Ohio State has already put together a streak of impressive games to open the Chris Holtmann era, but Sunday night saw the Buckeyes put together a different kind of performance.
Holtmann's squad allowed a season-low in points, on its way to a 68-46 win over Rutgers on Sunday. It was the lowest amount of points allowed by the Buckeyes all season, as the Scarlet Knights accounted for just 15 first-half points.
The performance was encouraging for Holtmann, who entered the game knowing Ohio State would have to match Rutgers' physicality on both ends of the floor.
"I think you can preach it and talk about how they are going to be physical and pressure you, and then you see it in person. You feel it. You have to adjust a little bit," Holtmann said in his postgame press conference. "We always didn't make real intelligent plays with the ball. We have to get better at that. I thought we had some careless plays there in the first half. But our guys figured it out. Our defense carried us."
Offensively, Ohio State struggled to find its rhythm, as the Buckeyes shot just 37.9 percent from the floor in the first half, leading to a 28-15 halftime score. Holtmann's team picked it up in the second half, shooting 55.2 percent to put the Scarlet Knights away despite committing 11 turnovers, the most since a Dec. 30 win over Miami (OH).
While the offense wasn't perfect, the defense remained consistent as Ohio State surrendered just 17 made field goals to the Rutgers offense, a season low for any opponent this season. The Scarlet Knights' shooting performance also marked a season low against the Buckeye defense, as Rutgers shot just 28.8 percent from the field.
Not only did Ohio State limit Rutgers on the scoreboard, the Buckeyes also kept their opponent off the glass Sunday night.
The Scarlet Knights entered the game as one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the nation. Ohio State, however, out-rebounded Rutgers 46-30, as both Keita Bates-Diop and Kaleb Wesson pulled down nine boards in the win.
Holtmann said winning the rebounding battle was preached in practice leading up to the game.
"We really tried to emphasize it. The biggest thing I'm looking at is offensive rebounding percentage as much as anything. I don't really look at total rebounds. I look at offensive and defensive percentage, and I still have to look to see what they are," Holtmann said. "We just really emphasized that and did not want to scramble. When you get in scramble mode, you are going to be in trouble with these guys. They are really committed to out-rebounding you."
The rebounds were a Big Ten best for Ohio State this season, as were the six blocks the Buckeyes swatted, five of which came from Bates-Diop, who scored 20 points in the win.
Sitting at 15-4 on the season and 6-0 in conference play, it is likely that come Monday afternoon, the Buckeyes will be ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since March 2015. Holtmann said managing expectations has been discussed within the Ohio State locker room, adding that there is still two-thirds of the conference schedule yet to play.
"We talked about it a little bit when we had beaten Michigan State. I think it alerted people. I keep coming back to the fact that we have only played one-third of the Big Ten schedule right now. There is a lot left to be played," Holtmann said. "We did talk about that we are going to have some people that will play with a different edge, probably. Home, road, it doesn't matter. We will see if we are good enough to manage that."
