As Ohio State prepares to play what could be its toughest road game of the season at No. 3 Purdue on Wednesday (8:30 p.m., BTN), Buckeyes coach Chris Holtmann returned to the airwaves of 97.1 The Fan on Monday for his weekly radio show with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.
One of the biggest questions going into Monday's show was the status of redshirt senior guard Kam Williams, who was announced as being suspended indefinitely before the Buckeyes' 75-67 win over Illinois on Sunday. Holtmann answered that question on Monday, when he said he does not expect Williams to make the trip to West Lafayette.
"It looks as of now that Kam will stay home from the Purdue game," Holtmann said. "That suspension is still in place. He’s got class back here he needs to attend to."
Holtmann said that Andre Wesson will remain in the starting lineup in Williams' absence, but also said freshman guard Musa Jallow is a player who will need to step up as well.
"With Kam's absence, we're going to need Musa to step in and play an important role coming off the bench," Holtmann said.
As for the challenge that the Boilermakers, who have yet to lose a game in Big Ten play, will present the Buckeyes later this week, Holtmann said Purdue's ability to shoot the three from the perimeter combined with its inside presence, led by 7-foot-2 center Isaac Haas, will force Ohio State to be on its A-game to have a shot to win.
"They're clearly one of the elite teams in the country," Holtmann said. "They just don't have really any deficiencies. They're clearly a Final Four, national championship contender. We'll need to be at our very best to give ourselves a chance."
A sampling of what else Holtmann had to say during Monday's radio show:
- Holtmann on Sunday's game: "We anticipated a really challenging game, and it certainly was that."
- On the final 10 minutes of Sunday's first half, in which Illinois failed to score any points after scoring 30 points in the first 10 minutes of the first half: "I think it was a combination of them missing shots, and our defensive energy picking up."
- Holtmann, who has been trying to hammer into his team a need for better physicality, said he felt the Buckeyes did a better job handling Illinois' physicality than they did against Penn State. "I didn't see us complaining a whole lot about calls, or getting banged around other than a few times, and that's a mentality and approach more than anything."
- While acknowledging that Jallow's "best offensive days are ahead of him," as the freshman guard has not scored in the Buckeyes' last nine games, Holtmann said he feels Jallow has impacted the game in many ways other than scoring.
- Holtmann on Keita Bates-Diop, who was Big Ten Player of the Week this past week despite dealing with back tightness: "It's probably hurting him because he's been carrying me the whole season."
- On Jae'Sean Tate: "If he keeps this up for the next six games, and he doesn't get any kind of all-conference mention, I'm going to drive to the Big Ten offices."
- On Kaleb Wesson: "I've been really pleased with Kaleb. His defense and his ability to stay out of foul trouble has really improved and grown."
- Holtmann says he thinks the Buckeyes do need to look to add more size and length in recruiting, though he believes class of 2018 signee Jaedon LeDee will help in that regard next season.
- On Ohio State's season-high home crowd of 18,473 for the Illinois game: "Yesterday was fantastic. The energy was really good."
