Chris Holtmann shares what being on road can do for Ohio State

It’s been an uneven season for Ohio State and Chris Holtmann over the 2023-2024 campaign, but he’s looking at keeping the Buckeyes together moving forward.

Holtmann’s squad has a couple of road games on the horizon, following a clash with Purdue in Columbus. Only six games remain in the regular season, and Ohio State is on the bubble as it pertains to the NCAA Tournament.

Can they make a run at this thing? Holtmann elaborated on why he believes their upcoming road trip could actually help them, looking at it as a way to have his team grow closer together as they face a pivotal stretch in their season.

“We’ll see. We’ll see,” Holtmann said, regarding whether being on the road will help his team’s success moving forward. “I think we’ve got some really, really challenging road games comes up, where we’re going to get tested at a high level, whether it’s — just look at these remaining road games. But we’ll see what the mentality and the fight of our kids are.

“You know, I think that’s what we’re all anxious to see. What’s our fight, our poise, our mentality, our togetherness in those environments that we’re going to face.”

Alas, perhaps it’s too little, too late for the Buckeyes, but Chris Holtmann and company aren’t giving up hope. They could still make some noise over this six-game stretch and during the Big Ten Tournament to salvage their standing, but they need to right the ship sooner rather than later.

Chris Holtmann addresses what win vs. Maryland means for rest of season

Moreover, the Ohio State Buckeyes snapped a five-game losing streak with their win over the Maryland Terrapins. For head coach Chris Holtmann, the game could have a good impact on the team for the rest of the season.

After the game, Holtmann addressed what the win could men moving forward and praised his players, explaining that they showed great leadership to get to the win and had the right approach for the game against Maryland.

“I love some of what we’ve had from our guys that we’ve talked about that are kind of the foundational pieces of our team and our program,” Holtmann said. “A guy like Bruce [Thornton], in terms of how he’s led in practice the past couple of days, but Roddy [Gayle’s] ability to impact the game in a different way, even a guy like Dale [Bonner] who’s in his first year but his mindset has been so good in terms of helping this group both in practice and in games, even though he’s a quieter guy. 

“Evan [Mahaffey], Felix [Okpara], we’ve had a lot of guys who have had the right approach.”

Ohio State beat Maryland 79-75, but it was a battle to get to that win. It was a double overtime game where six different players were called on to play at least 30 minutes, with two of those players playing more than 40 minutes. 

For Chris Holtmann, getting to see his team celebrate a win is a reward to hold onto moving forward this season: “And, as a coach, you’re just glad that they finally found the reward of a win.”

On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this article.