Ice cream, Ohio State's defense and more: 5 takeaways from Jake Diebler's radio show
The regular season is complete. At 19-12 overall, Ohio State earned the No. 10 seed in the Big Ten Tournament after a win at Rutgers on Sunday afternoon.
The Buckeyes have now won five of their last six games since Jake Diebler was promoted to interim coach as now they prepare to play No. 7 seed Iowa on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern in Minneapolis. Less than 24 hours removed from the win against the Scarlet Knights, Diebler held his weekly coaches’ radio show Monday at noon.
At Rutgers, the Buckeyes forced their hosts into misses on their first 10 shots while getting out to an 11-1 start that set the tone in a game the Scarlet Knights never led.
“We earned that start by how we practiced,” Diebler said. “Their prep was really, really good. I didn’t anticipate we’d be up 11-1, but I was not surprised we came out and played well because that’s how we had practiced and prepared. That’s a credit to the leadership of our team.”
If you couldn’t listen to Diebler’s show, here are five takeaways. Assistant coach Brandon Bailey participated in the final segment of the hour-long show.
Devin Royal takes Evan Mahaffey’s spot to start the second half
Sophomore forward Evan Mahaffey remained in Ohio State’s starting lineup at Rutgers, but with the Scarlet Knights within two points at the half Diebler made a switch to open the second half. When the Buckeyes inbounded the ball to start the second half, it was Royal making the pass as Mahaffey sat.
“I felt like we needed to have more balance from an offensive standpoint,” Diebler said. “One of Evan’s gifts is his ability to handle at his size. He can create for others. Coming out in the second half we needed to create a little more balance with the way our lineups have been coming to fruition for the first 10 minutes of the half. Devin provides some things Evan can’t that fits that first group.”
Diebler said the coaches were trying to get the two on the floor at the same time as the game progressed.
“Both those guys are extremely valuable for us,” he said. “I think it could be really good for us.”
When is Felix Okpara allowed to shoot 3s?
Ohio State went 9 for 20 from 3 (45.0%) against Rutgers. One of the misses came from sophomore center Felix Okpara, who is now 0 for 3 from deep this season.
He took the shot in part because Diebler encouraged him to do so a few days earlier.
“We had a conversation a couple days prior,” the coach said. “I told him, ‘Fe, I think when you lift in the flow of our offense, I don’t anticipate them pressuring you. If you feel good, fire it.’ Overall, we’re trying to play aggressive and we want to play with great belief. I trust our guys not to play wild. Everybody understands their strengths.”
Between Okpara and fourth-year center Zed Key, Diebler said one or two made 3s a game helps Ohio State consistently be a better team.
“I don’t think it helps us if guys are shooting shots they’re not confident in, but if they are, we want to stay aggressive,” he said.
Dale Bonner, Evan Mahaffey and others allowing Buckeyes to free up Bruce Thornton
Sophomore guard Bruce Thornton remains the team’s point guard, but Diebler has utilized his bench more to help allow Thornton to contribute throughout the flow of the offense. That’s included more usage of fifth-year Baylor transfer Dale Bonner as well as Mahaffey at times to play Thornton off the ball at times.
“Having multiple ball handlers out there allows us to move Bruce around,” he said. “A lot of times when he’s just dribbling the ball up the court and the team can key their defense on him, it makes it really challenging for him. Teams are committing two to him on ball screens. Being able to move him around and other guys creating for him some to get him some looks has been beneficial for us, for sure.”
Thornton finished with 11 points, six of which came from the free-throw line, and added six assists and five rebounds. He had three turnovers, all in the first half, and only took five shots.
“It’s like a coach’s dream to have a point guard like that, right?” Diebler said. “Bruce’s ability to adjust in-game has been what’s impressive to me because you don’t see that a lot of times from young guards. We forget that he’s a sophomore. His ability to adjust mid-game has been one of the most impressive things for me. His game has continued to grow and develop.”
Ohio State’s defense climbing the rankings
After bottoming out near the 130 mark nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, Ohio State is now No. 69 nationally according to KenPom.com while allowing 100.9 points per 100 possessions. That number still isn’t where the Buckeyes want it to be, but it’s the continuation of a trending the right direction for a team trying to play its way into the NCAA Tournament picture.
“I don’t think it’s anything we’ve necessarily done schematically on the floor,” Bailey, brought in during the offseason to oversee the defense, said. “I’m really proud of our guys with how connected they’ve been. There’s a miscommunication, if there’s a back cut somewhere everybody’s trying to pick each other up. That’s more important than anything
“We’ve got to be really good at this if we want to get where we want to get to. We hit a lull in the middle of the season. We picked it back up.”
Since the win against No. 2 Purdue on Feb. 18, Ohio State is No. 10 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency.
Bailey said there are four areas teams look at to assess defense: effective field-goal percentage, turnover percentage, defensive rebounding and foul rate.
“Generally we’ve been good at all four minus turnover percentage,” he said. “We were allowing teams to shoot really well from the 3-point line and we’ve turned that on its head the last 6-7 games. It’s good to see.”
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Delayed Buckeyes got ice cream after beating Rutgers
The trip home after Sunday night’s win was delayed due to some issues with the plane. While that was being sorted out, Diebler enlisted the help of David Egelhoff, the team’s director of basketball operations, to help celebrate the moment.
The Buckeyes went for ice cream.
“In that moment, it’s easy for coaches to have these great ideas,” Diebler said. “Executing those ideas are a whole other thing. Why don’t we get some ice cream? (Egelhoff and the staff) do what they do and we’re getting some ice cream. Some of the advice I’ve gotten is you’ve got to be yourself. I love ice cream. I love to eat ice cream when I’m happy. I love to eat ice cream when I’m sad.”
The decision was one Diebler said he hopes will stick with the players in the coming years.
“My teammates I played with at Valpo, my wife is like, I’ve heard those stories 10 times,” he said. “Our guys in the moment don’t realize, but a long time from now they’ll look back on this. Remember when we got ice cream, we’re sitting there, plane’s delayed. You’re hearing the noise on the bus too, it’s just fun to hear. They’ll remember it forever.”
A few players apparently had some questionable ice cream orders.
“You can learn something about a guy when you see what he orders,” Diebler said. “Our guys were laughing. They were joking with each other. A couple guys ordered something my 4-year-old daughter likes to order, which I let them know I’d seen that order before.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ice cream? 5 takeaways from Ohio State coach Jake Diebler's radio show
