As pressure mounts, Ohio State's Chris Holtmann worried about 'just getting better'
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Ohio State had the matchup it wanted. It had the ball in the hands of the guy it wanted to make a play the Buckeyes had practiced countless times for this exact situation.
With less than 30 seconds left inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Ohio State liked its chances of ending a number of streaks that have sent their 2023-24 season spiraling toward the Big Ten’s basement for a second straight year. Sophomore guard Roddy Gayle Jr. walked the ball up the court, trailing 74-73 with a nine-second differential between the shot and game clock. From straight-on and a few feet beyond the 3-point line, Gayle bounced the ball to center Felix Okpara to his left and drifted right with Iowa’s Payton Sandfort guarding him.
It was a play for Gayle, but he did not get the ball back. As he went through a screen and prepared to receive a pass from Okpara that would have taken him with momentum toward the left block, the big man was whistled for a double dribble call with 24 seconds remaining.
It wasn’t the reason the Buckeyes lost this one 79-77. It wasn’t the reason why Ohio State has now lost four straight and seven of eight, and it wasn’t the reason why it has now lost 15 straight road games.
But it was the latest example of how this team, even when it plays well and puts itself in position to win, continually finds itself a play or two short. Sometimes more than that, as the Buckeyes came in having lost three straight games by double figures.
On Friday night, they had a chance to steal the win and put an end to all the aforementioned streaks. They were in a late-game position they’ve practiced over and over again. But they still lost. Again.
Afterward, the Buckeyes repeated some of the same things they’ve stuck with as the season has progressed. Many of them were true this time: this was a better overall game for Ohio State, and it was the most competitive they have been in a loss in a while.
But when it’s that close, and you have the play you want, how do you keep from collapsing?
“I mean, it’s my job not to,” coach Chris Holtmann said. “I don’t know how else to put it. It’s a coach’s job to keep moving. Coaches are going to take on heat, but you’ve got to radiate a level of poise. It’s hard on them. It’s hard on all those guys. Our job as coaches, my job, is to get us improving. I think we’ve improved in steps, but we have to sustain an effort longer.
“The last thing I’m going to do with this group is give in in terms of the frustration. I think it’s our job to coach them. As long as they’re open to coaching, I think we’ll show improvement. No question, it’s a hard one. It’s right there. It’s right there in front of you. You fought like hell. It’s right there in front of you. No question, it’s a bitter one.”
The defeat only adds to the growing drumbeat from a segment of the Ohio State fan base that is running out of patience for the Buckeyes to turn things around. A home arena that holds 18,809 has averaged 10,531 fans in 12 games this season, the ninth-best mark in the Big Ten. After each of the last two losses, Holtmann has trended on Twitter, and it’s not fans complimenting him on his choice of suit coat. Before Tuesday’s 87-75 home loss to No. 14 Illinois, a smattering of boos could be heard when the coach’s name was announced during pregame introductions.
One day after the 83-58 loss at Northwestern on Jan. 27, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith told The Dispatch, “We have a lot of this season left to play, and we have coaches and players that are focused on winning every day. I’m looking forward to seeing how this turns out.”
The Buckeyes are 29-28 since the start of the 2022-23 season and 8-23 in Big Ten regular-season play. Externally, the pressure is growing on Holtmann to turn things around even as the Buckeyes try to keep their focus on the things they can control.
“All I worry about is just getting better,” Holtmann said when asked if he feels like he’s coaching for his job. “That’s all I worry about is just getting better. That’s all I’m worried about.”
Second-year forward Evan Mahaffey, a Penn State transfer who had 6 points, five rebounds and a team-high four assists in 30:41 on Friday, said that while the players are aware of the outside pressure on Holtmann, he hasn’t seen it affect the coach.
“No. Not once,” Mahaffey said. “I love him for it. I have so much respect for coach. I believe in everything he has to say. On the court, offensively, defensively, everything. We’re going to get it done. I trust every coach in there. I listen to everything they’ve said, and everything they’ve said has gotten me better every game. I have not seen him waver once, because that’s the type of man he is. He’s a great man.”
Mahaffey did say that Holtmann has acknowledged the situation with the players but that it hasn’t impacted their performances or how the team has been coached. Fifth-year forward and Minnesota transfer Jamison Battle, who led the Buckeyes with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting Friday, said the players don’t feel any pressure to perform other than the pressure they put on themselves.
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“You obviously know there’s stuff going on outside of it, but we’re more worried about ourselves and our team,” he said. “The 15 guys in the locker room and the coaches in the locker room, that’s who matters. We’re out there playing, living it every day and we’re out there working so those are the people who matter.”
Holtmann said he feels his players are focused only on getting better and aren’t feeling the pressure of the losing streak or the pressure – real or imagined – about his future. Signed to a contract extension in 2022 that has him with Ohio State through 2028, Holtmann would be owed around $15 million if he were to be fired after this season.
The Buckeyes will host Indiana on Tuesday and Maryland on Saturday. Before that, they will have Saturday off and return to practice Sunday to prepare for the Hoosiers, the team that handed the Buckeyes the first loss in this 1-7 stretch.
“I’m focused on just getting better in the day in front of us,” Holtmann said. “I think all that noise is way more attention for people on the outside than it is us. When you’re in sports, you have to focus on what’s most important.”
Right now, that is figuring out how to win a few more games. The sooner, the better.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: As pressure grows on Chris Holtmann, are the Buckeyes feeling it?
