Coming off of a 20-point road win over the Maryland Terrapins Thursday night, the Ohio State men’s basketball team (15-7, 7-5) is rolling into Sunday’s game against rival Michigan with a little swagger and confidence.
The Buckeyes held a Big Ten team under 65 points on the road for the second time this season, bending a little but never breaking and ultimately winning by 20.
Dusty May’s Michigan Wolverines (21-1, 11-1) are the No. 2 team in the country and look like one of the more dominant Big Ten
teams in the last decade. Ohio State played them tough for 35 minutes or so in Ann Arbor last month, but eventually did fall to the Wolverines, 74-62.
The 74 points Michigan scored against Ohio State is tied for the fewest points the Wolverines have scored in a Big Ten game this year.
Last week, Connor and Justin debated if John Mobley Jr’s recent hot stretch has put Thornton in an odd predicament. For a four-game stretch, Mobley was taking more shots than Thornton and was clearly option A for the Buckeyes, despite Thornton being… well, Thornton.
While Mobley racked up 20 point games every night, Thornton was in the background, still shooting efficiently but wasn’t hunting his shot as often.
Justin said that it could be an issue, because the ball needs to be in Thornton’s hands in crunch time, not Mobley’s. The recent shift had suddenly left Justin questioning who the go-to guy is for Ohio State when the Buckeyes need a basket.
Connor said it was not an issue, because even when Thornton is not shooting, his presence helps open up shots for his teammates, including Mobley. On top of that, Thornton was not going to have many single-point scoring games this year.
In two games since, Mobley is averaging 12 points on 12 shot attempts per game, and Thornton is averaging 17.5 points on 10 shot attempts per game. Thornton probably needs to be taking more shots, but his scoring has once again surpassed Mobley’s.
Back to Michigan – Ohio State has a 21% chance to win on Sunday, per KenPom. Not great, but also not zero. The Buckeyes had a second half lead against Michigan a few weeks ago, but fell apart over the last six or seven minutes in Ann Arbor, and wound up taking a double-digit loss.
When Ohio State reviews that film and looks back on that game, what do they need to do better at?
This week’s question: What must Ohio State do better against Michigan in the rematch this weekend?
Connor: Not give Michigan any bulletin board material
Should be an easy thing to identify and fix, right?
The first step in making this adjustment was Thursday night. Since Ohio State played on the road at Maryland, there was no on-court interview for the winning team, therefore Colin White did not have a microphone in front of 10,000+ people and an opportunity to say something he may later regret.
If you’re missing context here, White famously (?) blurted out during his on-court interview after Ohio State’s overtime win over Minnesota on January 20 that Ohio State “hates Michigan and was out for blood” when they played Michigan a few days later.
Michigan and its fans clearly heard about White’s proclamation, as he was booed every time he touched the ball, checked into the game, or checked out when Ohio State lost to Michigan last month.
After the game, Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg used his on-court TV interview with FOX to call out White by name, telling Gus Johnson that his “main motivation” that night was to “shut up” White, who he described as a “bench player talking like a starter.”
Lendeborg finished the game as Michigan’s leading scorer with 18 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. White had two points.
Lendeborg also said it was important to “remind those guys who the real team is in this rivalry,” referring to Ohio State. His speech was a shot at White and a shot at Ohio State, but as they say, to the victors go the spoils. If Ohio State didn’t want Michigan to talk bad about them, then perhaps they shouldn’t have hung that big pin on the board earlier in the week.
Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler may be asked about Lendeborg’s comments on Friday, but more likely than not they will be brushed away if he is asked. After starting 0-2 against Michigan as head coach, Diebler won’t want to wade into the drama and the weeds with off the court stuff. Plus, with Ohio State playing on the road three days earlier, there will be fewer (possibly no) opportunities for the players to speak with the media before Sunday’s game.
Michigan is already a nearly unstoppable force and the betting favorite to win the national championship. Ohio State gave them extra ammo in the first game that was not needed. I don’t anticipate they will say much heading into the rematch.
Justin: Knock down more threes, force UM to stretch the defense
In the Buckeyes’ first loss to Michigan, they shot 8-for-27 from three-point range and players not named John Mobley Jr. shot 4-for-18 from three-point range. Bruce Thornton was 1-for-5 from deep, Devin Royal was 0-for-4, and the bench was 0-for-2 combined.
There is not a lot of data and tape on how to beat Michigan, because they have only lost once and haven’t really played in too many close games. However, what Wisconsin did do well was they shot the ball well from three-point range. They finished the game 15-for-33 from deep and made a couple big three-pointers late in the game.
Ohio State also has a significant size disadvantage when playing Michigan, so scoring in the paint and from the mid-range, where guys like Thornton and Royal are elite, is tough when the Wolverines can alter their shots and use their length to make life difficult.
If Ohio State can knock down threes and force Michigan to stretch its defense, that can open up the paint a little more and make it easier. Also, it would help their confidence if they can knock down some three’s early in the game.
Ohio State averages 82.2 points per game and only scored 62 against Michigan the first time. For the season, they are shooting 33.8 percent from three-point range, which is about league average. To beat an elite team with an elite offense, sometimes you just have to outscore them.
Ohio State is capable of doing that on its best day, but 62 points won’t do that.
