting and three-point defense is also staggering for the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers defends the three-point arc better than any other Big Ten team, allowing opponents to shoot just 30.5 percent from long range this year. At the other end, however, Steve Pikiell's squad shoots the ball at just a 29.4 percent clip from distance, ranking last in the conference.
Since the Scarlet Knights have struggled to find offense from beyond the arc, Rutgers has made a living in the paint this year. Pikiell's team ranks fourth in the nation and first in the Big Ten in offensive rebounds per game, averaging 14.56 boards on the offensive glass.
Leading the effort on the glass for Rutgers is senior forward Deshawn Freeman, who averages 7.6 rebounds per game. Freeman is also the second-leading scorer for the Scarlet Knights, contributing 12.0 points per game, and leads his team with 19 blocked shots on the year. Freeman scored 10 points and corralled eight boards in Rutgers' win over Ohio State in the conference tournament last year.
Guard Corey Sanders leads the scoring effort for Rutgers, pouring in 14.2 points per game, but shooting just 39.5 percent from the floor this season.
Overall, the Scarlet Knights rotate nine players. Guard Geo Baker is the only other Rutgers player to average double-digit points on the year, contributing 11.2 points and 3.5 assists per contest.
Buckeye Breakdown
After defeating Maryland by a convincing 91-69 margin Thursday, Ohio State cracked the top 20 in KenPom, after starting the season ranked 78th.
By Friday, the Buckeyes had risen to No. 18 in the advanced statistical rating system, a whopping 60 spots up from the start of the Chris Holtmann era.
Leading Ohio State's charge has been Keita Bates-Diop, who leads the Big Ten in scoring with 20.3 points per game, which ranked him 37th in the country as of Saturday. In addition to his point production, Bates-Diop rarely comes off the floor, averaging 31.9 minutes per game, seventh-most in the Big Ten.
His 85 points in Ohio State's last three games against Iowa, Michigan State and Maryland are the most by a Buckeye in such a stretch since Michael Redd dropped 86 points during a three-game stretch 20 years ago in 1998.
Also seeing increased minutes for Ohio State in recent games has been reserve point guard Andrew Dakich, who scored a career-high 11 points, all in the first half, against Maryland. Dakich converted on 4-of-5 shot attempts and played a career-high 27 minutes off the bench against the Terps.
Micah Potter and Kyle Young saw only limited action in the win over the Terps, but that was due to matchups, Holtmann said.
"I told them I would have loved to have played them," Holtmann said. "But I didn't feel like we were able to do it. Playing 10 guys is a lot anyway. Most teams are playing eight or nine guys right now. We are still trying to play 10 guys. We didn't play Kaleb (Wesson, starting center) a lot tonight. We felt like in order to defend their ball-screens and how they spread us out, we needed to play smaller."
How It Plays Out
Rutgers has shown a tendency to play up or down to the level of its competition this season. The Scarlet Knights had a six-point win over then-No. 15-ranked Seton Hall on Dec. 16, but followed it up with back-to-back home losses to Stony Brook and Hartford.
If Ohio State isn't hitting consistent shots from the perimeter and if Bates-Diop has an off night, the Scarlet Knights have a chance to score an upset victory. However, if the Buckeyes can hit timely shots, Rutgers doesn't have the offense to keep up.
Prediction: Ohio State 83, Rutgers 70
