Game Preview: No. 23 Ohio State vs. No. 11 Rutgers
After Ohio State knocked off UCLA on Saturday in Cleveland as part of the CBS Sports Classic, the Buckeyes come back home to face their highest-ranked opponent to date as the extremely talented Rutgers Scarlet Knights (6-0, 2-0) come to town.
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Game Time: 4:30 PM ET
TV Coverage: Big Ten Network
Radio Coverage: Ohio State Learfield/IMG College Sports Network (Flagship is 97.1 The Fan)
Spread: Rutgers +3
Over/Under: 138.5
Perhaps that previous sentence stood out to you, because let's face it - since Rutgers joined the Big Ten, they've been one of the least competitive athletic programs in the conference. But this Rutgers basketball is the real deal. After opening the season with wins over three mid-major teams, Rutgers knocked off Syracuse, Maryland and preseason Big Ten favorite Illinois to open the season with six consecutive wins.
They are among the nation's best teams in field goal percentage, assist-to-turnover ratio and blocked shots per game. They have great size, they're extremely athletic and they can shoot the lights out. Thanks to those big recent wins, Rutgers vaulted up eight spots in the national rankings to No. 11 in the AP Poll, the team’s highest ranking since the Final Four season of 1975-76. They're not taking anyone by surprise though, after coming off their first 20-win regular season in 37 years (dating back to 1982-83).
OHIO STATE OVERVIEW
Ohio State is off to a solid start this season at 6-1 overall, 0-1 in Big Ten play. The team responded from a short-handed loss against Purdue with its best performance of the season against UCLA. They got fabulous performances from freshmen Eugene Brown III and Zed Key (20 points between the two of them) as they outlasted a tough Bruins team that is project to be among the better squads in the Pac-12 this year.
The Buckeyes are coming off their best shooting game of the season: 50 percent (25-of-50) while limiting UCLA to 40 percent from the field (24-of-60).
E.J. Liddell returned for the Buckeyes the last time out after missing a couple games with mononucleosis. Liddell is hitting on 53.1 percent from the floor this year, scoring better than 14 points per game and leading the team with 6.6 rebounds per night.
Ohio State has been terrific from the free throw line this year, especially C.J. Walker and Duane Washington. Those two have combined to hit 56-of-58 from the stripe through the first seven games.
Justice Sueing has also played well for the Buckeyes in his first season on the floor. Sueing sat out last year after transferring from Cal and he's averaging nearly 13 points per game this year. But he also leads the team with 18 turnovers.
Speaking of turnovers, that's been a major bright spot for Chris Holtmann this season. Ohio State is fifth in the country with only 9.1 turnovers per game this season. Here's what Holtmann had to say about that success.
RUTGERS OVERVIEW
As I mentioned above, Rutgers is supremely talented. Perhaps no Scarlet Knight is playing better right now than Ron Harper Jr.
Harper has both been an efficient, effective scorer (71.1 percent shooting, scoring 24 points per game which is fifth in the nation), but he's taking incredibly good care of the basketball. He's only turned it over five times in six contests.
"I think what you've seen right now is he's a gifted athlete and he's got a huge frame," Holtmann said. "Really big frame. There's no question he's a bona-fide NBA prospect. There's no question in my mind. He's certainly one of the best players in our league right now, there's no question. He's a mismatch challenge. He's a terrific challenge."
But the Knights are much more than just Harper.
Senior guard Jacob Young, senior guard Geo Baker and 6-foot-11 junior center Myles Johnson are all off to great starts this year.
Both Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr. received recognition this preseason. Baker was named Preseason All-Big Ten and is on the Watch List for the Bob Cousy Award (nation’s top point guard). Ron Harper Jr. is on the Wooden Award Watch List (nation’s top player) and the Julius Erving Award Watch List (nation’s top small forward).
Baker is closing in on 1,100 career points and he's also ninth on the school's all-time assist list, but he's missed 3.5 games this year with an ankle injury and just returned for the start of conference play against Maryland and Illinois. He didn't start either game, but played 27-plus minutes.
Myles Johnson has racked up three straight games of double-digit rebounds, averaging 13.7 boards in that stretch. He also leads the conference with 2.67 blocks per game.
Jacob Young posted 24 points in the win over the Illini and ran his double-digit scoring streak to five games.
Also, freshman Clifford Omoruyi has started each of the six games this year and has gotten his college career off to a great start. He was born in Nigeria before moving to America when he was 14 years old. He was extremely highly recruited (consensus top 50 prospect in the nation), but chose to stay closer to home instead of playing for some of the bluebloods in college basketball. To illustrate how big of a win it was for Rutgers to land him, he was the first consensus top-50 high school prospect to commit to Rutgers since Kadeem Jack in 2010 and the first from New Jersey since Mike Rosario in 2007.
That said, Omoruyi has a sprained knee and is out indefinitely.
Just one more reason why Steve Pikiell has gotten so much well-deserved credit for the way he's turned around the Knights program.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
I really think Ohio State's veterans have to play like it today for the Buckeyes to win. They're coming off a great performance, so they should have some confidence coming into this one, but Rutgers is a great early season barometer to find out how good the Buckeyes are.
Duane Washington currently leads Ohio State in scoring (14.4 points per game), but he's been pretty inefficient with the ball so far. He's only shoot 36 percent from the floor.
Meanwhile, seniors C.J. Walker and Kyle Young haven't been particularly efficient offensively either, although they've given the team a huge lift on the defensive end.
Those three really need to take a step in a better direction, and while Chris Holtmann hasn't called them out specifically, he's certainly insinuated it several times when talking about the team's trajectory and who needs to play well for them to achieve their goals.
On a positive note, Musa Jallow has come on nicely the last two games and E.J. Liddell was able to give the Buckeyes 20 good minutes last time out.
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