OSU’s Offense Sputters In Big Ten Tournament

In terms of game flow, Ohio State’s two Big Ten tournament games couldn’t have been more different. In a 60-59 win over Iowa on Friday night, the Buckeyes’ largest lead was only nine points.

In a 75-46 loss to UCLA the next day, Ohio State never led and trailed by 37 points heading into the fourth quarter.

Perhaps the biggest commonality between the Buckeyes’ two games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis was a lack of rhythm offensively.

Despite coming up with the dramatic win over Iowa, Ohio State’s 60 points was at the time its third-lowest total of the season. The Buckeyes shot just 23-of-63 from the field (36.5 percent), as they struggled to deal with the Hawkeyes’ zone defense.

“The first half, I just did not think we moved the ball or ourselves around too much, or had a sense of urgency to do that,” Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said after the Iowa game when asked about the Buckeyes’ offensive struggles against the Hawkeyes, “But as the game went on, especially late, I thought we got a lot better shots, and then we stepped up and we made some.”

The Buckeyes, who scored 12 points in the last 6:48 of the fourth quarter against Iowa, didn’t carry any semblance of offensive momentum into their next game against the No. 4-ranked Bruins. Instead, Ohio State scored a season-low 46 points and failed to reach 10 points in both the first and third quarters, on the way to their worst loss of the season.

According to McGuff, the Buckeyes didn’t do anything well during an 8-point first quarter.

“Our bigger problem to start was our offensive execution, which we weren’t getting good shots, we had some silly turnovers and when we did get shots, we didn’t make them,” McGuff said after the UCLA game.

The Buckeyes struggled to consistently score throughout much of February, and reached 70 points only twice in their first six games during the month.

Ohio State seemed to leave those issues in the past, when it defeated Purdue 98-46 and Michigan State 89-78 on Feb. 23 and Feb. 26 respectively, and even managed to score 90 points in an overtime loss to Maryland in its final regular season game.

However, the Buckeyes failed to sustain their offensive efficiency in the Big Ten tournament. According to senior guard Taylor Thierry, the Buckeyes’ defense is actually partially to blame for the offense’s shortcomings.

“Honestly, I think just our defense contributes to our offense,” Thierry said after Ohio State’s loss to UCLA. “So when our defense isn’t good, we’re not getting any good looks on offense.”

Powered by its full-court press, Ohio State ranked top-10 in all of division-1 with 22.3 turnovers forced per game entering Saturday. Since a 71-61 loss to Indiana on Feb. 20, a game in which the Hoosiers found several holes in the Buckeyes’ press, Ohio State has failed to force more than 22 turnovers in an individual game.

In the Big Ten tournament, the Buckeyes full-court pressure was decent, as it played a part in forcing 16 turnovers in both games, but it wasn’t necessarily game-changing. Against the Hawkeyes, the Buckeyes managed just eight points off turnovers, and they only slightly improved that number to 10 against UCLA.

Whatever the source of the Buckeyes’ offensive woes, McGuff’s team will need to make major improvements if it wants to make any sort of run in the NCAA tournament, which will start with the first four on March 19.