Ohio State takes 'learning step' against Central Michigan: 6 takeaways
Felix Okpara knew what this kind of game could be for Ohio State. In the first game since winning the Emerald Coast Classic last weekend in Niceville, Florida, the Buckeyes were on their home floor against a non-marquee opponent. Central Michigan, the lowest-rated foe remaining on the 2023-24 slate according to KenPom.com, brought a 2-4 record into Value City Arena and a roster that was without 6-10, 255-pound center Markus Harding.
Now in his second season of college basketball, Okpara understood both the temptation for this game and why the Buckeyes needed to resist as best they could.
“This was one of the games we can sleep on if we wanted to,” Okpara said. “From the start, we just knew what we’re supposed to do. The coaches challenged us to take every game as a learning step. We just did our job.”
It wasn’t always pretty, and there were some stretches that coach Chris Holtmann took particular exception to. But rather than led the Chippewas hang around and make things interesting, the Buckeyes used a 15-0 first-half run to pull away and led by as many as 30 in the second half of an 88-61 win.
Within a few minutes, it was clear: this game wasn’t much about Central Michigan and was almost everything about the Buckeyes holding themselves to a standard.
“That’s where we were not at our best in the second half,” coach Chris Holtmann said. “We just weren’t very good in some of those stretches with some of those lineups. I just didn’t think we were playing, honestly, the right way.”
One of those stretches started roughly when freshman forward Devin Royal converted a three-point play to give the Buckeyes a 67-39 lead with 10:36 to play. In the next six minutes, that 28-point advantage dwindled to 17 as Central Michigan pulled within 74-57 with 4:31 to play. During that six-minute stretch, Ohio State went 2 for 14 from the floor and committed seven fouls.
At one point during that stretch, Ohio State missed 10 of 11 shots. The spell was finally broken by a Jamison Battle 3-pointer to make it a 20-point lead before Royal and Okpara added points in the paint to start a 9-0 run.
When the game started to get clunky, was it a case of guys just losing focus with such a big lead on the scoreboard?
“It might be that,” Holtmann said. “It might be some new guys that are mixed in or combinations that are still learning this is the expectation we have for how we want to play. Some of it was maybe a lack of focus. We also had a stretch after we had that happen where we had two or three minutes of really good play.”
It wasn’t so much that the Buckeyes were in any real danger of losing to the Chippewas and more so that playing like that will not be good enough on most nights in Big Ten play, which starts Sunday with Minnesota. That was the primary postgame talking point.
“It’s just knowing the culture of Ohio State basketball,” Okpara said. “Knowing what you need to bring to the team. We need good energy on the bench and on the court we need guys together. We can’t slack because we’re beating a team by 30. We have to keep focusing and getting better.”
“We just learned no matter what team it is, don’t take it light,” Royal said. “Still go in, have our standard of how we play. That was the main message for us. That’s how we learn and get better.”
Here are five other takeaways from Ohio State’s 27-point win against Central Michigan.
Felix Okpara attacks the glass again
He finished just shy of his first double-double of the season, but Okpara was an active rebounder for a fourth straight game. Challenged to do more on the glass after pulling down only eight rebounds in his first three games, the 6-11, 235-pound Okpara now hasn’t had fewer than seven in his last four games.
Against the Chippewas, he had nine rebounds: a season-high four offensive rebounds as well as five defensive rebounds.
“Just go and get it, man,” he said. “It’s all about effort. One of the coaches told me about one of the players he coached at a different school and his mentality was one versus nine every time on the rebound. He told me if you do that, I feel like in the beginning of the games early in the season, I was like my teammate got it and I just laid down. I feel like I got more aggressive and I just want to do more.”
The coach was assistant Jack Owens, who as a longtime assistant at Purdue. The player in question was Caleb Swanigan, who averaged 10.4 rebounds in 69 games – all starts – during his two years with the Boilermakers.
“I think he’s growing in that and gotta continue to grow in it,” Holtmann said of Okpara’s rebounding. “He had a great tip-out tonight that was really critical. We’ve really tried to get better at that. Kids like him get better because they’re open to coaching and they’re great kids. He’s a good player. He’s going have ups and downs like all of our sophomores but he’s really gotten better.”
Okpara is now averaging a team-high 6.4 rebounds per game after averaging 3.6 last season. In his last four games, he’s averaging 9.3.
Bruce Thornton leads the way
In what’s becoming a recurring theme, sophomore guard Bruce Thornton did a lot of heavy lifting on a night where Ohio State’s outside shots weren’t falling. In 30:45, Thornton scored a game-high 25 points on 9 of 14 shooting and added four rebounds, two assists and no turnovers.
During the first half, he had two personal 7-0 scoring runs to help Ohio State distance itself for good from the Chippewas.
“It’s really how he practices,” Holtmann said. “He practices with great attention to detail, great focus. He’s as every day of a guy as I’ve ever coached in my career. What that does is allows him to be a pretty consistent player. He’s not always gonna shoot it like he did tonight, but the consistency of performance is a clear result of the consistency of his practice habits.”
Thornton averaged 10.6 points as a freshman and topped 20 points in four games. This year, he’s averaging a team-best 18.3 points per game and has scored at least 20 in three games including a career-high 29 in the win against Alabama. He also had 24 in the loss to Texas A&M.
“Man, he grew up fast,” Okpara said of his classmate. “He’s a really good leader. He’s the one in timeouts telling us if we slacking, he points us out, telling us we’re not doing good, we’ve got to rebound, we’ve got to contain, focus on the defensive part and stop worrying about the offense. He’s a really good leader for our team.”
Thornton was 3 for 7 from 3-point range. The rest of the Buckeyes combined to to 4 for 17 (23.5%).
Evan Mahaffey posts unique stat line
Four of Ohio State’s starters scored in double figures. After Thornton’s 25 points, Okpara had a career-high 14, Battle had 12 and Roddy Gayle Jr. added 11.
The fifth scorer, Evan Mahaffey, obliterated his career high in assists by dishing out five (previous high: two). He grabbed four rebounds, one shy of tying his career high, and finished without a turnover in 21:51.
He was also scoreless, going 0 for 7 overall and missing three 3-point attempts. He neither drew nor committed a foul. A Penn State transfer who is averaging more than double the playing time he saw as a freshman, Mahaffey has impacted the Buckeyes with his defensive versatility and willingness to pass the ball but not quite with his offense just yet.
Holtmann said that’s coming eventually.
“When we recruited him, we just really saw him for what he can grow into in the next year or two,” the coach said. “I really do believe he can be a different player in a year. We’re all gonna want it to happen sooner. I’m not sure it’s going to, but in due time I think he’s really going to grow and his offensive game will grow.”
Mahaffey also got the quickest hook of the season when he was removed for Royal only two minutes into the game.
“I didn’t think Evan played as physical as he needed to to start the game, and that’s why he came out,” Holtmann said. “I just think he needs to play more physical. I think his ball-screen defense wasn’t great. And we told him that when we brought him out. He’s got to be better in some areas, but he’s a really good player.”
Taison Chatman knocking off some rust
After missing most of the preseason due to a meniscus procedure, freshman guard Taison Chatman made his debut when he played 27 seconds during the first half of the win against Alabama. He followed that by playing for 3:56 against Santa Clara.
Wednesday night, he was on the court for 7:01. He had a rebound, a turnover and two missed shots.
“Taison’s got to keep getting better,” Holtmann said. “He looks rusty right now and times like a freshmen. He’ll get better as long as his approach is good. He’s working every day. He’s a talented player.”
Ohio State Buckeyes: Join the Ohio State Sports Insider text group with Bill Rabinowitz, Joey Kaufman Adam Jardy
Ohio State plays Central Michigan in front of another light crowd
Although the Buckeyes were well-represented inside Raider Arena on the campus of Northwest Florida State College last weekend, the home game with the Chippewas was evidently not a hot ticket. Ohio State and Central Michigan played in front of an announced crowd of 8,223 fans.
It’s the second-smallest crowd for a regular-season game in Value City Arena history and the fourth-smallest ever. The smallest crowd was for a March 16, 2016 game against Akron in the NIT. Ohio State won that game, 72-63, in overtime in front of 4,698 fans. That led to a second-round game four days later against Florida that the Gators won, 74-66, in front of 8,185 fans.
The record for the smallest crowd for a regular-season game in arena history was set earlier this year. Ohio State drew 7,929 fans for a 76-52 win against Merrimack on Nov. 15.
Merrimack was rated No. 312 nationally according to KenPom. Central Michigan was No. 304.
Ohio State has topped 10,000 fans in its lone home game against a marquee foe: 12,704 attended a 73-66 loss to No. 15 Texas A&M on Nov. 10.
“We had one game this year where it was really poorly attended, but we also had a couple games where they were well-attended,” Holtmann said after beating Santa Clara in Florida on Saturday. “Overall our attendance back home is (trending) up and hopefully if we keep playing well that’ll continue to be the case.”
Get more Ohio State basketball news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 6 takeaways: Ohio State takes 'learning step' against Central Michigan
