When asked what the Buckeyes need to do to secure a second-straight road victory and a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament on Sunday, Bruce Thornton promptly presented his top key to victory – ball security.
Rutgers
scarlet Knights
Tempering turnovers is a two-fold issue for Ohio State in its final regular season game. Rutgers, the Buckeyes’ opponent, is 27th in the country in generating opponent turnovers with 14.8 takeaways per game. Open-court steals and fast-break points also provide big momentum swings for home teams, and despite the Scarlet Knights’ 15-15 record, a loud crowd should be expected in Jersey Mike’s Arena.
“The main thing is really just turnovers,” Thornton said. “Make sure that we’re minimizing turnovers, especially with how Rutgers plays defense. They force you to make mistakes and have turnovers, especially playing at Rutgers. It’s always a physical place.”
If the Buckeyes can take care of the basketball while maintaining the aggressive play style that has propelled them to win four of their five games since interim head coach Jake Diebler took over, it should pave the way for another Quadrant 2 victory and bid to the second round of the conference tourney.
“I think our guys are really embracing playing meaningful games this time of year,” Diebler said. “It is fun. We know what kind of opportunity is in front of us, but we also know how challenging this opportunity is. It is a very, very tough place to play against one of the very best defenses in the entire country.”
“We know what kind of opportunity is in front of us, but we also know how challenging this opportunity is.”– Jake Diebler on the Rutgers game
For all its offensive struggles shooting 39.4% from the field (355th nationally of 362 teams) and scoring 96.4 points per 100 possessions (337th), Rutgers’ takeaway-fueled defensive game plan has planted it at 20th nationally in points allowed per 100 possessions at 95.9.
Steals and blocks are the top two reasons why. The Scarlet Knights have four players that average at least one steal per game, paced by the 1.4 per game collected by guard Derek Simpson. Rutgers is second in the Big Ten with 7.7 steals per contest as a squad.
“We have to play to our strengths and we feel like it’s an advantage for us to strike early,” Diebler said. “What we have to do is read crowds and read help defense at a high level. There’s a toughness required with the ball in this game. ... You’ve gotta be really tough with the ball. They’re great at turning turnovers into points. Us getting our defense set is important, but it’s going to come down to our ability to read the rim.”
The top reason reading the rim and being tough with the basketball will be important for Ohio State is the man guarding the basket for the Scarlet Knights, center Clifford Omoruyi.
Omoruyi leads the Big Ten and is tied for third nationally with three blocks per game, picking up exactly 90 swats in 30 contests. He collected two blocked shots and altered plenty more during the Buckeyes’ 76-72 win over Rutgers on Jan. 3. Omoruyi also grabs a team-high 8.5 rebounds and a second-best 10.7 points per game.
“Obviously, he has great physical tools, but I think his instincts are really special,” Diebler said. “I think there’s no denying that, and they’ve done a great job, his development’s been impressive. But I think he has some things naturally that have solidified himself as one of the best (shot-blockers) for multiple years. This isn’t a one-off thing, he’s continued to get better. We have a high, high level of respect for him and we have to be aware of his strengths and the impact that he’s capable of having on the defensive side.”
Another player to watch will be guard Jeremiah Williams. Williams missed Rutgers’ first 20 games of the season, including its previous matchup with Ohio State, after he was involved in a gambling investigation at his previous school, Iowa State. Williams was deemed eligible by the NCAA on Feb. 2 and returned to action against Michigan the following day.
Since then, he’s taken over as the team’s leading scorer with 13.3 points per game while also pacing the Scarlet Knights in assists with 3.1 per contest.
| No. | Player | Position | Height | Weight | 2023-24 Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jamichael Davis | G | 6-2 | 175 | 5.7 PPG, 1.9 APG |
| 0 | Derek Simpson | G | 6-3 | 165 | 8.7 PPG, 2.9 APG |
| 25 | Jeremiah Williams | G | 6-4 | 177 | 13.3 PPG, 3.1 APG |
| 5 | Aundre Hyatt | F | 6-6 | 235 | 10.4 PPG, 4.6 RPG |
| 11 | Clifford Omoruyi | C | 6-11 | 240 | 10.7 PPG, 3.0 BPG |
Ohio State will enter Sunday’s tilt with fresh legs after a week of rest following its 84-61 smashing of Michigan on March 3, which has benefits and drawbacks. There’s an argument to be had that a team playing with the momentum of its first three-game winning streak since one that concluded on Jan. 3 would want to keep things moving.
“It’s definitely difficult, especially this late in the year,” Thornton said. “You’ve been rolling, all of a sudden you just stop because you’ve got a whole week of just practicing. You’re used to just playing at least every other few days, you’re playing and getting prepared. So now we’re just focusing on ourselves and really trying to maintain how everything’s been going, how everything is gonna look.”
As such, the Buckeyes have tried to bring that in-game intensity onto the practice floor this week.
“It’s been very competitive, especially when we ain’t playing,” Thornton said. “Wednesday it got very competitive, it got super competitive at practice (laughs).”
“You’ve gotta be really tough with the ball. They’re great at turning turnovers into points.”– Jake Diebler on keys to beating Rutgers
Ohio State’s buzzer-beating win over Michigan State in its last road game snapped a program-worst 17-game road losing streak that spanned 420 days. Diebler believes the mentality his team showed down the stretch of that game, which featured a 12-point second-half comeback from the Buckeyes, and even in its road loss against Minnesota should carry over to Piscataway.
“I do feel like we know how to win on the road, and I think the narrative that was surrounding these guys wasn’t – I understand there are results that go with that – but I don’t think it was entirely fair,” Diebler said. “The biggest thing is our aggressiveness at the end of the game. Whether we’ve been up a possession or two or down a possession or two, we’ve stayed really aggressive. And our guys have bought into that, and there’s a real belief and confidence right now.”
Ohio State and Rutgers tip off at 2 p.m. Sunday. Big Ten Network will televise the affair.
