With upsets across the sport, Ohio State heeds warnings and takes care of Maine
Ohio State’s reasons for concern about Wednesday’s game made themselves known in the 48 hours leading into tipoff.
In a final game before a four-day break for Christmas, the Buckeyes opened the doors of Value City Arena to host Maine, a sub-300 team according to KenPom.com that had been picked to finish last in the nine-team America East preseason coaches’ poll. It was the first-ever meeting between the schools and, on paper, had the makings of a blowout win for the Buckeyes.
Then again, the same seemed true earlier Wednesday until Iowa took a home loss against Eastern Illinois. Or Tuesday, when undefeated Mississippi State was upset by Drake. Or elsewhere, as CBS Sports reported than 10 teams took upset losses in buy games as the looming holiday season combined with a non-marquee opponent helped lay the ground for upset.
Against the Black Bears, Ohio State led for 39:08, pushed its lead as high as 36 points and cruised to a 95-61 win in its first time out since an overtime loss to North Carolina on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
“Obviously we had a tough loss last game, a game that went down to the wire,” freshman forward Brice Sensabaugh, who led Ohio State in points (22), rebounds (seven) and assists (seven), said. “The feeling we got from that game, the emphasis coach put on moving forward and going into the break with the right mentality, we shouldn’t be packed up before the game and ready to go home before a win. Make sure we win the game and do the right things and handle business.”
So does that mean the Ohio State coaches hammered home the lessons of a few of the upsets from around the nation this week?
Ohio State Buckeyes: Join the Ohio State Sports Insider text group with Bill Rabinowitz, Joey Kaufman Adam Jardy
“Every day,” Sensabaugh said. “Multiple times a day. There’s examples the coach provided to us, teams losing these buy games. It was an emphasis every day, multiple times a day. It was something we couldn’t fall victim to.”
There were nits to pick, because there always will be in the eyes of a coach. Ohio State’s Chris Holtmann said he wasn’t particularly pleased with some of the team’s defensive stretches during the first 10 minutes of the second half after building a 47-26 halftime lead and said there will be plenty of good and bad to evaluate when the Buckeyes return to host Alabama A&M on Dec. 29.
But in preparing for Maine, the task was equal parts mental as it was about execution – and scoreboard-watching helped Ohio State.
“I think it is (equal mental and execution),” he said. “The upsets in a way really help you because they grab the attention of your team in a way that is specific and really relevant because they know the teams for the most part that perhaps have gotten upset between last night and today. It grabs the attention of your group. You don’t want your team to play in fear but you do want there to be an awareness of it really does come down to how you play on a given night and that’s important for young kids to remember.”
Five Buckeyes scored in double figures. Freshman Bowen Hardman scored his first career points, hitting two 3-pointers in the final 2:30. Redshirt freshman Kalen Etzler, in his sixth appearance, also made a field goal, giving all 10 scholarship players who saw action at least two points.
Ohio State outscored Maine 64-28 in the paint and finished with 11 dunks.
Ohio State basketball: PHOTOS: Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball vs. Maine Black Bears
“Obviously that’s unrealistic (going forward) given the competition we’re going to face,” Holtmann said. “I thought our guys were intentional about playing through the paint and then allowing that to create other opportunities for us. I think we’ve done that for the most part this year outside of maybe the first half of the Eastern Illinois game where I felt we settled too much.”
In a game they won by 34 points, the Buckeyes only attempted 19 3-pointers and finished with a season-high 23 assists. Ohio State had assisted on 44.6% of its field goals entering the game; Wednesday, that number was 56.1%.
The Buckeyes also finished with only seven turnovers against a team that entered the game 11th nationally in steal percentage according to KenPom.com and No. 59 in turnover percentage. Three of those turnovers came from freshman Roddy Gayle, but otherwise Ohio State handled everything Maine threw at it.
The calendar might’ve had something to do with it. The Black Bears played at Akron on Monday night.
“They looked a little fatigued from the other night,” Holtmann said.
This time of year, though, Ohio State will take the victory and enjoy the time away.
“Feel good about this win here,” Holtmann said. “I thought our guys made shots and were able to attack their zone and defended in spurts pretty good. Took care of the ball. Guys need a couple days of break here before we head back.”
Brice Sensabaugh stars again
Saturday night, Sensabaugh looked to have hit the game-winning shot inside Madison Square Garden when his jumper gave the Buckeyes a two-point lead with two seconds left against the Tar Heels. North Carolina would tie the game and prevail in overtime as Sensabaugh finished with a career-high 22 points in a losing effort.
Monday, he was named Big Ten freshman of the week for the first time. Wednesday, he was proficient and efficient in his third game as a starter, putting up 19 points on 8 of 12 shooting in only 25:02.
Not only were his seven assists a season high, but Sensabaugh had totaled eight through the first 10 games of the year.
“I think he did a good job finding the open man,” Holtmann said. “I was proud of Brice for that. Shared it and moved it really well. He’s got to continue to be a good post feeder. He’s going to get a lot of attention, so he’s got to see the open man and be willing to pass it and he did a great job passing it tonight.”
Although the shot against the Tar Heels ultimately wasn’t the winner, it harkened back to Ohio State’s prior game, where his potentially game-winning shot was instead blocked by Rutgers’ Cliff Omoruyi. Against North Carolina, Sensabaugh hit a similar jumper.
“I tried to get to the basket with the big, two good bigs in both games,” said Sensabaugh, who was not made available to reporters after the North Carolina game. “I got to the rim and obviously got blocked that game, so I watched film and talked to coach Holtmann about it. Obviously my mid-range was doing well for me that game, so it’s a stop and read the defender, create a little space and get off.”
It’s a move reminiscent of former Buckeyes E.J. Liddell and Malaki Branham, who were second- and first-round NBA draft picks during the offseason.
“Yeah, I’ve definitely watched them by myself, even before I got here,” Sensabaugh said. “Their mid-range game and using their body to create separation in the mid-range is something I added to my game when I got here and I’ve worked on relentlessly since I got here. I think it’s paying off for me.”
Sensabaugh moved past 150 points in his 11th game, the fastest for an Ohio State freshman since D’Angelo Russell got there in the first nine games of the 2014-15 season before becoming a first-round NBA draft pick.
Sean McNeil hits milestone with 3-pointer
Sensabaugh entered the Maine game with 149 points to his career, but he wasn’t the only Buckeye close to a milestone. After scoring 7 points against North Carolina, starting guard Sean McNeil was three points shy of 1,000 for his Division I career.
Most of them came during three seasons at West Virginia, where he had scored exactly 900 points for the Mountaineers before transferring to Ohio State during the offseason for his final year. McNeil averaged 9.7 points through the first 10 games of the season before connecting on a 3-pointer with 2:41 remaining in the first half.
In the family section of the stands, at least a half-dozen cell phone cameras captured the moment. It’s been a long journey for McNeil, who took a year off after high school, spent a year at community college and then three years at West Virginia before coming to Ohio State.
After the game, redshirt freshman Kalen Etzler reminded him of all that.
“Kalen said, ‘It’s a great job in six years, Sean, to get your thousandth point,’ ” Holtmann said. “You’re never going to get a whole lot of love from your teammates, but they did jump on him in there and give him some love. Sean’s been great for us. He’s a real weapon obviously in terms of shooting the ball and I think he’s really adapted well to how we do things. Really pleased he was able to get that honor tonight.
“With all that kid’s went through, it’s really good to see that kid be able to go home and spend some time with his dad, because it was touch and go there for a minute.”
He finished the Maine game with 8 points and hit two 3-pointers in 24:26. He is now 18 for 51 from deep this season, trailing only Sensabaugh (23 for 47) in total 3-point makes.
Last-second decisions against North Carolina questioned again
After the loss to the Tar Heels, Holtmann defended his decisions to not put a defender on the inbounder on either of North Carolina’s final two plays of regulation that ended with a game-tying shot with, saying it’s long been his philosophy to instead play five-on-four defense.
Although the coming days will be spent evaluating where the team can still improve, Holtmann said that doesn’t include revisiting his approach to a specific end-of-game situation like that.
“Our five-on-four philosophy has been in play and has really helped us defend effectively,” he said. “Every college coach and NBA coach I spoke with said you defended that as well as you could. You gave up a shot with point one second to go. Where I would’ve potentially, we needed to be more aggressive in the fullcourt.
“I don’t want to rehash this too much. Listen, every coach I’ve spoken to has their philosophies and they said, you guys defended that really well, including the guy who put that play in initially about 10 years ago.”
Quotable
“I would say I’ve kind of embraced my role on the team. Things are becoming way more easier for me. I’m coming off the bench, I’ve got to come with great energy and provide, crash the boards and play defense.” – Felix Okpara, on his recent play
“A lot of people stressed to us and mentioned it was kind of like an NCAA Tournament environment in a pretty prestigious arena. It was a lot of fun. Obviously a tough loss. I think it was a lot of good things and bad things to take from it. When you lose, you don’t do everything wrong. When you win, you don’t do everything right. You’ve got to take them things you did right and build from them.” – Sensabaugh, on lessons from the North Carolina game
“You’re always looking certainly and constantly evaluating. We have to get better at attacking the press. I thought that was a critical part of the game. There were a lot of good things. The way college basketball is, it comes so quickly at you (that) you can’t let it linger but at the same time you have to identify those things where we need to perform better as players and coaches and that’s what we’ve tried to do. You take a postgame autopsy and make notes and evaluate and then you move forward.” – Holtmann, asked if he has fully gotten over the loss to the Tar Heels
Get more Ohio State basketball news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: On upset alert, Ohio State, Brice Sensabaugh easily dispatch Maine
