Scarlet Sunrise: With 'walls closing in,' Buckeyes remain poised in season opener

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With ‘walls closing in,’ Buckeyes remain poised in season opener

On a night where No. 4 Michigan State ended up losing to James Madison in overtime, Ohio State found itself in danger of its own embarrassing defeat Monday.

The Buckeyes trailed most of the game against an Oakland team that sunk 14 shots from beyond the arc and gave Ohio State fits with a 1-1-3 zone.

Just about midway through the second half, head coach Chris Holtmann’s team was down by six in the Schottenstein Center. The Buckeyes — coming off their first losing season since 2003-04 — were in dire need of a comeback.

“You can feel the walls closing in,” Holtmann explained postgame. “And that can be hard for a young kid. They just have to relax and go be a player. Like go focus on the play in front of you right now, do what you’ve been coached and then be you.

“Go be you.”

That’s what Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle Jr. and Zed Key did. They scored Ohio State’s next 32 points. That stretch featured two clutch Thornton 3-pointers — one at the beginning and one near the end — a self-made, 9-0 run by Gayle and some finger guns from Key after ferocious dunks.

Equally important, they made their free throws down the stretch. Ohio State missed only three shots at the charity stripe in the final 11 minutes, and, perhaps most notably, Key and Thornton were a combined 15-of-17 at the line. Freshman forward Scotty Middleton made 3-of-4 free throws in the waning moments, too.

“Breathe. Breathe. For one, as simple as that sounds,” Holtmann explained, when asked what you do when “you can feel the walls closing in.”

Holtmann continued: “And then really just try to discipline your mind to focus on the play in front of you. It’s hard, right? It’s hard when you’re feeling the pressure of the moment, you’re feeling the pressure of beating a team you should beat. And why’s it close? You just have to eliminate all those thoughts. You have to really focus.”

Holtmann, now in his seventh year at the helm, noted that good teams struggle during the first week, and sometimes the first night, of the season. He said he and his staff tried to prepare the Buckeyes for a potentially dangerous game. There are more on the way against talented mid-majors, Holtmann said.

Ultimately, though, Ohio State stayed in the moment — at least enough to beat an upset-minded Oakland squad, 79-73, on the back of four double-digit scorers (Thornton, Gayle, Key and Middleton).

“It showed that we can grind out games as well,” Thornton said. “That was a very gritty but ugly win for us. But I feel like we had a lot of miscues, errors that first game of the year. We kept fighting through that. And we found the answer at the end of the game.

“After that, everybody came together. When we down, we just know we got to hit singles at the end to pull out the win.”

“Hit singles,” in other words focus on one play at a time, the play in front of you.

Rewatch notebook: Final thoughts from Ohio State football win over Rutgers

Ohio State kept its undefeated season alive at Rutgers over the weekend after outscoring the Scarlet Knights, 28-7, in the second half.

Running back TreVeyon Henderson eclipsed 200 scrimmage yards for the second week in a row, and wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. found the end zone twice again.

But there was a lot more that went into Ohio State’s triumph in Piscataway.

After rewatching the game, Lettermen Row offered some final thoughts on the 35-16 win, the Buckeyes’ second straight road victory, and their third in the last four weeks.

Check it out here.

Breaking down PFF snap counts, grades from Rutgers game

With the Pro Football Focus participation report in from Ohio State-Rutgers, Lettermen Row went back and analyzed the snap counts and game grades on both sides of the ball.

Some underclassmen defenders were put in big spots to step up, especially in the secondary. The stars ran the show on offense, but the tight end position included a notable shakeup.

For full analysis of the offense, go here.

And head on over here for a breakdown of the defense.

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Michigan State: 4 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 18 days

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