Sitting at the podium Thursday night, Chris Holtmann couldn’t help himself. He looked a bit irritated as he answered questions about Ohio State’s 81-63 exhibition win against UNC Pembroke.
Did that have something to do with the fact that in less than a week, the Buckeyes will travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats in a packed Fifth Third Arena to begin the regular season?
“Probably,” Holtmann said after the exhibition. “Yeah. Do I seem irritable?”
Yes. Yes, he did.
“I think it's the schedule. It's the season coming,” Holtmann said. “Frustrated, probably, to some degree because the turnover issue is something we've dealt with with some returners. So my expectation's a little bit higher. Obviously, I have to do a better job communicating that to them. Whether that means sitting them more or whatever, I've got to do a better job on that end.”
“We'll know a lot more about or group and our older guys once we go through some real adversity. We'll learn a lot about our group once we go through some stuff.”– Chris Holtmann
Though the Buckeyes handled the Braves on Thursday, Holtmann wasn’t particularly pleased. They turned the ball over 21 times, which was top of mind. Holtmann didn’t seem overly surprised by the issue since he said he had seen it at times in practice, but Thursday didn’t do anything to ease the concern.
Despite the turnover issues and struggles from beyond the 3-point line (5 for 25), not all was bad. Kaleb Wesson had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in 16 minutes. In just 10 minutes, Micah Potter had four and-ones, finishing with 13 points and six rebounds. UNC Pembroke made just 32.8 percent of its shots, and Ohio State had a 56-35 rebounding edge.
None of that seemed to ease Holtmann’s uncertainty, though, with the regular season beginning on Wednesday. Some of his feelings can be attributed to coaches simply feeling the season coming soon, even if the turnover problem weighed on him.
“Lot to improve on,” Holtmann said. “We have some significant, significant areas that need improvement. Significant areas.”
Ohio State opens the season on the road against Cincinnati on Wednesday, then heads back to Columbus to take on Fort Wayne Purdue on Nov. 7. Four days later, the Buckeyes will be in Omaha, Nebraska, facing Creighton in the Gavitt Games.
By the end of that three-game, 10-day stretch, Ohio State will have a much better handle of its team.
“You had some knowns there too with last year's group,” Holtmann said. “Our concerns last year were backcourt depth and how we were going to handle pressure and all those kind of things. But we had some knowns there, too, with guys that had produced. And we have some this year, but we have a lot of questions that we have to answer.
“So I think, more than anything, we're excited, we're anxious and looking forward to learning a lot about our group here. I think this stretch will tell us a whole lot really quickly, whether we like it or not.”
Cincinnati is the No. 44-ranked team in the preseason ratings by KenPom, just below Ohio State at No. 41, and Creighton slots in at No. 33. Fort Wayne Purdue is all the way down at No. 159, but the Mastodons have also drawn Holtmann’s focus.
“In my mind as we're thinking, we have a Fort Wayne team in there that has been a very good mid-major basketball team for a number of years,” Holtmann said. “Am I concerned about this stretch? Sure, sure. I'm anxious to see how we respond, too, and hopefully, as coaches, we can help our guys navigate our way through it.”
In order to wade through the week-and-a-half stretch, the Buckeyes will need to rely on energy and defense, while Wesson and C.J. Jackson pace the offense. Kyle Young and Luther Muhammad flashed talent, athleticism and relentless energy, even though both will be works in progress while they transition to playing a large amount of minutes they’ll play this season. Andre Wesson and Musa Jallow have similar questions about how they will contribute in offense, but both should make impacts on defense and with their energy.
A lot is unknown about the team, from ball control to leadership to defensive versatility, but the returns of Wesson and Jackson give the offense a solid backbone. The addition of graduate transfer Keyshawn Woods offers Ohio State a solid bench scorer. Especially early in the season, those three players will need to pace the offense while the rest of the relatively inexperienced players on the team figure out where they’ll contribute.
“We'll know a lot more about or group and our older guys once we go through some real adversity,” Holtmann said. “We'll learn a lot about our group once we go through some stuff.”
That adversity might come quickly, as Holtmann said, whether they like it or not.
