Ohio State still has 'a lot' to work on after Rutgers win: 6 takeaways
The return to Big Ten play provided another reminder of the challenge that lies ahead for Ohio State.
On Wednesday evening, the Buckeyes hosted an 8-4 Rutgers team with just one win against at top-150 KenPom.com team. The Scarlet Knights came to Value City Arena simultaneously boasting the Big Ten’s worst offense and best defense, and it took multiple clutch plays in the final minutes for Ohio State to emerge with a 76-72 win. The Buckeyes led by 17 during the first half and took a 13-point lead into the half.
It got dicey in the final minutes, and coach Chris Holtmann said there is plenty for his team to work on as a Saturday road game against Indiana looms on the horizon.
The Buckeyes were clear, though: while there’s no apologizing for wins in the Big Ten, there isn’t a whole lot of celebrating, either.
“It feels good, but there’s still a lot of things to work on,” forward Jamison Battle, who scored 22 points, said. “We’re going to enjoy this one tonight, but it’s the Big Ten now. That’s the beauty of this league, that there’s no off nights. I think that’s what this team loves about it is embracing the grind. We’ve got to come to practice and get ready to go.”
Ohio State is now 5-2 in games decided by 10 points or fewer this season after going 3-13 in such games during the regular season last year. This year, those five wins have been by an average of 6.0 points in games where the Buckeyes have had an average high lead of 13.4 points.
Both losses are by single digits but the games are not created equal. Ohio State led by seven in what would become a 73-66 home loss to No. 15 Texas A&M in the second game of the year and led by 18 in an 83-80 loss at Penn State on Dec. 6.
It’s the latter loss that continues to be cited, especially as the Buckeyes now have a four-game winning streak where wins against UCLA (67-60), West Virginia (78-75 in overtime) and now Rutgers are all by single digits.
“Our mantra has been don’t flinch,” Battle said. “I don’t think we flinched today. That’s something we’ve taken from the Penn State game is that a game like that, we can learn from it and you can continuously learn from those games. You look at the close games, it’s about not flinching. It’s about next-play mentality.”
The Buckeyes needed that in the final minutes Wednesday night. A 7-0 Rutgers run made it 67-66 with 3:20 left, but Bruce Thornton tracked down his own miss and got it to Evan Mahaffey for only his second field goal of the game. Two possessions later, Thornton got an assist when Roddy Gayle hit his only 3-pointer of the night on what looked like a possession going nowhere until the sophomore hit from well beyond the arc.
“The offensive rebound there off of Bruce’s 3 was big, and converting that lob,” Holtmann said. “Great pass and Evan, great finish. Roddy stepping up and making that 3, we didn’t have a whole lot going on that possession.”
It would take two Gayle free throws with 12.2 seconds left to seal the game after Thornton missed the front end of a one-and-one with 23.4 seconds. When the final seconds ticked off, the crowd of 10,614 roared and the Buckeyes celebrated improving to 2-1 in the Big Ten.
“Proud of our guys,” Holtmann said. “Great poise. We knew it was going to be a 40-minute game and it certainly was that.”
The last four games between Ohio State and Rutgers have been decided by a total of 11 points. All have been single-digit games with each team winning two.
Here are five more takeaways from the game.
Rebounding is still an issue
It was the top talking point for Holtmann as the Rutgers game approached. For the Buckeyes to take down the Scarlet Knights, they would have to be impactful on the glass at both ends of the court.
For 20 minutes, they were. In building a 45-32 halftime lead against Rutgers, Ohio State held a 19-16 rebounding advantage and had allowed the Scarlet Knights to get just three offensive rebounds. A team that came into the arena grabbing 29.4% of its misses through the first 12 games sat at 17.6% after the first half against the Buckeyes and had managed only three second-chance points.
That changed in the second half. Rutgers grabbed 10 of its 23 misses (43.5%) and scored 11 second-chance points. As the Scarlet Knights outscored the Buckeyes 40-31 during the second half, they also turned eight Ohio State turnovers into 10 points.
“I didn’t love our offensive rebounding tonight,” Holtmann said.
More than half of Rutgers’ second-half points came either courtesy of a turnover or an offensive rebound. The Scarlet Knights finished the game with an offensive rebounding rate of 32.5% for their seventh-best effort of the year.
It was the third-worst mark allowed by the Buckeyes this season. They now sit 147th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage, allowing teams to grab 28.7% of their misses.
“It’s on us,” Battle said. “First half, it was pretty good for us. We crashed the boards and kept them off the O-boards. In the second half, that’s when our lead started to dwindle a little bit. We were giving up O-boards and we just have to embrace that challenge.
“That’s a thing for us is to keep honing in on those little details. Especially in league play, all those little details are going to matter. If it’s something as small and minute as boxing out, that matters in the end.”
Ohio State has a ‘Big Three’
Holtmann didn’t like the moniker, saying no coach will ever refer to players with such a suggested nickname, but through 14 games the threesome of Gayle, Thornton and Battle is carrying the primary scoring load for the Buckeyes.
Against Rutgers, they combined for 57 of Ohio State’s 76 points (75.0%). Saturday against West Virginia, it was 60 of 78 (76.9%). Against UCLA, they had 46 of 67 points (68.7%).
They’re clearly the focal points of the Ohio State offense at this point. Just don’t call them the “Big Three” around Holtmann.
“Coaches will never use that term,” he said with a laugh. “We felt like (Battle) was a needed addition with what we were losing scoring. He’s been everything we’d hoped.”
Thornton and Gayle both shook off some bangs and bruises suffered during the game. Gayle appeared to tweak an ankle but was able to shake it off while Thornton came to postgame interviews with a bandage taped to his right forearm with a wound that required a wardrobe change during the game.
“I was bleeding in the first two minutes,” he said. “It’s just that type of game playing against Rutgers you know it’s going to be a fistfight. This happened my first minute in the game. The doctor had to get out the peroxide, whole pants, jerseys, I had to get a whole new set.”
Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell described Ohio State as a team with a number of offensive weapons.
“It’s not just a one-man team,” he said. “They pass the team very well. Thornton’s a hard guy to guard. Roddy Gayle scored (32) in their last game. There’s a lot of guys. You pick your poison a little bit.”
Roddy Gayle makes big plays late
Four days removed from a career effort in the win against West Virginia, Gayle struggled to get going against the Scarlet Knights. He finished 4 for 15 from the floor, turned the ball over four times and had one shot blocked, but he came through when the Buckeyes needed him late.
Gayle’s 3-pointer with 1:29 remaining was a dagger, and his free throws sealed the game and set the final score. Five of his 11 points came in the final 1:29 after he had missed 11 of his 14 shots and had not gotten to the free-throw line.
“The moment’s not too big for him,” Holtmann said. “He’s got a real evenness with how he plays. I think he knows he’s a good player and growing into a good player and that confidence and belief is a good thing.”
Thornton said he had no doubts his classmate would come through in the clutch.
“He’s still being a great teammate at the end of the day,” Thornton said. “That never affected him throughout the whole game. He still did what he had to do. He’s still talking. He still was in the gaps defensively. He still had a good spirit at the end of the day.”
Evan Mahaffey was cited by both coaches for his contribution
In 21:25, the Ohio State second-year forward and Penn State transfer finished with four points on 2-of-4 shooting and added three rebounds, a steal and two blocks. It’s not a stat line that jumps off the page, but both coaches cited Mahaffey unprompted during postgame interviews.
Holtmann singled out Mahaffey’s finish off of the feed from Thornton, and Pikiell included him when discussing what makes Battle such an effective shooter in this Ohio State offense.
“(Battle) has been around the league and can really shoot the ball at a high clip and they pass the ball really well,” Pikiell said. “He benefits from those other players are really good too. Mahaffey moves the ball and does what he does, too … that opens things up for him.”
Ohio State Buckeyes: Join the Ohio State Sports Insider text group with Bill Rabinowitz, Joey Kaufman Adam Jardy
Second-half offense wasn’t as crisp
Holtmann spoke after the game about Rutgers not allowing Ohio State to get to its spots for stretches late in the second half and the Buckeyes not being able to do the same to the Scarlet Knights at the other end of the court. It was a driving reason why Rutgers pulled within a point during the final half.
After shooting 53.1% during the first half (17 for 32), Ohio State was 11 for 28 (39.3%) in the second to finish at 46.7%. The Buckeyes were 2 for 9 (22.2%) from deep in the second half after hitting 9 of 15 (60.0%) in the first half.
Still, Ohio State finished with an adjusted offensive efficiency rating of 106.8 points per 100 possessions, the fourth-highest mark allowed by Rutgers this season. It was the fourth-worst offensive efficiency rating of the season for Ohio State, and it came against a defense that ranks 14th nationally by allowing 92.9 points per 100 possessions.
The 76 points allowed match a season high for the Rutgers defense.
Get more Ohio State basketball news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Buckeyes win another close game against Rutgers: 6 takeaways
