Ohio State Basketball: New look Buckeye basketball team?
When the Ohio State Buckeyes dominated the Iowa Hawkeyes last night it was a different team than the one we have seen in 2019.
Ohio State surprised everybody by defeating Iowa 90-70 last night. It was an unusual offensive explosion for the Buckeyes to say the least.
The last time Ohio State scored at least 80 points in a game was December 29th in a 82-64 win over High Point. And it was the highest scoring output since the 107-61 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne the second game of the season.
Are the Buckeyes becoming a new look basketball team so late in the season?
First we have to begin with the freshman Justin Ahrens. He earned his second start after going 3-5 from behind the arc against Maryland and simply went lights out in the win over Iowa.
To say it was a breakout game for Ahrens would be an understatement. He scored 29 points on 7-11 from the field (6-10 on three point shots) and was 9-9 from the free throw line.
Although he had displayed his shooting ability in spurts this season, who would have expected that kind of performance from Ahrens.
The Buckeyes had three other players score in double figures as well. Kaleb Wesson scored 18 points, Keyshawn Woods has 13 and Andre Wesson 11.
The increased scoring had a lot to do with the up-tempo offense Ohio State played. It seemed to energize the players and allowed for better spacing.
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I understand the Buckeyes knew they had to heep up with the Hawkeyes’ ability to score, and were often being pressed which sped things up. But possibly Chris Holtmann will want to push the ball up the court more often from now on because this young, undersized team seemed to relish the quicker play on offense.
More scoring opportunities will lead to increased scoring like it did yesterday. And it didn’t hurt the performance on the other end either. The Buckeyes held the Hawkeyes to 10 points below their season average.
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It will be interesting to see if coach Holtmann will continue to give the young players a longer leash and play up-tempo when Ohio State travels to Purdue this Saturday. I have a feeling he will after the way they performed against Iowa.