This wasn’t how the Ohio State basketball team envisioned playing against a Minnesota team that had yet to win a conference game this season. The Gophers battled Ohio State all game, and never folded and kept playing hard.
The Buckeyes wouldn’t be able to match the visitors’ energy, resulting in a third loss in a row and potentially some panic starting in Columbus. The loss sends the Buckeyes to a 10-6 record.
Head coach Chris Holtmann got his starting center back, Zed Key (even though he came off the bench), but it wasn’t enough for Ohio State to get back into the win column.
It obviously wasn’t all pretty for the Buckeyes and here is what we learned about their 70-67 disappointing loss to Minnesota.
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The call against Thornton was bad
Do you agree with this call?
Minnesota and Ohio State are tied 67-67 with 1.7 to go pic.twitter.com/MXXB5ORyZ9
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) January 13, 2023
I’m not one to complain much about the referees, but the foul call against Bruce Thornton at the end of the game when he went for the blosk was horrendous. Thornton got all ball. No doubt about it. If there is a call in that situation, it should have been a jump ball. This didn’t cost the Buckeyes the game, but in the situation, it may have seemed like a massively bad call. There were more reasons why the Buckeyes dropped this game.
Not enough ball movement
Sensabaugh with the second effort to tie the game for @OhioStateHoops! 💪 pic.twitter.com/GJAsMOZuKF
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) January 13, 2023
The Buckeyes have one of the top offenses in the country but struggled again. The offense didn’t move the ball around well enough and had just 5 assists. The whole game. It led to a lot of empty possessions, bad shots, and an overall ugly offense. The reliance on individuals to create shots really hurt, especially when the shots weren’t falling. The 37.5% shooting from the field was bad, especially given the opponent. Holtmann needs to fix this fast.
The bench struggles continue
Likekele ➡️ Holden
Too nice from @OhioStateHoops 💯 pic.twitter.com/LqrH2PJuGd
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) January 12, 2023
Take away regular starter Key’s numbers and add Eugene Brown’s and it was another bad performance from the bench. Tanner Holden had an and-one, Brown one bucket, but that was the group’s complete contribution in the scoring column. When the starters aren’t having good games, the bench has to help. It didn’t. It wasn’t just in the scoring column either, the substitutes grabbed just six rebounds and turned the ball over three times.
Key’s return helped but he was rusty
11:08 left in 1H: Minnesota 19, Ohio State 12.#Buckeyes center Zed Key is playing, but it's clear he's not at 100%.
He was blocked while going up with his left (injured shoulder) in the post. Then, on the other end, he had to use his right arm to try to deny this entry pass. pic.twitter.com/zQmuqx92Wl
— Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom) January 12, 2023
While wearing a large black brace on his left shoulder, it seemed like Key was a bit tentative to mix things up down low. His injury must still be bothering him but not enough to keep him away from the court. He was held out of the last game against Maryland and the Buckeyes clearly missed their big man. In this contest, Key gutted his way through to put up 10 points and 8 boards, but again, it wasn’t a normal effort from him. He won’t keep coming off the bench going forward, but it was nice to see the big man return back to action.
Sensabaugh may be hitting the freshman wall
Easy money for Sensabaugh 🤑@OhioStateHoops pic.twitter.com/IHPO7whle7
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) January 12, 2023
It’s a lot to ask a freshman to carry the offensive load. Holtmann has asked Brice Sensabaugh to do that and he might be hitting a wall. A very bad shooting performance, his second in a row, might be getting to his head. Sensabaugh has been taking a lot of iso-jumpers, not in the rhythm of the offense leading to some tough shots. He needs to get back to what was working for him earlier in the year, which was getting open shots with ball movement and in the flow of the offense.
One-on-one play works on certain occasions but every possession isn’t the solution. Yes, he scored 18 points but it took him 18 shots to do so. Sensabaugh even on his bad days is still a star but this team needs him to be more efficient than what we saw in this one.
