Coming off three straight losses, the Ohio State men’s basketball team will take on Indiana on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 1 p.m. Head coach Chris Holtmann spoke to members of the media on Jan. 10, previewing the Big Ten battle with the Hoosiers just one day ahead of tipoff.
- Indiana is tough and physical with length. They play with great pace, particularly at home.
- Junior forward Kyle Young? He will be a game-time decision. He was able to do a few things yesterday. He was able to do more in practice, but his fatigue level will have to be good enough to go.
- Kyle helps the offensive lulls we’ve had. He’s not a guy you turn to for double digits every game, but he definitely makes those hustle plays to get us going.
- Struggling guards? We have to be more disciplined and patient in what we’re doing. And they’ve got to make some shots. They have to stay aggressive.
- Freshman forward Alonzo Gaffney played hard. He’s had a turnover issue and we’ve known that since the preseason. I thought Zo provided good energy, and sophomore wing Justin Ahrens too, but we need more from those guys.
- Senior wing Andre Wesson has been a little more vocal. He’s got to provide some perspective. We’ve played some good teams here, and we haven’t performed our best.
- You’re always evaluating what you’re doing. Not just when you’re struggling but also when you’re doing well.
- Defense has to be our identity. We knew we had more advantages defensively than offensively coming into the season.
- We got better shots against Wisconsin than against West Virginia.
- Sophomore guard Luther Muhammad is a capable three-point shooting. He’s actually more effective on the catch-and-shoot than on drives at the rim.
- It will be really loud at Indiana, the structure of the building makes it louder and they have very passionate fans.
- I don’t think sophomore guard Duane Washington would want the rib injury to be an excuse at all. He might have gotten out of rhythm but he wouldn’t blame the injury.
- There’s no question that when you go through a stretch like this with young people. I’m sure it’s affected them, so we’ll see how we respond.
- The challenge for us is to stay true to who we are in terms of our ethic of playing really hard. I think we’ve played consistently really hard.
- Terrific player, terrific talent. Big, strong , physical and elite at getting to the free-throw line. Even though he’s a freshman, he’s a really difficult matchup.
- Kyle is ancy to get back. He’s fully engaged in every meeting and fully engaged on the bench. It speaks o who he is. He hasn’t seem disengaged or out of it. Last year I saw him shedding a tear because he couldn’t practice. Very few are as tough as Kyle Young.
- I liked freshman guard DJ Carton’s aggressiveness. I thought he attacked the paint well. I liked his offense and we’ll need him from that.
- I think Indiana will be a highly motivated group. Obviously, we’re coming off a couple of losses, so we should be too.
- The unfortunate thing for Kyle is the surgery had to happen in season.
- Junior guard C.J. Walker’s illness did not limit him. He was not able to practice before the Maryland game, but he handled it well come game-time.
- Freshman forward E.J. Liddell’s effort, physicality and motor have to improve. He has a great attitude and fantastic mentality.
- Getting the ball to Kaleb Wesson is definitely an emphasis. I felt like we did a decent job of it, but we’ve got to go through him more. And Kaleb has really been an anchor for us on both ends and we’re going to need him to continue to be that.
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