On radio show, Chris Holtmann updates Gene Brown's status, start of Big Ten play and more
Two days after a 96-59 home win against St. Francis (Pa.) moved Ohio State to 6-2, men’s basketball coach Chris Holtmann held his first weekly radio show of the season.
The Buckeyes, who entered the Associated Press top 25 last week at No. 25, remained there after a loss at Duke on Wednesday and the win against the Red Flash. They are also No. 28 in the NCAA’s first NET rankings, which are used for March Madness seeding purposes.
Ohio State has just one game this week. Rutgers comes to Value City Arena on Thursday for the Big Ten opener for the Buckeyes. Then, it’s a nine-day gap before going to Madison Square Garden to face North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic.
First, though, Holtmann said it was good to be back after playing three games in the Maui Invitational and then going to Duke.
“I love a noon game on Saturday, especially if you win,” he said. “It was great to be back in front of our fans and some normalcy, which is important.”
In case you couldn’t listen, here are the highlights.
Ohio State Buckeyes: Join the Ohio State Sports Insider text group with Bill Rabinowitz, Joey Kaufman Adam Jardy
Gene Brown III faces lengthy road to return
Third-year wing Gene Brown III is yet to appear this season while remaining in concussion protocol, and Holtmann said that is a situation he mostly stays out of.
“He’s still having testing,” Holtmann said. “I think he’s made progress. I think the things that people sometimes don’t understand is that’s really between him and the medical staff. Coaches don’t really have much involvement with that. It’s not my area of expertise. It’s all between the medical staff and the testing and our trainer.”
It’s not clear when Brown will return to action, and he’s remained limited in what he’s been able to do in recent weeks.
“He’s not been able to do much,” Holtmann said. “He tried to do some things in Hawaii but just wasn’t feeling up to it. He’s not had the ability to really do much. Whenever his return is, there’s going to be a long progression for him to get back to being healthy enough and for the staff to be confident he’s fit and healthy enough to play.”
Aside from Brown, “Everybody outside of normal bumps and bruises is doing well,” Holtmann said.
Return from Hawaii had an impact on Buckeyes
It wasn’t as bad as he had feared, but Holtmann said the team’s trip to Maui did have an effect on how the Buckeyes were able to perform once they returned to the mainland.
“It probably took us five or six days,” he said. “You saw Creighton lose yesterday at home and clearly Nebraska played really well but you see some teams coming back from Maui, Arizona loses to Utah, you see there is some mental and physical fatigue. I didn’t really worry about the mental fatigue for us going into Duke but there was probably some physical fatigue. They just played better than us on that given night. You do see the effects of it.
“I probably heard more about it and it got me more concerned than what our team experienced. I don’t know that it’s all that. The experience was a really good one for our guys, especially coming out of it 2-1 and now we should be physically recovered.”
Ohio State challenging Justice Sueing for more
Sixth-year forward Justice Sueing is Ohio State’s second-leading scorer and among the most-used players on the roster, but Holtmann said they’re still looking for him to provide more consistent play in a few areas after missing all but the first two games last season.
“He’s leading us in field goal attempts but not shooting a great percentage overall,” Holtmann said. “His rebounds, turnovers and assists can get better. He’s also been very, very important for a lot of these games. He provides us a kid who is smart and who can defend multiple positions when he’s playing well. That’s something he’s got to continue to answer is his defensive consistency, but he’s also got to continue to grow and continue shaking off the rust.”
Ohio State looking for new games as ACC-Big Ten Challenge ends
This was the final year of the annual showdown between the two conferences. Owing to new TV contracts, the ACC will now face the SEC while Big Ten teams look elsewhere for similar opportunities.
Holtmann wanted to see the event continue.
“I’ve loved it,” he said. “I wish they kept doing it, honestly. I was an advocate to continue it and made that known. There’s some TV things in there, that’s why they’re going with the SEC. I think it’s been a great event. We’ve had some great wins throughout the year.”
Without a game in that event on the schedule next year, Holtmann said the Buckeyes are aiming to add home-and-home opponents.
“We’re talking to a Pac 12 school, an SEC school, another team out west, another SEC school, an ACC school and a Big East school but all programs that are perennial NCAA Tournament teams,” he said. “We hope to get something solidified here in the next month.
“We play neutral-site games but I always would like to play as many home-and-homes as possible because that’s where you get the real feel for college basketball.”
Holtmann also apologized to fans for not having a marquee home game this year due to the Maui Invitational.
“When you see us schedule, you won’t see us schedule a home-and-home with someone we don’t think is going to be a bona-fide tournament team,” he said. “We have 15 Quad 1 opportunities alone right now in the Big Ten.”
Freshman Bruce Thornton has outplayed early expectations
The Buckeyes prioritized Bruce Thornton in their 2022 recruiting class because they viewed him as a cornerstone piece who could take on important roles right away.
The reality has outpaced some of those initial perceptions.
“He’s been our most consistent freshman and player on both ends,” Holtmann said. “All of our freshmen have had really good moments, but he has been really impressive. I’m proud of Bruce. I think it’s what we all knew when we recruited him is that he’s the most ready and capable to perform at a high level, but what he’s done through eight games has been even more impressive in some ways. He’s going to go through some challenges, but he’s shooting at almost a 50% clip from three.
“He’s been really steady. That Texas Tech win we had, they couldn’t speed him up. He was able to get the offense initiated.”
Reserve Kalen Etzler impressing in practice
His playing time during games has been limited at best, but redshirt freshman Kalen Etzler was able to see some playing time Saturday against St. Francis.
“Kalen Etzler needed to redshirt last year and is getting better right in front of our eyes and doing some good things,” Holtmann said. “It was good to see him get some run in the middle of the second half.”
Holtmann praises College Football Playoff committee
Like he did at his postgame press conference Saturday, Holtmann expressed his happiness at seeing the football team qualify for the playoffs.
“I think it was a pretty easy decision,” he said. “After Friday night, it seemed to be a pretty easy decision. The only thing that was maybe debatable was the 3-4 teams. I don’t think there was a great argument for anybody else. Our body of work spoke for itself with the quality wins we had. It’s exciting because we get to play obviously a premier program in Georgia and it’s a great matchup.
“I can’t wait to watch coach (Ryan) Day and the players.”
What still concerns Chris Holtmann in practice?
The Buckeyes are 44 practices into the season, and Holtmann said there are still a lot of things he’s worrying about with this team.
“We’re trying to do simple better than maybe we ever have with this group, and that’s hard for coaches because you’re constantly trying to add things,” he said. “(That) can deter growth. We’re good in some areas. We’ve been really good and really highly efficient offensively but defensively we’ve had some good moments but have a long way to go. We’ve had pockets of turning the ball over too much. Same thing with rebounding. Our numbers have improved but they definitely have to be improved. That’ll be tested by Rutgers.
“This season is so long. You’re just hoping we’ll get even better with our habits in January.”
Get more Ohio State basketball news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Gene Brown faces long road to return, Ohio State's Chris Holtmann says
