Scarlet and Game
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The biggest problem for the Ohio State basketball team

By Ryan Stano

Ohio State Buckeyes guard CJ Walker (13) is guarded by Iowa Hawkeyes guard Joe Wieskamp (10) and Iowa Hawkeyes center Luka Garza (55) during Sunday's NCAA Division I Big Ten conference basketball game at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on February 28, 2021. Iowa won the game 73-57.Osu Mens Bbk 2 28 Bjp 20
Ohio State Buckeyes guard CJ Walker (13) is guarded by Iowa Hawkeyes guard Joe Wieskamp (10) and Iowa Hawkeyes center Luka Garza (55) during Sunday's NCAA Division I Big Ten conference basketball game at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on February 28, 2021. Iowa won the game 73-57.Osu Mens Bbk 2 28 Bjp 20 /
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There is one big reason that the Ohio State basketball team is struggling right now. It all comes down to ball movement and shot distribution.

The Ohio State basketball team is now the 7th ranked team in the country. They were 4th before they lost three straight games. Now they have a week to lick their wounds before facing off against 4th ranked Illinois in the final game of the regular season.

Ohio State lost those three games to Michigan, Michigan State, and Iowa. Why have they lost these games? What’s been going on? Michigan and Iowa are both good teams. Did they just lose to two good teams while getting screwed by the refs in the other game?

Based on what I have seen in the last three games, the biggest problem that the Buckeyes have right now comes down to their lack of ball movement. Specifically, only three members of the team are taking shots right now: E.J. Liddell, Duane Washington, and C.J. Walker.

We first take a look at the Michigan game. All three played very well in that game, combing for 68 of Ohio State’s 87 points. They took a combined 32 shots. The rest of the 7 players that played took a total of 28 shots. You can argue that those were the three best players that game so they should have been taking the most shots. The Buckeyes. scored 87 points after all.

Then you look at the Michigan State game. Those same three players took 37 shots, scoring only 47 points. The rest of the 8 players that played only took 15. 15! Same thing with Iowa. Liddell, Washington, and Walker took 30 shots and the rest of the team took 19.

With that lack of shot distribution, teams are just focusing on these guys and not letting someone else hurt them. These guys are forcing up too many shots, specifically Liddell and Washington. The Buckeyes are better when the ball moves side to side and more players can get shots up.

Next. Ohio State's drop in the polls not as bad as expected. dark

Until they get this fixed, the results will be the same. That’s what made Ohio State so great before this three-game slide; anyone could hurt you on any given night. That’s not the case right now, and Chris Holtmann needs to figure it out.

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