Ohio State forgot to pack its defense for its weekend trip to Madison, Wisconsin, dooming the Buckeyes to a 10-point road loss.
The inconsistency bug is a parasite inside of every almost-big win the Ohio State basketball team has sniffed this season.
But it’s not always the same disease.
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You might think the latest defeat was caused by off-scoring days from John Mobley Jr. and Christoph Tilly. Those maladies did their damage. But head coach Jake Diebler made a different diagnosis after Saturday’s 92-82 loss at Wisconsin.
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“Our biggest issue was on the defensive end today,” Diebler said on the postgame radio show. “We scored enough points to be able to at least have a chance to win on the road, and we didn’t get enough stops.”
To Diebler’s point, the Buckeyes (14-7, 6-5 Big Ten) entered the game – a key NCAA Tournament resume marker for both teams – scoring an average of 77.5 points per game and allowing 75.8. And, the Buckeyes forced only five turnovers, half of their average.
But Wisconsin (16-6, 8-3) – much more fast-paced this season – ravaged the Buckeyes’ defense with the scoring and playmaking of backcourt mates of Nick Boyd and John Blackwell.
Blackwell’s bully moves to the basket sparked a 22-point performance. Boyd’s open-court runs through the Buckeyes’ failed attempts at transition defense resulted in 21 points. And both of their styles sent them to foul line enough to combine on 13-of-13 shooting.
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“We just didn’t have that level of execution and attention to detail,” Diebler said.
The unexpected detail and X factor the Buckeyes missed was the 3-point shooting of 6-foot-10 Austin Rapp off the bench. He was in one of those let-him-shoot-until-he-proves-he-can-make-it funks. But in 11 first-half minutes, Rapp made 5 of 6 3-point shots, 7 of 8 shots overall and scored 19 points. Rapp had made only 4 of 21 3-point attempts since Christmas. He didn’t score in the second half.
Taison Chatman came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points…before fouling out in just 17 minutes.
“We knew Rapp could shoot, and we got caught in a two-way help situation a couple times that let him get going,” Diebler said. “That’s a key principle of ours not to do.”
Ohio State holds opponents to 30.1% shooting from 3-point range, ranking them No. 37 in the nation. The Badgers shot 35%, thanks mostly to Rapp.
The Buckeyes, as they have learned to do, started well and led 21-11 when Puff Johnson made his first 3-pointer since joining the Buckeyes a week ago. Then the chronic condition of not hanging onto a lead resurfaced.
Led by Rapp’s shot in the arm, the Badgers rallied to a 26-23 lead with a 15-2 run. The Buckeyes hung around with their own bench tonic in Taison Chatman, who made two keep-it-close 3-pointers as part of an 11-point half.
The Badgers led 49-43 at the half, continued to do no worse than trade baskets with the Buckeyes in the second half and never trailed. The Badgers’ largest lead was 89-73 with under three minutes left.
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While the Badgers found the right scoring mix of Blackwell, Boyd and the surprising Rapp, the Buckeyes’ offense needed some six-part harmony to overcome its defensive disorders.
And defense had something to do with it. Mobley Jr., the team’s hottest scorer with four straight games over 22 points, fouled for the second time before the 15-minute mark. That limited him to 10 first-half minutes.
Mobley Jr. didn’t recover. He scored nine points on 4-of-12 shooting, including 1 of 8 from 3-point range. And the game started so well for him. He made a runner in the paint and a transition 3-pointer for an early 7-2 lead.
Chatman replaced Mobley Jr. and scored a career high 14 points. But he could’ve played more than 17 minutes if not for fouling out.
“That’s unacceptable – we’ve got a guard without fouling,” Diebler said. “We tried multiple different defensive coverages because we weren’t executing at the level we needed to. We were trying to find something that could slow them down and create some turnovers. We didn’t. We weren’t aggressive enough. As aggressive as we were in fouling, they were often times because we were late and we were reactionary. We only forced five turnovers. That’s not enough, not enough deflections, not enough steals.”
Center Christoph Tilly entered the game still suffering from a lower-leg injury and wasn’t himself. He averages 12.3 points a game, but he missed all eight of his shots – all of them near the rim – and didn’t score, playing only 19 minutes.
Bruce Thornton bounced back somewhat as a scorer after two off games with 17 points. Amare Bynum played well overall from a statistical standpoint with 18 points, seven rebounds and a blocked shot.
Devin Royal carried the Buckeyes through most of the second half, keeping them close enough to strike until late, with 13 of his 17 points and six rebounds.
But on a deficient defensive day like Saturday, four scorers in double figures couldn’t match the Badgers’ more consistent offensive performance.
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