“It’s unacceptable for us to not handle adversity better.” – Ohio State coach Jake Diebler (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Ohio State’s road and neutral-court show didn’t get any better Saturday against Auburn. And the Buckeyes suffered their most lopsided loss of the season.
Once is unacceptable.
Twice in 11 days … intolerable.
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To not repeat what happened at Maryland on December 4 and what happened on Saturday against second-ranked Auburn, the Ohio State men’s basketball players must look in the same direction.
The mirror.
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And what will the mirror tell them?
“It’s unacceptable for us to not handle adversity better,” head coach Jake Diebler said in a postgame radio interview.
He should know. He’s had the best view of his team’s three double-digit losses away from the Schottenstein Center.
The latest roadkill happened on a neutral court in Atlanta. Auburn manhandled the Buckeyes on the boards, caused them to shoot poorly and all around made them look like a bad team in a 91-53 beatdown.
The Buckeyes (6-4) trailed by 10 by the first media timeout. And it got worse from there. The Tigers (9-1) made five of their first seven 3-point shots to lead 34-14. They finished the half with nine threes and led 49-21 at halftime. In the 83-59 loss at Maryland, the Buckeyes trailed 50-17 at halftime.
“We each got to look ourselves in the mirror and figure out what we can do to help us play better when we go to these road environments in the first half,” Diebler said. “What can we do to impact winning in those moments?”
The Buckeyes also fell behind by nine at halftime in a 78-64 loss at Texas A&M. In there only win away from home on a neutral court in Las Vegas, the Buckeyes led Texas 38-31 at halftime and won 80-72. That was the season opener.
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Ohio State will be at home Tuesday to play unranked and 4-4 Valparaiso. The Buckeyes should win that game, but beating the Crusaders won’t answer the big questions the lopsided losses have raised.
The chance to answer those questions comes on another neutral court in eight days in New York against No. 5 Kentucky. Diebler doesn’t want to give a similar answer to the one he gave Saturday.
“Give Auburn credit – they’re a really great team,” Diebler said. “But we didn’t get anywhere near our best. And that’s just not acceptable. We’re all going to be looking internally to figure out what we can do individually to help the collective group.”
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It starts with rebounding. Auburn won that battle 49-28, including 16 on offense for 19 second-chance points. Auburn’s Johni Broome grabbed 20 rebounds to go with his 21 points.
“There wasn’t a single guy I looked out there and thought they did everything they could to help us on the glass,” Diebler said.
Next, is figuring out how to counter defensive schemes designed to limit point guard Bruce Thornton, who leads the Buckeyes in scoring at 14.9. He made 1 of 8 shots, scored three points and didn’t score until deep into the second half.
Diebler said work began the past several practices to find ways to counter how Thornton is being guarded, especially on ball screens. Moving him around the floor to create different situations and matchups is the goal, but Auburn proved there is much more work to be done when the Buckeyes play top teams.
“We’ve got to get better at that execution, he’s got to become more comfortable maybe not having the ball at the top of the court,” Diebler said. “He’s earned that top of the scouting report attention, so we’ve got to help him get the ball at different places, move him around more. He’ll make shots that he missed today, so keep being aggressive. That’s a big thing for him.”
The bright spot for the Buckeyes, just like the Maryland game, was the continued offensive leadership by sophomore forward Devin Royal. He scored 14 points and tried to keep the Buckeyes close in the first half. His emergence as a double-figures scorer and tough-to-guard presence in the paint is the most consistent thing the Buckeyes have going.
“He showed some toughness and some fight,” Diebler said. “We’ve got to continue to make sure we’re getting him enough touches because he’s been really efficient.”
Micah Parrish added 10 points, but no one other than Royal made an impact as a scorer when the lead was within reach in the first half. The Buckeyes shot 25% in the first half and 35.3% for the game.
“When the ball was moving for us, we got great looks.” Diebler said. “We just didn’t do it enough.”
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