Scarlet Sunrise: Three-game skid thrusts last year's Buckeyes slide back into the picture

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Three-game skid thrusts last year’s Buckeyes slide back into the picture

Ohio State has lost three straight games in January, and the question is already being asked: Is it happening again?

A year removed from the Buckeyes losing 14-of-15 games from Jan. 5 to Feb. 23, they have already dropped two games below .500 in Big Ten competition after another impressive start to a season.

Head coach Chris Holtmann sees where that question is coming from, but he doesn’t believe it’s the same script this time around.

“All the numbers would suggest it’s much different than last year,” Holtmann said postgame after Monday’s 73-65 loss at Michigan. “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, and we got to figure out how to finish out. But, at the end of the day, our play has been significantly better than that stretch.”

Ohio State fought back from 10 points down at Indiana to make it a one-possession game with 1:44 left. This past week, the Buckeyes led by two points with 5:49 remaining against No. 15 Wisconsin. Monday at Michigan, Holtmann’s squad used a 16-0 run to turn a 12-point deficit into a four-point lead with under eight minutes to go.

Ohio State lost all three of those games.

Buckeyes leaders Bruce Thornton and Jamison Battle have talked in the last week about how those games have been determined by the “little things” — boxing out, rebounding, being in position for the ice, having your hands up to defend 3-pointers — which Ohio State must do better in crunch time.

Felix Okpara pointed out something else, too.

“We just need to reach that next level playing tougher,” the second-year center said after the Michigan game. “When we tired, when our body hurting in the last two, three minutes of the game, we just gotta take that next step. And I feel like we can do it. We do it in practice every day. We compete every day in practice.

“We just gotta keep going hard when we’re tired.”

It’s a “toughness thing” Holtmann said. That, combined with the Buckeyes getting deflated after missed shots down the stretch, are both growth areas for his team.

But it’s a team that he believes is more connected than the group that spiraled last year and, despite a Big Ten Tournament run, finished with the program’s first losing season since 2003-04.

“I got a lot of faith in this group and the leadership of this group and their ability to continue to grow and get better,” said Holtmann, who was adamant that Ohio State’s 2023-24 story is far from over.

Thornton is Ohio State’s leading scorer and leading voice in the locker room. He was promoted to captain as a freshman midseason last year. He was asked postgame Monday if the 2022-23 slide has crossed his mind yet.

“This is a whole new team, it’s a whole new feeling,” Thornton said. “That’s always in the back of my head because I just know what not to do.”

That means, above all else, no finger pointing, Thornton said.

“Going against each other, not being on the same page, small things like that,” he explained. “There’s no pointing fingers. We’re a team. We got to figure it out.”

Ohio State fans aren’t holding back from pointing fingers, though. And they aren’t in the foam variety. No, they’re real and angry and directed toward Holtmann, who is in his seventh year as head coach and has yet to lead the Buckeyes to an NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen appearance.

A big part of that frustration stems from the drop-off Holtmann’s Ohio State teams have experienced in January most years he’s been at the helm.

OHIO STATE JANUARY RECORD	SEASON
8-1	2017-18
1-6	2018-19
2-5	2019-20
6-2	2020-21
5-3	2021-22
2-7	2022-23
*1-3	2023-24

Thornton was asked if the heat his coach is taking bothers him.

“They’ve been saying ‘fire Holtmann’ stuff before anyone got there. So we don’t even look at it all, to be honest,” he said. “Because they ain’t in the locker room, they ain’t running with us, they ain’t going over to meetings, they ain’t going through the film, they ain’t lifting with us. So it’s just bad energy, and we don’t pour into bad energy. It’s not good for us.”

Thornton pointed out that the Buckeyes have 14 Big Ten regular season games remaining. They still have control of how this season goes and, most importantly, whether they return to the NCAA Tournament.

So is it happening again?

Some change-starved fans will say yes. Of course the team says no.

The answer will come from how — or if — the Buckeyes bounce back in January and February. Whatever that answer is, it will be clear by March, a month Ohio State wants so badly to mean something for the program.

Ohio State second-half comeback not enough at Michigan, road drought continues

Ohio State trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half at Michigan but roared back with a 16-0 run to take a four-point lead with under eight minutes left.

Except, the Wolverines didn’t go away. And that’s in large part because of their 3-point happy offense.

Michigan shot 12-of-23 from beyond the arc, and three of those long-range makes came in the final six minutes of action, as Michigan pulled back ahead of Ohio State and held off the Buckeyes in the Crisler Center.

For the full game story, go here.

Report: Buckeyes targeting Ross Bjork in athletic director search

Ohio State is reportedly close to finding Gene Smith’s successor.

The Buckeyes are zeroing in on Texas A&M Athletic Director Ross Bjork, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, who reported that the “search is expected to be finalized in upcoming days.”

Smith announced in August that he would be stepping down from his position as Buckeyes AD on June 30, 2024. It appears as if new university president Walter “Ted” Carter and Ohio State have found Smith’s replacement.

For more details on Bjork, head on over here.

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Akron: 228 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 319 days

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