Tough Week Comes at Bad Time for Struggling Ohio State
The problem with having a nice problem to have is that, while it's nice, it's also still a problem.
That's the horns of the dilemma on which Ohio State is uncomfortably perched.
The Buckeyes are 11-3 and ranked No. 5, with wins over a triumvirate of college basketball royalty in Villanova, North Carolina and Kentucky.
That's nice.
But OSU has also lost two straight games, coming unhinged down the stretch in both defeats, entering a week where it plays Tuesday at No. 15 Maryland and Saturday at Indiana.
That's a problem.
It's no disgrace losing to West Virginia or Wisconsin, but it's how Ohio State lost both that visibly bothered head coach Chris Holtmann after the Friday home loss to the Badgers.
Like it did Sunday in Cleveland in the loss to WVU, the Buckeyes blew a seven-point second-half lead and suffered from long offensive dry spells against tough defensive coverage.
Holtmann can stomach losing to good teams.
Losing to tougher teams -- which both West Virginia and Wisconsin were -- he won't accept.
In both losses, OSU had to play tight games with leading scorer Kaleb Wesson out with foul trouble or swarmed in the lane and his teammates didn't show the patience to get good shots without access to him.
"In today's college game right now, they can do everything but tackle you across the lane and it not get called," Holtmann said. "So, we have to find a way to play better in those situations when they are chucking and grabbing and holding."
Against West Virginia, OSU went 12:18 with one field goal.
Against Wisconsin, the Buckeyes held a 51-47 lead with 4:43 left, committed consecutive turnovers and then missed shots on its next two possessions.
Wesson, who had 22 points, didn't touch the ball on any of those four trips.
Blame that on ineffective guard play, which hadn't been an issue through OSU's hot start.
Junior C.J. Walker and freshman D.J. Carton gave the Buckeyes two much more dependable point guards than it had last season, but both have played poorly under pressure lately.
Senior Andre Wesson struggled in both losses, as well, committing six combined turnovers.
Holtmann said the cure is, "a lot of film," and consequences if lessons aren't learned and demonstrated.
"If guys are going to fight it, we're not going to play them the last four minutes," he said.
Maryland routed Indiana, 75-59, on Saturday and looks like it's back to being the team that rocked both Marquette and Notre Dame by 21 points earlier in the season, rising to No. 3 in the country.
Whether the Buckeyes will have starting power forward Kyle Young back for the
Terrapins is undetermined.
Young missed the loss to Wisconsin recovering from a Sunday appendectomy.
"We're not sure," Holmann said. "It's game-to-game. I'm not sure."
He was talking about Young's status.
But he could have been talking about several other aspects of his team that have been troubling of late.'
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