Chris Holtmann addresses Ohio State’s difficulty holding leads

The Ohio State men’s basketball team squandered another first half lead on Tuesday night against the Indiana Hoosiers. With the loss, the Buckeyes drop to 13-10 on the season and have the second-worst mark in conference play at 3-9, putting their postseason aspirations in serious jeopardy.

Following their 76-73 home loss to Indiana, Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann addressed the media in the postgame press conference but appeared to have a few questions of his own on his team’s struggles. When asked about the Buckeyes’ difficulty holding late-game leads and whether or not they could turn things around this season, Holtmann had this to say.

“I just think we weren’t aggressive enough really; on either end…We’ll see. We will see,” said Holtmann.

One reporter proceeded to question whether or not Ohio State’s late-game offensive sets were to blame for their struggles. And to that, Holtmann pushed back on that notion, highlighting that his team did have some success against Indiana executing their sets.

“We executed a couple of late-game sets. I’m not sure. The last one, they just jumped it. But the ones we got we wanted. We wanted the baseline out of bounds. But the last one, they jumped it.”

Ohio State had a comfortable 13-point, 42-29, lead heading into halftime. They were even able to build off of it, growing their lead to as many as 18 points early in the second half. Unfortunately, the wheels came off the wagon shortly after the 18-point 47-29 lead and or how you found themselves dropping another game after possessing a double-digit second-half lead.

Holtmann defines Scotty Middleton as ‘day-to-day’

Ohio State G Scotty Middleton missed their last game on Friday due to an injury. Now, after the weekend, Chris Holtmann has shared the latest on the freshman’s status moving forward.

Holtmann provided the update on Middleton during his press conference on Monday. He said it was a foot injury that he suffered in practice on Thursday. It kept him out of their loss at Iowa to end last week but Holtmann said he returned to do some work in practice on Sunday.

“Day-to-day – a foot injury. Did it in practice the day before the game,” Holtmann said.

“He’s day-to-day,” said Holtmann. “He did some things yesterday so he’s moving around a little bit better.”

Middleton has appeared in 19 contests over his first collegiate season in Columbus. In those games, he has averaged 4.3 points and 1.5 rebounds in nearly 17 minutes per game off the bench. His reserve role has seen a level of importance on the defensive end, considering what he has provided with his frame as a 6’7 wing.

Middleton, a former four-star, was the third-highest-rated recruit for the Buckeyes coming into this season behind Taison Chatman and Devin Royal. He has been the most impactful rookie for the program so far, though, in regards to opportunity and statistics.