Ohio State HC Jake Diebler says the quiet part out loud after Buckeyes’ blowout loss to Michigan that has tournament hopes on thin ice
Ohio State basketball was pounced by Michigan, and now their NCAA Tournament hopes are hurting.
The Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball team stood no chance against the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday, and that was evident throughout.
Michigan played a much better brand of basketball against Ohio State, leading to the Buckeyes’ 82-61 loss. Ohio State trailed 44-34 at halftime, and nothing got better in the second half.
Outside of free throws made, where the Buckeyes had 14 to Michigan’s six, Ohio State really didn’t compete in any facet of the game.
Jake Diebler gets honest after Ohio State’s loss to Michigan
Ohio State was out-rebounded 44-31 by Michigan, including a 16-7 margin on the offensive glass. The Buckeyes’ lack of front-court size and physicality was on full display against No. 2 Michigan.
“I don’t know that I would say there was a lack of effort; there was a major lack of physicality,” Diebler stated. “Those are two different things. I mean, there’s some correlation to some degree. But we didn’t lack effort; we lacked major physicality. And to give you an example, a shot goes up, it’s not like we weren’t running hard to the rim.
“The problem was, we were running hard to the rim, and not running hard to hit somebody, and creating contact so we could rebound down the floor. That’s not an effort thing, that’s a lack of physicality, and that’s a lack of attention to detail.”
Forward Devin Royal was Ohio State’s leading rebounder with six boards, while freshman forward Amare Bynum (zero rebounds) and senior center Christoph Tilly (three rebounds) just didn’t do enough.
Michigan’s forward duo of Yaxel Lendeborg and Morez Johnson combined for 26 rebounds themselves. When you throw in center Aday Mara, Michigan had three players out-rebound Ohio State 32-31 by themselves. It was simply a bad showing for the Buckeyes that’ll have them losing every time.
Ohio State is now 15-8 on the season, and its NCAA Tournament hopes are shrinking. The Buckeyes badly could have used a resume-building win over Michigan at home on Sunday — instead, they were blown out by the equivalent of three touchdowns.
The Buckeyes have two more games this week that could be make-or-break. USC at home on Wednesday, followed by a neutral site game against Virginia on Saturday in Tennessee, are good chances to build the resume.
Ohio State has eight games remaining in the regular season.