The Buckeyes won’t want to remember anything about their Big Ten opener. They would have been better off getting stuck in Washington Beltway traffic instead of making it to College Park in time for the 6:30 p.m. tipoff.
Droughts, bad stretches, whatever you like to call them, have cost the Ohio State basketball team two chances at victory in the past six days.
On Sunday, a second-half scoring desert let Pitt back into a game it eventually won in overtime. On Wednesday night in College Park, Maryland, in the Buckeyes’ Big Ten opener, the Buckeyes were a first-half no-show.
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The Buckeyes trailed 50-17 at halftime. Those type of scores are usually reserved for Big Ten teams playing teams from leagues that only earn NCAA First Four assignments. In high school, the second half would have been played with a running clock.
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And a dubious deficit it was. The 33-point lead was the largest in a Big Ten regular-season game since the 1996-97 season.
The Buckeyes rediscovered the game of basketball in the second half and outscored Maryland 42-33 and shot 43 percent. That’s only good for morale going forward. Maryland’s lead, quite predictably, was never threatened and the Terrapins won 83-59.
As Buckeyes head coach Jake Diebler said on his postgame radio show: “On the road. in this league, 20 minutes isn’t enough.”
From the beginning of the 40 minutes it takes to win league games, the Buckeyes were falling farther and farther behind. Four minutes in, the Terps led 9-6. Then it started: 14-6, 25-8, 31-10, 40-12, 50-17. Halftime. Game over.
The Terps (8-1, 1-0) shot 55.9% in the first half, made 5 of 13 3-point shots and it didn’t matter that they committed 11 turnovers.
Diebler said he was disappointed in his team’s lack of pressure on defense in the first half.
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“When you’re on the road there is no feel-out period,” he said. “You’ve got to come out and swing first, and we didn’t. And they got momentum, they had guys making shots, playing with confidence. I wish I could say it was something we didn’t prepare for, we hadn’t practiced. But we were not aggressive enough defensively to start this game.”
The offense followed suit. The Buckeyes (5-3, 0-1) shot 28.6%, missed all seven of their 3-point attempts and committed a whopping 17 turnovers. That allowed Maryland to take 13 more shots.
“We talked about attacking their press by getting the ball into the paint, and too much we were driving laterally,” Diebler said. “We would get out of the trap and dribble to the sideline, and they were able to get a second trap.”
And the turnovers followed.
Devin Royal led the Buckeyes with 18 points in the lopsided loss to Maryland.
“Our perimeter players weren’t as good as they can be tonight,” Diebler said. “But the one thing I know is these guys will respond and be ready to go on Saturday.”
Maryland got a big night from guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie with 23 points on 7 of 11 shooting. Gillespie is a transfer from Belmont and one of several new Terps. Freshman Derik Queen, a McDonald’s All-American from Baltimore by way of Montverde Academy in Florida, had 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Ohio State’s bright spot was the continued good play and scoring of sophomore forward Devin Royal. He scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds before leaving the game in the second half with leg cramps. Royal averaged 16 points and eight rebounds over the previous four games.
“He’s really gotten better these last handful of games,” Diebler said. “His consistency’s improved. I anticipate he’ll be fully ready on Saturday.”
Royal also missed time against Pitt for the same reason. Diebler said Royal’s hydration will monitored more closely to prevent further problems.
The lead grew to 40 early in the second half before the Buckeyes finally responded. Freshman guard John Mobley Jr. led the half with all 15 of his points and made three 3-pointers.
Even though the Buckeyes were hopelessly behind, Diebler liked that they responded to his halftime urgings.
“For us it’s playing to the standard that we’ve worked so hard all off-season to establish,” he said. “And we didn’t do that enough in the first half. Guys stepped up in the second half and looked much more like what we’re capable of.”
The Buckeyes will need that at noon Saturday when Rutgers (5-3) visits the Schottenstein Center. The Scarlet Knights have a win over Notre Dame and close losses to No. 10 Alabama and No. 22 Texas A&M.
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