Chris Holtmann understands 'it takes a minute' for freshmen to adjust to Big Ten competition

COLUMBUS — Having four freshmen in a nine-man rotation comes with growing pains. Chris Holtmann knows that, and the sixth-year Ohio State head coach understands that those kinks are inevitable, particularly at the start of Big Ten play.

“To be honest with you, I think it takes a minute,” Holtmann said this week ahead of Thursday’s conference opener versus Rutgers. “I think it’s hard for them right now to appreciate — we’ll do our best — but it’s hard for them to appreciate the intensity and the toughness required in a Big Ten game.

“It just is. So they really need game experience. We’ll do our very best, and we will communicate that to them and show it to them on film. But it’s a whole nother level when you’re out there in live action.”

That said, Holtmann believes playing in the Maui Invitational Thanksgiving Week and then at Duke last week has served as good preparation for the No. 25 Buckeyes, who came into the year 350th in minutes continuity from last season (9.4%), according to KenPom.

Not only has the competition, which has featured three AP-ranked opponents, tested Ohio State’s freshmen — plus Wright State transfer Tanner Holden — but so did the back-to-back-to-back games in Hawaii. Conference play can wear players down mentally just as much as it can physically.

Holtmann said he and his staff are mindful of that, especially in January and February when the Big Ten games stack up.

“I think the reality is, you realize, as a coach, your team’s not going to be their best every night,” Holtmann said. “And there’s going to be some that are going to be very difficult to win. And the ones that are in front of you that you do have a chance to win, you want to get, but, more than anything, you want your team to grow as the year goes on.”

He continued: “In this league right now, we’ve said it over a number of years. I mean, the teams that win it, typically lose five to six times out of 20 games. So no one goes without blemishes in a league like this. And I think that long-term perspective is required.”

Ohio State started 11-5 in league action last year before losing three of its last four and then getting bounced in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament by a 14-win Penn State team.

Ups and downs are expected but finishing strong in March is paramount.

The Buckeyes have already experienced some turbulence this season. They dropped their first game of the Maui Invitational against now-No. 22 San Diego State yet responded by reorienting their defense and allowing just 53 points to a Cincinnati team that piled up 93 on now-No. 10 Arizona the night before.

Then, last week, Ohio State fell to Duke in Durham, as its four impact freshmen combined for just 20 points. It was the only game this season where Brice Sensabaugh didn’t finish in double figures — instead, he had more personal fouls (five) than points (four).

Sensabaugh said that each of the Buckeyes first-year players pick one another up after setbacks like that.

“We’re all roommates. We’re super close. We’ve been staying with each other since the beginning of the summer. Like six or seven months now. So we’ve had growing pains. It’s not going to be perfect,” he said before Tuesday’s practice.

Sensabaugh added: “We’re all super close, and we talk about it sometimes. It’s nothing that we can’t handle as a group.”

Granted it was against a St. Francis team that’s rated 339th overall by KenPom, but the Buckeyes responded Saturday with a resounding 96-59 win. And, perhaps most notably, it was the first time four Ohio State true freshmen all scored in double figures since Dec. 22, 2014 — back then, it was Kam Williams, D’Angelo Russel, Keita Bates-Diop and Jae’Sean Tate, who all had at least 10 points against Miami (Ohio).

In the bounce-back, non-conference win, guard Roddy Gayle Jr. and center Felix Okpara both reached double-digit points for the first time in their young Buckeyes career. It was a significant moment for Gayle, who had struggled offensively with a combined five points in the previous four games.

Despite not having turned in that kind of scoring production against a high major team this season, Gayle trusts his ability in Big Ten play.

“I’m extremely confident, especially like through high school I feel like I played a decent amount of talent and physical people,” he said Tuesday. “I feel like I battle a bunch of physical guys in practice every day. I feel like our practices are very intense.

“I feel like coaches and my teammates prepared me for this.”

Even if it takes Ohio State’s freshmen a minute to figure it out, they’ve shown already that they can get back on the saddle.

That’ll be more important than anything during the Big Ten slate.