I’ve missed this feeling from the past two seasons of being in the middle of February and having the Ohio State basketball team in NCAA Tournament talks. While their resume looks very good to the selection committee, they still can’t afford any hiccups in the closing stretch of the regular season.
The next three games the Buckeyes will play a basketball game in will all be in Columbus. Tonight they welcome in Washington, making the cross country trip, then Michigan on Sunday, to Northwestern on Thursday, February 20th, to close out this home stretch.
We’ve reached the point in the schedule, given how the season has gone, that this is an extremely important stretch for the Ohio State basketball team to take care of business and lock themselves in as a tournament team. It all starts with better play and more consistency from the forwards in the frontcourt.
What has been killing this team the most is the play on the boards. When playing against teams that thrive on post play and rebounding, which a majority of teams in the Big Ten do, Ohio State tends to struggle, and it’s where most of the losses have come from.
Most recently, in the loss to Illinois, the Illini won the advantage on the glass 43-31. Then at Nebraska, they out-rebounded Ohio State 37-28.
A deeper look at it, against Illinois Bradshaw and Njegovan combined for 4 points and 3 rebounds. Then, against Nebraska, Bradshaw, Njegovan, and Stewart combined for 4 points and 7 rebounds.
The play from these guys simply has to be better for Ohio State to have success, and Diebler recognized and addressed that after the loss to Nebraska.
"We got to finish better in the paint. We need some of our forwards to step up and be more efficient in there... I think they're getting a little sped up in traffic, and got to just play with a little more poise."Jake Diebler, OSU Basketball Coach
We'll see how these forwards for Ohio State respond after Jake Diebler called them out. They'll be challenged in these next three games against Great Osobor for Washington, who is averaging 15.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, and then Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf for Michigan, who are both effective in scoring and rebounding.
Right now, I think the Ohio State basketball team is on the inside of the tournament bubble, but anything less than going 2-1 during this three-game home stretch could make things tougher for them to be a lock for the tournament.
The game tonight will be televised on the Big Ten Network, or you can listen on the radio at 97.1 The Fan. An 8:30 pm tip-off from the Schott for Ohio State and Washington with the Buckeyes looking to start this home stretch off strong.