The Ohio State basketball season started late Monday night against BYU. While it was technically a neutral-site game, it was really a home game for the Cougars. They played this game in Salt Lake City, and there was a clear pro-BYU crowd on hand. The Buckeyes couldn't handle it.
After playing well in the first half, the Buckeyes weren't able to keep it going. Ohio State had a three-point lead heading into the locker room. Yet, they were not able to hold it, as the Cougars won the game 94-83. It showed that this might be a long season for Ohio State basketball fans.
Ohio State's ballyhooed freshmen gave them nothing
Coming into this season, the Buckeyes had two five-star recruits. Anthony Thompson started the game while LJ Smith came off the bench. Neither of them gave the team much of anything. Thompson failed to make a shot from the field, as his points came from the free-throw line.
Thompson had just two points on 0-for-5 shooting. Smith wasn't much better, only accumulating three points. The two much-talked-about freshmen looked overwhelmed in their collegiate debuts. If it wasn't for the veterans, this would have been a blowout.
Amare Bynum was the best Buckeye on the court. He finished the game with 20 points and a couple of highlight-reel blocks. He expanded his game in the offseason, as he was able to drill three 3s. The Buckeyes are going to need a lot more of that if they are going to have any shot of competing.
John Mobley Jr. fouled out with almost five minutes left in the game. He ended with 14 points. It wasn't offense that was the issue for the Buckeyes. They simply couldn't stop BYU. The Cougars shot 54 percent from the field and 46 percent from beyond the 3-point line.
Jake Diebler has to get his young players to play better
The Buckeyes are going to need their five-star freshmen to play like it. This was their first game of the year, so they get a little bit of leeway. Still, it was an ugly debut. They only made one of the seven shots they took combined. That is not going to do it in a very tough Big Ten Conference.
Ohio State has a brutal schedule. Not only is the Big Ten slate tough, but the Scarlet and Gray have to play three more ranked teams in the non-conference portion of the schedule. It's not going to be an easy path to the NCAA Tournament, which is the clear standard at this point.
Anything less than that is a failure. Diebler understands that, and he is going to make sure that his team does not fall behind. They did do some good things, but they have to stop fouling. The entire team needs to do a better job of sliding its feet defensively. That's the only way they are going to win games.
It was a rough start to the basketball season. Unfortunately, they didn't do a good job of distracting from the football team's loss.
Add us as a preferred source on Google