They’re kinda reeling and sub-.500 overall. Some actual rest for our guys, who have been road warriors. Winnable! But the Buckeyes manhandled us in Evanston. Really big win tonight, though not pretty. Shooting from three has been ugly. But they gutted it out. Bench was good. Man a win in Columbus would be massive.
Ohio State
- Thread starter NJcatsfan_rivals139741
- Start date
Yeah we need that one. Schedule rest of the way is absolutely brutal. Gonna take quite an effort to go 4-4 rest of way.
OSU is somehow still 41st in NET, which is 11 spots higher than us. They are dead last in the country in the KenPom “luck” rating so all the metrics point to them being actually good but they aren’t winning games. But good for us in that this is another shot at a Quad 1 win.
Unfortunately Wisconsin just dropped to 77th by losing to us, so it’s a Quad 2 road win and the home win over them has dropped to Quad 3. We need the Badgers to win some games down the stretch.
Unfortunately Wisconsin just dropped to 77th by losing to us, so it’s a Quad 2 road win and the home win over them has dropped to Quad 3. We need the Badgers to win some games down the stretch.
We have always seemed to have problems with OSU in BB, That would be sweet to notch that in this season. Gets harder after that as the 3 games we have at home are all difficult matchups
Penn State's loss to Nebraska helps. CBS had them as an 11 seed from the Big Ten today while they had Northwestern nowhere. That's a bad loss for the Lions to a team we beat handily on the road. The game with them at Welsh Ryan could be a big one, Let's hope we can squeak out a couple more wins before then. The schedule is indeed brutal from here out. A win at Columbus would be most helpful before we face a real gauntlet.
Only have to go 3-5 to be 0.500 in BIG. That should have us in descent shape as tough as the conference is. But even that is no easy task
Yeah, they lost at home to Wisconsin but their coach gave the Badgers a big lift with two technicals and ejection in the first half that helped them extend a big first half lead. Buckeyes almost overtook them, but lost by four in the end (the number of points Hultman's T cost them)
This will be the first 3day break since Jan 11. That has got to help. I was worried tonight that they would simply run out of gas. That factor should fade going forward.
Would be nice if we started hitting from distance again in Columbus, after some rest and practice after an insane stretch of games.
CBS was an outlier this week on us and PSU. Of the 93 bracket projections followed by bracketmatrix, we were included in 85 going into today’s game and Penn State was included in 11. Wisconsin was in 46 (talk about a bubble team) and Ohio State is currently listed in 1 (though that’s from a projection that hasn’t updated since 1/30).
The game with PSU is almost certainly going to be a big one, or at least it will be without a big collapse by either team. It’s NU’s most winnable game left at this point and against another bubble team. There’s only one game left after to make up any group, and that’s a very tough visit at Rutgers. With as challenging as it is to get to 10 wins, the odds that the Cats will be sitting there needing that one is pretty good.
From what I can tell without watching their games, in the game after they played us against Purdue, Zed Key got hurt early and they collapsed in the last minute to lose. Key missed the next game at MD where they were leading at halftime but then didn't score for 6 minutes in the 2nd half and went on to lose by 7. Key returned the next game, but they choked at home against MN losing by 3. Then they played 4 of their next 5 on the road, forcing OT at Rutgers before losing by 4, lost at NEB by 3, beat Iowa at home, but then weren't competitive at Illinois or Indiana. They nearly stormed back from a 15 point deficit at home against Wisconsin but couldn't finish in a game where Sensabaugh was sensational but fouled out in only 16 minutes, and then lost at Michigan in a game they never led.
McNeil seems to be a key for them - he was a bigger factor in the games they won against us and Iowa, and not so much in the losses. Key has not been the same since his injury and has been noticeably less efficient on offense. They've also used 7 different starting lineups since our game but has gotten very little offense from their normal bench players. They also seem to be suffering from a lack of leadership based on an article I saw.
However it shakes out, in the first game, they beat us by dominating us inside, getting offensive rebounds, getting to the foul line, forcing us into too many bad 3-point shots, and holding us to our worst 2-pt shooting performance of the season.
We can't have Big Matt go 0-7 and 0-4 from the line again (how do you get 8 offensive rebounds and not score a point!?), we can't have Buie shoot 3-15 again, we can't have Beran shoot 1-7 again, and we can't have our centers pick up 8 fouls combined in 40 minutes. I'd like to see more of Barnhizer with his height to guard Sensabaugh and stick Audige on McNeil. Hopefully Big Matt learned from the last game and can be more physical against Key without fouling so much.
This is good. Sensabaugh is a tough matchup. Plays inside and out. Thick but can shoot. I assume Audige had the matchup in January, but I think Barnhizer could get some.
In fact, 2 weeks late, this might be the game to finally slide BB into the starting five.
Game in Evanston was weird.
18-6 with 12:16 left
34-10 with 4:20 left
39-47 the rest of the way
No way this happens in Columbus
Unfortunately, OSU is similar. 8-3 at home but 1-7 on the road. Being the 1 hurts…
I don't think I can name four things on this team they can depend on from game to game. Barnhizer's defense and nose for the ball is one of the few dependable things.
I'm not as crazy about Barnhizer as many, but he's earning the increased minutes over Beran and Berry. He should probably get a bit more than the high-20 minutes he's had over these six games. Hopefully, his offense then settles down with experience.
IMHO, NU just handed that game to duh-OSU by opening in one of their coldest cold spells and remaining stuck there for the entire first half, and by then the game was over. By far the worst they've played all season. CCC musta thought he was having a nightmare. Just at the moment the fans were ready to watch NU COMPETE at the conference level.
The duh-OSU game Thursday is a must-win. CCC should have no trouble motivating the team for this one.
OSU is reeling but have good individual talent. They have not pieced it together recently, but they handed NU their worst lost of the year besides the Pitt game. NU will learn from their mistakes and want revenge! Need this game... 8-5 & 7-6 are 2 very different positions to be in going into the final stretch of the season.
I watched OSU against Michigan. Based on that and seeing some of their boxscores, it seems like this is a team that struggles to finish. They are in a lot of games, but can't get over the hump to win them. I think they are young and have a new coach (not new to coaching, of course, but new to them). Also, Sensabaugh is an incredible talent, but I get the feeling when he is out here, he is a one man show. Once he touches the ball, it is likely not going anywhere else except up on the rim. That can be a little tricky to run an offense when 4 guys are trying to do one thing and one guy is doing his own thing.
You're right. I got confused. I thought they were talking about it being his first year during the game yesterday. I just know they keep going through former Xavier coaches and I can't keep it straight.
(So, maybe I'm not the smartest one on here)
It surprised me also. I can't believe he's been there 6 years. I'm sure many of the very patient Buckeye fans are calling for his head.
No doubt. This will be the first year he doesn't win at least 20 games unless the Bucks go on one heck of a winning streak.
Get that ball into the paint to MN. yes Boo and Audige can do what they want but switch that **** up