Less than 30 hours away from the No. 11 Buckeyes’ matchup with No. 12 Maryland at the Xfinity Center in College Park, Md., Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann spoke to members of the media.
- Preparing for a really good Maryland team. A team that is long, talented and really well-coached.
- Maryland’s Anthony Cowan Jr. is leading the way again. Jalen Smith is playing really well.
- We did some good things against Wisconsin, overall. We were not able to make enough plays there late, and the Badgers’ offensive rebounds hurt us.
- We’re trying to do some things in practice where we put the guys in late-game situations. There is an experience element to it, but as coaches, we’ve got to get them as much experience as we can in those situations.
- Junior forward Kyle Young is day-to-day, game-to-game, not ready to make a statement about tomorrow’s game with him.
- After watching the Wisconsin tape, I thought we did some things better than I had thought from the naked eye. Giving up the offensive rebounds still stands out, though.
- Where is freshman big man Ibrahima Diallo? Rebounding is a concern against Maryland. We’ve thought about using him as well as fellow freshman Alonzo Gaffney.
- Gaffney has been out with various injuries and illness. Neither Gaffney nor Diallo are ready to provide scoring but they can both be effective rebounders.
- I’ve coached freshmen before and seen guys go through ups and downs. It’s hard to make judgments before you see guys go through league games.
- The evaluations and analyses made in November are premature.
- We don’t know how good you are until you get well into January. Assumptions are made early on that are not always accurate. I’m assessing us on a day-to-day basis with how we can get better.
- We might have a conversation with the team about how highly ranked we’ve been but how that does not matter. If I sense the team is too into that, then maybe we’ll have a conversation. Our guys understand how competitive Big Ten basketball is, though.
- I’m anxious to see how our guys respond to the loss in this game at Maryland.
- Freshman guard D.J. Carton made some really good reads in the Wisconsin game. His development is an ongoing process, especially with teams picking up on his tendencies on film.
- We have got to do a better job of getting to the free-throw line at the end of games.
- Junior big man Kaleb Wesson is a guy we try to run the offense through because of his skill-set.
- Sophomore guard Duane Washington has been too ancy and forcing it too much. He’s got the ability to score, he’s just got to be more efficient.
- Carton has improved in the half court. He made a couple of really nice plays against Wisconsin that showed real progress. Some of the careless turnovers are what he really has to eliminate.
- It’s a balance this time of year to get better and make sure we get rest and recover.
- Senior wing Andre Wesson was really good if he could have eliminated one of his second-half turnovers.
- Gaffney has to rebound and take care of the ball. He also has to improve in transition defense.
- Kaleb Wesson’s improved mobility helps him against an athletic big like Jalen Smith. I’ve never been a part of a league with so many elite big men.
- Stopping Cowan? He is great at getting to the free-throw line and into the seams of your defense. We will rotate multiple guys on them if we can.
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