Ohio State basketball: Buckeyes’ inability to handle pressure is a concern for March

The Ohio State basketball team suffered a gut-wrenching loss last night at the hands of the number-one Purdue Boilermakers 71-69. The Buckeyes played great all game until a costly turnover with less than 30 seconds left and a one-point advantage led to brutal defeat.

The Buckeyes failed to handle pressure late against the Boilermakers. This isn’t the first time this season they’ve fumbled a game away like this when having a lead late in the game. With Ohio State’s inability to handle pressure, it’s becoming a concern for this team to flourish in March when it matters most.

This same thing happened to the Buckeyes a few weeks ago when they took on North Carolina. They had a two-point lead in the closing seconds and ultimately lost the game to the Tar Heels in overtime. Last night, Ohio State had a three-point advantage in the final minute and couldn’t hang on, again.

Ohio State has struggled with taking care of the ball all season long as they average a little over 11 turnovers a game. It cost them against North Carolina when they couldn’t break the Tar Heels’ full-court press, and it continued last night in another close game with Purdue when a bad turnover proved to be the difference in the game.

With the weapons this Ohio State basketball team has on offense, they will be in a position to win each game. What is holding them back is their struggles to close out a game against a quality opponent. The Big Ten schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Buckeyes, they need to figure out how to put teams away in order to have success late in the season.

The Buckeyes had two huge resume-building wins taken right from them all because they can’t break the press. We’re getting to the point of the season where every win matters. Ohio State has to be better at handling pressure or this team will not prevail when March rolls around.

This issue with the press isn’t limited to this season either. Chris Holtmann has yet to figure out how to break a simple press in the six years he’s been in Columbus. It’s disheartening to see he still can’t improve on his weaknesses as a coach.

The Buckeyes will be back in action Sunday from College Park in a match-up with Maryland for their first of five road games to finish out the month of January. Let’s hope Holtmann can get this team prepared to handle pressure better in a tough road game with the Terrapins.