Chris Holtmann shares how Ohio State can become more physical

Sitting at 12-2 after a hard-fought win over Rutgers earlier in the week, Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann has his squad in the thick of the Big Ten race. But he’s got a key area they need to improve to keep thriving in conference play.

Holtmann, speaking after the win, explained some of what he wants to see and how his players can start to exert more physical control on the court.

“We gotta work on it and we gotta show ’em on tape where they got pushed off their spots. We tried to run a few things and they were blowing it up and that can’t happen, so we’ve just gotta correct that,” Holtmann said. 

Playing in a Big Ten that has no shortage of dominant bigs and a generally physical style of play, Holtmann is going to make that facet of the game key going forward for Ohio State.

He also noted back cutting as another area to highlight in film for his players to improve.

“We’ve gotta show it to them on tape and they’ve gotta run better lead cuts than what they ran because we need to be able to get the ball to where we want to get it to. They can’t blowup and deny passes. We had a good back cut on the one where Roddy [Gayle] kind of lost his footing, but we’ve gotta be better with that,” Holtmann said.

Holtmann is back to coaching after being sidelined with an illness

The Buckeyes were without its head coach shortly before Christmas against New Orleans. The Buckeyes announced Holtmann would miss the matchup due to an illness.

Assistant coach Jake Diebler took Holtmann’s place for the game, which tipped off Thursday at 6 p.m. ET in Columbus. In addition, center Felix Okpara is also out with an illness.

Ohio State is off to a 9-2 start to the season, including victories over Alabama and UCLA as part of its non-conference schedule. The Buckeyes will have an opportunity to get their 10th win on Thursday — even if it’s without their head coach.

Going without Okpara will also be big for Ohio State amid his strong start to the season. He leads the team with 6.5 rebounds per game while splitting minutes with Zed Key. The expectation, according to Lettermen Row’s Andy Backstrom, is that Okpara’s absence could open the door for more opportunities for Key.