Why the Ohio State basketball team matches up well with Villanova

The Ohio State basketball team had a gritty win over Loyola Chicago on Friday and will take on Villanova on Sunday. Here’s why they match up well with them.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t completely aware of how valuable Kyle Young is to the Ohio State basketball team. I knew he was the most valuable player they have, but I’m not sure I realized HOW valuable he is to the team. His return is a huge reason why the Buckeyes beat the Ramblers of Loyola Chicago 54-41.

Now that that challenge is past them, Ohio State will now take on second-seeded Villanova. The Wildcats have a proven track record of success in the NCAA Tournament, having won a national championship just four years ago in 2018. Loyola Chicago was also in that Final Four.

While I was dubious of Ohio State’s chances against the Ramblers prior to Young being available, I am much more bullish on their chances against the Wildcats. Villanova doesn’t do anything particularly well. They score about the same amount of points as the Buckeyes and shoot the three about as well as them too.

Ohio State is actually a much better shooting team than Nova. The Buckeyes shoot it at 47.2% from the field. Nova only shoots it at 43.7%. They don’t rebound well, they don’t force a bunch of turnovers. This is actually a great matchup for the Buckeyes.

It’s a great matchup because Ohio State can dictate the pace of play. They can slow down the game to a grinding, half-court game like they did against Loyola. If they play even half as good of defense as they did against the Ramblers, I really like the Buckeyes’ chances to win this game.

Nova got a two-seed because they play well as a team and can pull together wins without doing any one thing great. But that’s exactly the kind of team that this Ohio State basketball team can beat. Maybe Chris Holtmann can get this team to the Sweet 16 after all.