Ohio State sophomore forward E.J. Liddell (32) participates in the tipoff during the Ohio State-Purdue game on Jan. 19. Ohio State lost 65-67. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Coming off a top-10 win Saturday, the Buckeyes face a different challenge: complacency.
No. 13 Ohio State (12-4, 6-4 Big Ten) was looking ahead to an eight-day break after their upset win over then-No. 10 Wisconsin, but they will instead split that break and square off against an up-and-down Penn State (5-6, 2-5 Big Ten) Wednesday. The new game day isn’t the only difference in the matchup, as it’s the first game Ohio State has played against a sub-.500 opponent since Dec. 30 against Nebraska.
The win against Wisconsin marked the fourth win by Ohio State against an AP Top-25 team, but the Buckeyes are 1-2 against unranked opponents coming off wins against ranked opponents.
Noting the challenge of playing Big Ten competition, Holtmann said he and his coaching staff need to prepare the Buckeyes to play at a high level against the unranked Nittany Lions.
“It’s our job as coaches to make sure they understand how good this Penn State team is,” Holtmann said. “I think we’ve got great respect for everybody we play, certainly a team the caliber of Penn State, who is a tournament team last year and very well could be a tournament team this year.”
Although sitting with a below .500 record, Penn State collected a 20-point win at then-No. 15 Virginia Tech and a narrow 4-point loss to No. 4 Michigan.
Penn State has also been a team that has mystified Ohio State the past two years, beating Holtmann’s Buckeyes four of the six meetings in the last three seasons.
The Nittany Lions are led by their dynamic guard duo.
Junior guard Myreon Jones leads the team with an average of 15.9 points per game, and running mate junior guard Izaiah Brockington is a close second with 14.7 points per game.
Holtmann said consistency and preparing for different matchups will be necessary to avoid a second consecutive loss at home.
“I think a real sign of maturity is how you can consistently perform,” Holtmann said. “[Wisconsin] plays completely differently than Penn State, so it’s a really different scheme offensively and defensively. I think that’s the challenge in this.”
The Buckeyes were originally expected to square off with Penn State Jan. 6, however, COVID-19 cases in the Nittany Lions’ program pushed the game back to Wednesday.
With a new game day approaching, Holtmann said the Buckeyes have changed their approach to the Nittany Lions as compared to when they were preparing for them earlier in the season.
“We prepared for them, but they’re a little different now. Not entirely different but they’ve played more games,” Holtmann said. “They’re an NCAA tournament team, I believe that, so we prepared for them but we had to tweak some things.”
Although the Penn State program faced a brief shutdown earlier in the season, the Buckeyes have remained unscathed by COVID-19 to this point.
However, Holtmann acknowledged the reality of navigating through this season but also pointed to the joys that have come with playing it.
“The moment you pat yourself on the back about being somewhat COVID-free is when it comes and bites you,” Holtmann said. “I think they’ve enjoyed the season, it helps and they have a lot of motivation because they’ve enjoyed the season, they’ve enjoyed playing.”
