Ohio State opened its 2021-22 season with a closer-than-expected last-second win on Tuesday, and its upcoming opponent found itself on the flip side of a similar situation on the very same night.
While the Buckeyes survived their 67-66 scare against Akron, Niagara dropped a 63-60 game against Xavier, a team that was favored to beat it by 17 points. Ohio State, which gets a crack at the Musketeers next Thursday, will close out the opening week of the new season with a matchup against the 0-1 Purple Eagles on Friday.
| WHO | WHERE | WHEN | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niagara (0-1) | Schottenstein Center | 7 p.m. | BTN+ |
Despite the fact that the Buckeyes are favored to roll Niagara with relative ease, Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann is not guaranteeing a complete turnaround from his team just three days after an uneven performance to start the year.
“Listen, it’s not going to look like a finished product right now,” Holtmann said Thursday. “We’re not going to and our backcourt’s not. And it’s too much to expect for that to be the case. We just have to keep getting better. But we are very much a work in progress as a team, and very much a work in progress with our backcourt, for sure.”
After the way last season ended for Ohio State – and the way this season nearly started – Holtmann and the Buckeyes are on high alert for potential upsets while the roster is still feeling itself out.
“You don’t want me to run down all the schools that lost on opening night, right? That quote-unquote were upsets,” Holtmann said. “It’s the reality of college basketball. We know that, we know that well, obviously. There’s no guarantees, you have to earn every time you go out.”
However, the Purple Eagles have finished with a winning record in just two of the past 10 seasons.
Three Storylines to Watch
Greg Paulus coaching connection
Holtmann squared off with his college teammate (Akron head coach John Groce) in the first game of the season, and Friday night’s matchup will feature another Ohio State coaching staff connection. Former Duke guard and Syracuse quarterback Greg Paulus, who was an assistant coach on Thad Matta’s staff at Ohio State from 2011-17, will be back at the Schottenstein Center as the head coach of the Purple Eagles.
Paulus coached at Louisville and George Washington following his departure from Ohio State, but joined the Niagara staff in 2019 and was named head coach later that year following the resignation of Patrick Beilein. Paulus holds a record of 21-32 as Niagara’s head coach.
“He’s done a great job there, and got a lot of respect for how his kids play,” Holtmann said. “They performed exceptionally well at Xavier the other night and had a chance to win it at the buzzer. It’s obviously gonna be another challenge for us, and one that we need to be ready to go for.”
Who can score besides E.J. Liddell?
The loss of Duane Washington was felt big-time for much of Ohio State’s season opener, as just about every Buckeye not named E.J. Liddell or Zed Key struggled to score points against Akron. The returning first-team All-Big Ten performer needed 25 points – two shy of a new single-game best – on a career-high 19 shot attempts just to propel the Buckeyes to a 1-point win against the Zips.
Key was Ohio State’s second-best scorer on the night, finishing with 14 points on the interior, but the Buckeye backcourt and wing players underwhelmed when it came to putting points on the board. Jamari Wheeler, Meechie Johnson, Justin Ahrens and Justice Sueing combined to score just 15 points between the four of them, which frankly is far too low a number for the Buckeyes to have success this season.
“There’s a lot of areas we need to get better in, and our offensive execution and ability to play better in those positions is important,” Holtmann said.
Could it be another close call?
It may be a brand new season, but the down-to-the-wire nature of Ohio State’s season opener brought back some all-too-familiar memories of the Buckeyes’ recent past. Of Ohio State’s final five games to end last year, three of them went into overtime, and the two that didn’t were decided by a total of five points. In fact, Ohio State has not won a game by a double-digit margin in the past 11 games dating back to 2020-21. The Buckeyes are 19.5-point favorites in this one, but as evidenced by Niagara’s tight game with Xavier, a surprise is not out of the question.
Three Important Buckeyes
Meechie Johnson
The freshman guard showed all types of promise in Ohio State’s exhibition win over Indianapolis, scoring 12 points, taking nine shots and getting to the free throw line six times in a clear display of heightened aggression and comfort in the Buckeye program. Against Akron, Johnson did not look like the same player, going 0-for-3 from the field to finish with just four points and no assists. If Johnson is going to continue to be a starter for the Buckeyes, he’ll need to provide more offense in the Ohio State backcourt.
Malaki Branham
Branham earned effusive praise from his head coach after putting forth a poised effort late in his Ohio State debut, scoring a big basket in the final 90 seconds and dishing the game-winning assist against Akron. The true freshman’s decisiveness was impressive beyond doubt, and may have helped him earn more minutes early in his first year. Holtmann has said on multiple occasions that the starting lineup he begins the season with will see alterations as the year goes on, and after Tuesday’s performance, it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that Branham could crack the starting five at some point in the near future – particularly if injury issues persist.
Kyle Young
The fifth-year forward and team captain was held out of the season opener due to his vestibular dysfunction condition, but as of tip-off on Tuesday, the word from the Buckeye program was that Young would be hopeful for either Friday or Monday’s matchups. Holtmann said Thursday he would know more about Young’s availability following practice later that day, but the presence of the scrappy forward – even if not quite at 100 percent – can only be beneficial for the Buckeyes if he’s available to play on Friday.
Holtmann says "we'll know more about Kyle (Young) after practice today." Young missed the season opener due to his vestibular dysfunction.
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) November 11, 2021
Three Important Purple Eagles
| Player | Position | Stats vs. Xavier |
|---|---|---|
| MARCUS HAMMOND | G | 25 PTS, 6 REB |
| NOAH THOMASSON | G | 11 PTS, 1 REB |
| ROB BROWN III | G | 2 PTS, 1 REB |
| SAM IORIO | F | 2 PTS, 1 REB |
| JORDAN CINTRON | F | 8 PTS, 6 REB |
Marcus Hammond
Last year’s second-leading scorer for the Purple Eagles, senior guard Marcus Hammond had one of the best scoring performances of his career in the season opener against Xavier, putting up 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting. The 6-foot-3 guard and two-time All-MAAC performer hit four 3-pointers in the first game of the year, and was on the floor for all but five minutes of action. Hammond appears to be the clear first option for Niagara on offense, and the Buckeyes will need to be keyed in on him all night.
Noah Thomasson
A first-year Purple Eagle after transferring in from Butler Community College, Thomasson was not gun shy in his Niagara debut, attempting 10 shots to score 11 points on Tuesday. Thomasson averaged four points per game as a freshman at Houston Baptist two seasons ago, but looks to be more of a legitimate scoring threat next to Hammond in the Niagara backcourt this season.
Jordan Cintron
At 6-foot-8 and 220 pounds, Cintron is a fifth-year veteran forward who will bang with Buckeye bigs like Key and Liddell down low on defense. A three-time letterwinner at Longwood University, Cintron is in his second year with the Purple Eagles after averaging 7.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in less than 20 minutes per game off the bench a season ago. Cintron is a starter for Niagara this year and had a solid season opener with eight points and six boards against Xavier.
How it Plays Out
Line: Ohio State -19.5, O/U 133.5
Exhibition games aside, Buckeye fans have every right to be wary of Ohio State's ability to blow teams out given the end of 2020-21 and the start of 2021-22. Still, the Buckeyes have no business losing this one, even if it would surprise no one to see the final score play out closer than the odds suggest.
Prediction: Ohio State 76, Niagara 63
