Ohio State Basketball: Good lesson before Big Ten schedule resumes

The Ohio State basketball team should have learned a few things from the 67-59 loss to West Virginia prior to resuming the Big Ten schedule.

Even though the Ohio State basketball team suffered its second loss of the season to the West Virginia Mountaineers it was certainly a good tune up for the full-time Big Ten schedule that’s about to begin. And there should be lessons learned in the loss because of who the Buckeyes played.

Any Bob Huggins coached team plays strong defense and hits the boards. That’s what Ohio State can expect to face on a regular basis the remainder of the season.

And West Virginia has tall, talented players as well which will often be the case during the conference schedule. Derek Culver, Oscar Tshiebwe and Logan Rout are all listed at 6-9 or taller.

Let’s look at the positives to take away from the loss.

It was good to see the problems in the loss to Minnesota weren’t evident yesterday, defensive intensity and rebounding. Ohio State was very active on the defensive end holding West Virgina to 40.7 percent shooting from the field and had the edge on the boards 41-34.

Now for the negatives.

Once again though, the Buckeyes shot poorly away from the Schottenstein Center which sometimes happens. When shots aren’t dropping from the outside it’s important for a team to get more transition baskets, shots in the paint on an offensive set, and second chance points.

Ohio State didn’t exactly excel in these areas and also had 22 turnovers. That many missed opportunities to score won’t lead to many Big Ten road wins.

Whoever is responsible of setting up this year’s Ohio State basketball schedule certainly did a terrific job. It was one of the most difficult any team has played.

And finishing up with Kentucky and West Virginia before heading into the full-time Big Ten schedule was a stroke of genius. Chris Holtmann has to feel good about his 11-2 squad being battle tested as the Buckeyes enter that grueling schedule.