This has been a rough season for the Ohio State basketball team. After starting out the year with a promising victory over Texas, they haven't had a lot of bright moments. The non-conference schedule is brutal for the Ohio State Buckeyes, but they should be at least competitive.
That was not the case on Saturday afternoon against the Auburn Tigers. The Buckeyes got absolutely demolished for the second time in a few weeks. They lost 91-53 in a game that was never competitive. It was all Tigers from the start of the game, and Ohio State didn't fight back.
It was 15-5 before the under-16 timeout in the first half. It didn't get any better than that. They were down 49-21 at halftime. It's the second time they haven't come close to being competitive in a game this season following an embarrassing performance against Maryland a couple of weeks ago.
The Ohio State basketball team gets demolished by Auburn
Everyone was to blame for the Buckeyes. Bruce Thornton, who is Ohio State's best player, didn't score until late in the second half. He finished with just three points on 1-8 shooting. The whole team had an issue putting the ball in the basket. They shot just 35% from the field.
Ohio State got killed on the other end of the floor; they allowed the Tigers to shoot 45.8% from the field. Rebounding continues to be a major issue for the Buckeyes too. They were out-rebounded 49-28 in this game. It's clear they can't do much on the boards without Aaron Bradshaw in the lineup.
Jake Diebler needs to get his team to play competitive games no matter who they take on. It doesn't make anyone happy that they are getting massacred, even if it is against the number-two team in the country. They should never get run off the floor.
Diebler needs to do some soul-searching, as do the players on this roster. This was an unacceptable performance.