Ohio State Basketball: Will home cooking help the Buckeyes?

Is playing the Maryland Terrapins in Value City Arena tonight just what the young Ohio State basketball team needs?

The Ohio State basketball team is on a three game losing streak with the last two losses being on the road. Is coming home to face Maryland the recipe to get the Buckeyes back on track?

The last home game didn’t go well but losing to the Michigan State Spartans is no disgrace. They are one of the best teams in the country and Ohio State was in the game until the final minutes.

But the two road losses were ugly ones and the Buckeyes shot poorly.

Against Rutgers, they were just 23-56 from the field (39.6 percent), and only hit 22 of 59 shots (37.6 percent) against Iowa. That’s far below Ohio State’s 46.4 percent shooting on the season. As a result the Buckeyes have averaged 61.5 points the last two games, 14.5 below their season average.

During the road losses it was particularly disappointing that Kaleb Wesson had a difficult time staying on the floor in the first half. He picked up two fouls during the first three minutes of each game.

Against Rutgers he came back to score 18 points but only had 2 at Iowa. Ohio State has to have him on the floor for the offense to be effective as the other players simply haven’t picked up the slack of late.

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That’s in large part due to facing taller teams who are beginning to play more zone defense against the Buckeyes. Since the Big Ten is loaded with big forwards and centers the size difference will be similar nearly every game. And until Ohio State figures out how to attack a zone, and shoot better against it, you can expect teams will continue to employ one.

Possibly getting back to Value City Arena in front of their home crowd will get these young Buckeyes into their comfort zone. It had better because Maryland is talented and on a roll.

The Terrapins are 15-3 and 6-1 in the Big Ten. They are led by guard Anthony Cowen who is averaging 17.8 points per game, forward Bruno Fernando at 14.6 ppg and Jalen Smith 12.2 ppg. Three other players, Eric Ayala (9.4), Aaron Wiggans (8.6) and Darryl Morsell (8.2) are effective scorers as well.

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We will see if Ohio State can stop the slide and get back on track against Maryland tonight at 6:30. Possibly a little home cooking is just what the Buckeyes need at the moment.

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