After a 72-69 loss to the No. 10 Nebraska Cornhuskers, Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler knew something had to change in regard to the bench production.
In the three-point loss, the bench combined for 22 minutes, zero points, zero assists and three rebounds on 0-for-2 shooting, two missed layups by Brandon Noel.
“Passing up open shots does not help us win,” Diebler said after the game. “Hesitating when you have an open shot does not help us win.It seems like I’ve got higher belief in some of those
guys than they do in themselves, so we’ve gotta work on that.”
With the injury to Noel and him missing extended time, it would have to be someone else. Against Oregon, backup guard Gabe Cupps took it upon himself to be that guy.
In 23 minutes played, Cupps recorded nine points, four rebounds and an assist on 3-for-4 shooting from the field. The stats don’t pop off the page, but it was a much needed breathe of fresh air with John Mobley Jr. struggling with foul trouble early and the bench production struggling.
Cupps played solid defense at the top of the Buckeye zone and on ball and was able to grab multiple loose balls. He also picked up a technical foul after knocking down a three-pointer.
In 15 games this season, Cupps is averaging 2.2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. He is shooting 39.1% from the field and 28.6% from three-point range.
“We’ve obviously been searching for help from the bench,” Diebler told the media after the game. “I thought Ivan (Njegovan) was really good with four rebounds. I thought Gabe was aggressive. That’s the stuff we’ve been talking about. We’ve had so many games where we sub guys in and we’re playing a combined 20 or 25 minutes with no field goal attempts.
“Here (at Oregon), every single guy that checked in showed some aggressiveness. So, I think that’s really important. We had to adjust because of Brandon’s injury. We adjusted our substitution patterns a little bit and went with a little bit of an NBA style in the first half where it was kind of scripted.”
Coming into this game, 83 percent of all the Buckeyes points came from the starters. With John Mobley and Amare Bynum getting into some early foul trouble, they had to turn to Cupps to play more minutes than usual, as he played 23 and only averages 14.9.
This was the second most minutes played in a game this season for Cupps, as he played 27 against Pittsburgh after Mobley left that contest early with an injury.
According to KenPom, the Buckeyes are 310th in the country and second to last (Minnesota) in the Big Ten in bench minutes at 27.1%.
With Noel still out for an extended period, the Buckeyes will need someone to continue to step up off the bench. It was just one game, but the early favorite to be that person is Cupps.
