Ohio State's Roddy Gayle: Penn State is 'a must-win game' for reeling Buckeyes
Whenever the final horn sounds Saturday afternoon at Value City Arena, Ohio State will be 35% complete with Big Ten play. Twelve more games will stand between the Buckeyes and the start of the conference tournament
From a technical standpoint, there’s still a lot of basketball to be played and plenty of opportunities to accumulate wins. But given the way the last two weeks have gone, stacked on top of the tenor of last year’s season-submarining losing streak, there’s a growing feeling of general unease and desperation for things to turn around in short order.
As all of that circles an Ohio State team riding a three-game losing streak, the first team to cast doubt on the season arrives in Columbus in the form of Penn State. Forty-two days ago, the Buckeyes let an 18-point lead slip during the second half of what became an 83-80 loss at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Today, they host the Nittany Lions while riding a three-game losing streak. Penn State is 9-9 overall, 3-4 in the Big Ten and winless in eight games played away from either its home court or the Palestra.
If Ohio State wants to start to turn its season around, this feels like an opportune time.
“It’s extremely important to defend our home court,” sophomore guard Roddy Gayle Jr., who will have his own cheering section for the game, said. “I think it would be an amazing turnaround for us to be able to get rolling a little bit, especially in conference play. This is a must-win game for us. We had a great opportunity to beat them at their place earlier in the season. I think it will get a great opportunity for us to get what’s rightfully ours.”
It’s an honest admission of how Ohio State feels about that loss to the Nittany Lions. Although road life has been a challenge for seemingly all Big Ten teams, Ohio State’s first conference game away from Value City Arena was against a Penn State team that had lost five straight. That streak included a nine-point home loss to a Bucknell team ranked No. 306 nationally according to KenPom.com.
Penn State isn’t the only team to break a lengthy losing streak against the Buckeyes this year. With its 73-65 home win against the Buckeyes on Monday, Michigan also snapped a five-game losing streak while also sending Ohio State to its third straight loss.
After the loss to the Wolverines, coach Chris Holtmann said that the story of this season is still being written and that he expects his players to respond well moving forward. Friday, he stopped short of echoing Gayle’s description of this as a “must-win game.”
“I’ll let Roddy speak for himself,” the coach said. “We’re focused on playing well. We did some things well there to get that lead, but doing some things better than what we did there, that’s our only focus right now.”
Key among those things are defensive rebounding and making shots. Ohio State is 16 for 70 (22.9%) from 3 during this three-game losing streak and Gayle is 0 for 12 during the same timeframe. Playing at home might help: the Buckeyes are shooting 37.4% from 3-point range in home games this year and 26.9% in road games.
Ohio State Buckeyes: Join the Ohio State Sports Insider text group with Bill Rabinowitz, Joey Kaufman Adam Jardy
“We’ve been able to shoot the ball well at home,” Gayle said. “If we get shots rolling at home, I feel like it will be able to travel with us as we go to these away games.”
First, though: the Nittany Lions, who with a win would tie a program record with four consecutive wins against Ohio State. A win wouldn’t fully dig the Buckeyes out of the hole they’ve fallen into, but it would be a step in that direction.
“You’re always looking at games as real lesson learned, wins and losses,” Holtmann said. “That’s always been our mantra. There is a real appreciation for challenging moments if they’re something you can take something from and use down the road.”
Get more Ohio State basketball news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Roddy Gayle: Penn State is a 'must-win game' for Ohio State Buckeyes
