Buckeyes trying to stay sharp during nine-day layoff before UNC game

On3 imageby:Andy Backstrom12/15/22

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COLUMBUS — Chris Holtmann would take a nine-day layoff during the meat of Big Ten play. That doesn’t mean the sixth-year Ohio State head coach is happy to have one right now.

It’s the reality for the No. 23 Buckeyes, who haven’t played since their buzzer-beating win over Rutgers in the conference opener on Dec. 8 and won’t play again until Saturday’s CBS Sports Classic showdown with now-unranked North Carolina in Madison Square Garden.

“No coach would prefer to have this many days off this early in the season,” Holtmann said. “We really need to be playing games.”

Holtmann explained that he thought they would have another Big Ten game before their trip to New York City. Rather than playing two conference games in December like it did last year, Ohio State will have 19 of its 20 Big Ten games after the New Year.

But that’s not to say the Buckeyes didn’t experience a pause in 2021-22. In fact, the program had to cancel three consecutive games against Tennessee Martin, Kentucky and New Orleans because of COVID-19 complications. As a result, Ohio State went 22 days without a game.

Except, that was a very different Buckeyes team. It’s been well documented that Ohio State came into the year ranked 350th nationally in minutes continuity (9.4%) from last season, according to KenPom.

So only three players in the Buckeyes’ nine-man rotation can draw on that specific experience — one of them (Justice Sueing, abdominal) was sidelined with injury, and the other (Eugene Brown III, concussion) is out right now. That leaves Zed Key as the lone Ohio State starter who weathered that 22-day layoff and is active for this year’s nine-day break.

“We need to figure out a way to stay sharp,” Holtmann said. “We’re gonna have to do some things in practice.”

Holtmann mentioned one of those things: He said the Buckeyes were going to have an intra-squad scrimmage this week to replicate 15-20 minutes of game action. Holtmann noted that the beginning of the week-and-a-half pause afforded time for self scouting and fundamentals training. Then the middle and end of the game week are centered around preparation for UNC, last year’s national runner-up and this year’s preseason AP No. 1 team in the country.

When asked if he could treat the first part of the break like a pseudo training camp or preseason, Holtmann said the staff could “to a certain degree.”

“We’ve had some guys out with various things they needed, like medical things,” Holtmann said. “And then obviously with Isaac [Likekele] being gone, our numbers have been limited. So we haven’t been able to dive into that as much these past couple days is I’d like to, but we should be able to get to that this week.”

Holtmann didn’t have a timetable update on Likekele, the Buckeyes’ graduate transfer from Oklahoma State who returned to Arlington, Texas, to attend to a “family matter” ahead of the Rutgers game.

“It’s hard to replicate his physicality defensively, his ability to guard five positions,” Holtmann said. “He’s got good attention to detail. He’s a really smart defender. And then he also does create some easy scores for us in transition with his ability to push the ball. So I think all those things we missed. Our defensive numbers were not great against Rutgers. I think, in part, we did miss him not being there.”

Shoring up defensive and rebounding issues has been an emphasis throughout the layoff, Holtmann said. Although Ohio State ranks fourth nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency, it’s 77th in defensive adjusted efficiency, according to KenPom. The Buckeyes are 87th in opponent field goal percentage (40.53%), and their defensive rebounding percentage has been below 76% in five of their 10 games this season, according to Sports Reference.

Holtmann conceded that his team has had too many lapses on that end of the floor. He wants the Buckeyes to be more consistent in their details and approach defensively.

He wants his older guys to carry the torch there and help Ohio State close the gap between its offensive and defensive efficiency.

Whether the Buckeyes can close the gap could ultimately dictate how successful they are this season. They’ll be tested Saturday in MSG against a Tar Heels team that’s better than its 7-4 record indicates. UNC rolls into the matchup after back-to-back decisive wins over Georgia Tech and The Citadel.

Head coach Hubert Davis’ squad isn’t far behind Ohio State in KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency (ninth), as it boasts one of the most talented backcourts in the country, plus one of the college basketball’s most prized big men.

Perhaps most of all, though, Ohio State will have to wary of rust this weekend. In a way, the nine-day break could be more challenging than UNC.

“If you said, ‘Hey, flip it and let’s do it in January when you have this.’ Sign me up,” Holtmann said of the layoff. “I’m all for that. I would do that in a heartbeat. You know, in January, February. I just don’t prefer it to be right now.

“I just think we’ll need that break come January, February versus right now.”

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