Ohio State Basketball: Buckeyes prepare for tough stretch starting with Syracuse

The Ohio State basketball team has gotten off to a great start in non conference play, getting wins over Creighton and Cincinnati and going 6-0 in the process. Now the Buckeyes have a tough stretch of games coming up.

The Buckeyes jumped to 16th in the AP Poll and are currently 9th in the nation in scoring margin, outscoring their opponents by 22.7 points per game on average.

Their last win came over Cleveland State in old St. Johns Arena where they defeated the Vikings by a score of 89-62. Just another example that Chris Holtmann’s squad hasn’t lost a beat since losing their top two scorers last season in Keita Bates-Diop and Jae’Sean Tate.

The new look Buckeyes shot 53.1% from the field while holding the Vikings to just 35% from the field.

Coach Holtmann’s stifling defense has always been a primary reason his teams have been successful. Going all the way back to his first season at Gardner-Webb his teams have put an emphasis on slowing the opposing team down.

During the 2009-2010 season, the year before Holtmann arrived,  Gardner-Webb was 342nd in opponents points per game. In Holtmann’s first year with the Bulldogs, their opponent points per game was good for 149th. In Holtmann’s final season the Bulldogs were 49th in opponent points per game.

Fast forward to today, Ohio State was 46th in opponent points per game last season. Through six games this season, the Buckeyes are 10th in the nation in that statistic holding teams to 58.3 points per game.

This type of defensive production will be needed to overcome Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse Orange later tonight. Syracuse has gotten off to a slow start this season however, dropping their only two game against quality opponents in Connecticut and Oregon. Both teams the 14th ranked Iowa Hawkeyes defeated earlier this season.

That being said, Syracuse is not a team to take lightly. Coach Boeheim is one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time and his team will be looking at the Buckeyes to help kick-start their slow start with win over a top 25 team.

How the Buckeyes shoot the ball early could be telling on how this game will play out as the Orange will implement a zone defense against the Buckeyes. That could make it difficult for Kaleb Wesson to establish himself in the paint.

How the Buckeyes use Wesson in this game will be interesting. Typically against zone teams a coach might put a big man who can shoot around the foul line to either take the short jumper or to pass it out for a three. Look to see if Holtmann does that with Wesson in this one.

As for the outside shooters, expect Duane Washington Jr. to play a lot in this game. He currently has the team’s best three-point shooting percentage at 48 percent while shooting the second most threes on the team so far this season.

More from Ohio State Basketball

• Ohio State basketball: Buckeyes conference schedule is set
• Ohio State basketball: Zed Key cleared for all basketball activities
• Ohio State basketball: Buckeyes land three-star in-state forward
• Ohio State basketball: Buckeyes draw UCLA in CBS Sports Classic
• How adding two new teams to Big Ten affects Ohio State basketball

C.J. Jackson takes the most threes per game shooting around 5.2 a game and his hitting 35.5 percent of those shots. Those two players, a senior and a freshman, will be important in defeating the Orange at home.

Not only is this match up important for Ohio State, it is important for the conference too as the Big Ten currently is tied with the ACC going into the final day of the Big Ten/ACC challenge.

This game also serves as a warm up before the Buckeyes start Big Ten play. Getting off to a good start will be crucial for the Buckeyes as the conference looks very good this year having seven teams, the most of any conference, in the recent AP poll.

The Buckeyes get Minnesota and Illinois in their early conference games and will look to take an early lead in Big Ten conference play.