Ohio State Coach Chris Holtmann Talks Illinois Win, Breaking Losing Streak, And More

Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann hopped on his radio show Monday to cover a variety of topics within Buckeyes basketball and beyond.

Author:
Casey Smith
Feb 28, 2023 9:52 AM EST

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Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Chris Holtmann met with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes on his weekly radio show Monday on 97.1 The Fan, speaking on the win that snapped their nine-game losing streak, Brice Sensabaugh and Sean McNeil's dunks and Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery's staredown with referee Kelly Pfeifer and more.

Here is everything he had to say Monday.

Thoughts after Sunday's 72-60 win

Holtmann said the Buckeyes' success has been culminating from the first half against the Purdue Boilermakers, including great play from the freshmen in the last three games.

"In this business, as in a lot of lines of work, sometimes you don't see immediate results, but the challenge is to practice, play and get the right results," Holtmann said. "But the challenge when you don't is to continue to play and practice and prepare the same way and hope that you will."

Now, where do the Buckeyes go from here now that they've won a game?

"It is about moving on," Holtmann said. "And that's what we were in the midst of doing is watching Maryland tape this morning as a staff here and just preparing for what's next.

Ohio State responds well after Illinois second-half run

With 6:53 to go in the second half, Fighting Illini guard Jayden Epps knocked down a triple to cut what was once a 14-point lead down to one.

In games past, the Buckeyes crumbled in close-game situations, but Holtmann thought they responded well.

"We had clean switches defensively with some of our lineups where were able to keep them off the glass," Holtmann said. "Then we had some really, really good offensive possessions in the midst of that."

He said offensive rebounds from forward Justice Sueing "gave us some life."

Holtmann said the team was asking in the huddle how to handle the final 3 1/2 minutes of the game.

"They said, 'Hey, how do you want us to go about these last three and a half minutes? Do you want us to continue to attack or do you want to run a clock?'" Holtmann said. "And I said, 'Hey, listen, it's a long game from this point on, so let's continue to play the way we play.' If we can get something easy in transition, great. If not, then at that point, we'll take maybe a little bit of time and run something in the last 12 to 14 seconds of the clock."

Felix Okpara 'maturing right in front of our eyes'

In forward Zed Key's absence, center Felix Okpara has been shouldering the load and "maturing right in front of our eyes," as Holtmann said.

Holtmann pointed to a block 30 seconds into the half that Okpara swatted, calling it a "tremendous play."

"The block he had in the second half on the post player, Dain Dainja for them. That's pretty impressive," Holtmann said. "Dain Dainja's about 6-9, 6-10, he goes about 260 pounds and Felix got it at its apex and blocked it."

But things haven't been smooth sailing for Okpara, as he's been dealing with an injury that the team is "nursing a little bit towards the finish line." Holtmann coupled that with a matchup issue against Forward Coleman Hawkins as to why Okpara played just eight minutes Sunday.

"Their five man could shoot it, pass it, dribble it, make 3s. He was sizing Felix up a little bit and Felix just isn't quite ready to guard a kid like that," Holtmann said. "So we needed a better matchup on him."

Holtmann credited Okpara's soccer upbringing for how well he plays on his feet and his mobility.

"All you need is a glimpse for him and he's going to go get it at the rim," Holtmann said.

Despite the losses, how have the Buckeyes stayed positive and how will they move forward?

Three wins since the turn of the calendar to 2023 is nothing to champion or be proud of, and Holtmann acknowledges that.

However, he said taking in and appreciating each small victory is important.

"I think as much as anything, it has been just celebrating the small victories in the midst of all the struggles," Holtmann said. "Like there's a five- to eight-minute segment where we played really well. Now, can we grow that."

Holtmann has said on multiple occasions that he just wants to see improvement and "quality possessions," and he said Monday that the team has responded "the right way" to that message from the coaches and that a win "validates" what they've been saying.

"I think they've come to practice and worked now really for several weeks with a good approach," Holtmann said. "I think that's been helpful for us to hopefully finish this thing in a way that we feel really good about."

Ohio State holding senior night festivities Wednesday against Maryland

Sueing, as well as guards Sean McNeil and Isaac Likekele will be honored Wednesday as part of Ohio State's senior night.

The latter two have only been in Columbus for one year, but Sueing is a veteran of the team and the program.

"Justice, obviously has been with us for awhile. He's played a big role in our team a couple years ago that made a run in the Big Ten Tournament and had a really good regular season," Holtmann said. "He's a guy that's battled through a lot of injuries here, and I just love how he's playing right now. He played really well yesterday gave us good minutes, I like where his headspace is at right now."

Holtmann said McNeil and Likekele have helped "bridge this gap" between the experience that was at the program last year to now the youth of this year's squad.

"You lose E.J. [Liddell] and Kyle [Young] and even a guy like Jamari [Wheeler] had a leadership role. Justin [Ahrens] had been with us four, five years," Holtmann said. "So you lost so much that we wanted to bring in a guy who had really been experienced and brought that versatility and an element of toughness and he's done that."

Sean McNeil and Brice Sensabaugh dunks

Sunday's contest was a dunk-a-palooza with Hawkins throwing down a hammer, but the Buckeyes having an impressive pair of their own.

McNeil went on a nice backdoor cut leading to an easy two-handed flush.

"I had to remind him that this isn't warmups," Holtmann said. "He had to go defend at the other end. That wasn't just warmups there because he was celebrating for a minute there and the ball was at the other end there.

I think he was really glad to show everybody that he had that in him, and he did a great job cutting backdoor, great pass."

Sensabaugh's wasn't as fundamental, but by far more thunderous and posterizing.

Holtmann pointed to Sensabaugh's dunk as one of the plays that gave Ohio State "great life."

Holtmann said Okpara was one of the ones celebrating the most.

"Felix was at the 3-point line. He was out of the game at the time, but he was so happy for his teammate, you know, he was 3 feet onto the floor," Holtmann said. "It was, I think just impactful the way it happened."

Fran McCaffery's 'old Western' with Kelly Pfeifer

Holtmann said McCaffery's showdown during the timeout with Pfeifer was "some good TV."

Holtmann said "we all know Fran. Fran can run hot."

"It reminded me, probably all of us, of those old Westerns you used to watch, two guys kind of sizing each other up there," Holtmann said.

Holtmann joked that maybe staring down an official is "something I should add to my repertoire" since it didn't garner a second technical foul from Pfeifer, something Holtmann thought wasn't warranted for the situation.