Chris Holtmann believes Ohio State's losing skid is much different than last year's

With their defeat in Ann Arbor on Monday, Ohio State dropped their third straight game. Even so, Chris Holtmann knows that it doesn’t compare it all to when they had separate skids of five and then nine games last season.

Holtmann compared this year’s losing streak to those of last year during his postgame press conference after the 73-65 loss to Michigan. While it’s a losing streak just the same and they certainly want to get back in the win column, their statistics suggest that this stretch isn’t anywhere near as bad as last season’s.

“All the numbers would suggest it’s much different than last year,” said Holtmann. “The quality of our games, even the ones we’ve lost here? The quality of play has been much better than the stretch we were in last year.”

“Obviously, it’s an end-result game. We’ve got to figure out how to finish out,” Holtmann said. “At the end of the day, our play has been significantly better than that stretch.”

During conference play last year, Ohio State lost 14 of 15 games. One 16-point victory against Iowa separated those two long losing streaks.

As for this season, the Buckeyes have dropped their previous three at Indiana, against Wisconsin, and against the Wolverines. However, all three of those featured moments where Ohio State could have come out victorious.

In Bloomington, the Buckeyes led by as much as nine in the second half and outrebounded the Hoosiers by 22 before Indiana closed the game well offensively to take it by six. Then, against the Badgers, they led by as much as eight before Wisconsin finished the game on a 19-4 run.

The loss inside the Crisler Center was the least competitive of the trio for Ohio State. They were down as much as a dozen before coming all the way back to take a four-point lead. They just ran out of gas over the final six and a half minutes to eventually lose by eight.

It’s not good in any sense to have lost three straight, especially now that conference play has begun. Still, considering all things, Holtmann is far less concerned about this team finding a way to get back on track come Saturday back in Columbus against Penn State.

“I’ll just speak to this group,” said Holtmann. “This group right now? I’ve got a lot of faith in this group, the leadership of this group, and their ability to continue to grow and get better.”