COLUMBUS, Ohio –– The common thread through Ohio State’s past two games, aside from the fact that both were hotly contested affairs that came down to the wire, is that each featured a whole lot of offense on both sides.
With point totals of 92 and 87 against Penn State and Michigan, respectively, this past week, and sky-high shooting percentages to boot, the Buckeye offense is clearly clicking at an elite level at the right time.
On defense though, the Buckeyes just gave up the first and third-most points that any Big Ten team has scored on them this season in the last two games alone, with the 92 and 82-point outings put together by the Wolverines and Nittany Lions easily standing as the worst two-game stretch for the Ohio State scoring defense all season.
“I don’t think this team necessarily has the potential to be elite defensively,” head coach Chris Holtmann said after Sunday’s loss to Michigan. “I do think we need to get better.”
While the total points scored against Ohio State have been alarming as of late, the shooting percentages for Buckeye opponents are no positive indicator either.
Michigan shot 53.4 percent from the field against the Buckeyes on Sunday, and 47.8 percent from 3. Oh, and that 3-point percentage came after a 1-for-10 performance from deep in the second half.
In the first 20 minutes, the Wolverines knocked down 10-of-13 3s for a first half percentage of 76.9 percent.
“I didn’t feel like our details were great,” junior guard Duane Washington said.“They had a lot of rhythm 3s, shots that we’ll make as well at a high level. You give them those, you get them rolling, and 10 3s in the first half is unacceptable and it’s tough to win games like that.”
But Sunday was the second-straight game in which the Buckeyes had to shoot lights out themselves in order to stay in the game against a red-hot Big Ten opponent.
In the first half on Thursday, Penn State hit 53.8 percent of its 3-point attempts, and shot nearly an identical percentage from the field.
Michigan and Penn State may possess two of the top six scoring offenses in the conference, but after a Michigan State matchup this Thursday, Ohio State closes out the season against Iowa and Illinois: the Big Ten’s No. 1 and No. 2 scoring offenses.
Ohio State has already beaten both of those teams, but each put up 80-plus points on the Buckeyes as well. Holtmann knows that victories in the upcoming rematches won’t be earned unless things are tightened up defensively.
“We’ve talked about it; our margin for error defensively is small,” Holtmann said. “It is very small. So our attention to detail has to be really, really good.”
The margin for error isn’t all that is small though. The undersized Buckeye frontcourt, which held up well against opposing bigs during Ohio State’s seven-game win streak, showed cracks once again when 7-foot-2 Michigan freshman Hunter Dickinson scored 16 in the second half against the Buckeyes on Sunday.
RELATED: How do Buckeyes overcome looming size disadvantage?
Unfortunately for Ohio State, Iowa and Illinois possess the Big Ten’s two most dominant centers in Luka Garza and Kofi Cockburn, and if limiting their production was difficult the first time around, it could be even harder in attempt No. 2.
Sophomore forward E.J. Liddell, who often draws the difficult defensive assignment of guarding opposing centers, said Sunday’s performance showed that Ohio State can hang with the conference’s top team.
If Ohio State hopes to finish out Big Ten play strong against the conference’s elite, Liddell, Holtmann and Buckeyes are well aware that their defensive efforts must improve going forward.
