The Ohio State Buckeyes raise their fists before going back to the court after a timeout during the Ohio State-Purdue game on Jan. 19. 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 Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
As Ohio State has largely cruised throughout the month of January, the Buckeyes look to close the month strong against an ailing blue-blood.
No. 13 Ohio State (13-4, 7-4) squares off against Michigan State (8-5, 2-5) for the first time this season Sunday at the Schottenstein Center. While the Buckeyes have found a groove and won five of their last six games, the Spartans have lost 5-of-7 to go along with COVID-19 adversity that put nearly three weeks between their most recent games in January.
Despite the struggles, head coach Chris Holtmann said his team understands the caliber of team Michigan State is every year.
“Michigan State’s not going to struggle the whole year. They’re too good, they’re too well coached, they’re too talented,” Holtmann said. “We’ll have that conversation with them, but I think they’ve got an understanding of how good this team is.”
The Spartans come into Sunday’s bout with the Buckeyes off an embarrassing 67-37 loss to Rutgers Thursday, a game in which Michigan State shot 28.6 percent from the field en route to their lowest scoring output since 2008. However, Thursday was Michigan State’s first game back from a pause in team activities that started Jan. 13 due to a COVID-19 outbreak.
Holtmann said the Buckeyes expect a more rejuvenated Michigan State squad Sunday.
“They had to come off of COVID and I’m sure probably showed some rust [Thursday] night, but I really believe we’re gonna see Michigan State at their best,” Holtmann said. “We expect a heck of a battle.”
Ohio State also faced midweek struggles, however they were able to recover and piece together an 83-79 win over lowly Penn State.
The Buckeye offense was once again led by sophomore forward E.J. Liddell, who dropped 22 points — his third 20-plus point performance in four games.
However, the Buckeyes were largely carried by redshirt junior forward Justice Sueing, who produced on both ends of the floor. Sueing collected five steals and two blocks to go along with his 13 points and team-high 10 rebounds.
As Sueing’s first season in the Big Ten has worn on, Holtmann has said he’s seen growth in the transfer forward’s game.
“The thing that strikes me about Justice is his willingness to learn and grow and continue to get better,” Holtmann said. “I’ve been really pleased with him.”
Although the Spartans have struggled this season after reaching No. 4 in the AP Top-25 in mid-December, head coach Tom Izzo has navigated 22 consecutive Michigan State teams to the NCAA tournament.
Holtmann said Izzo is a coach he looked at when he was just starting his coaching career and describes the coach as a “Big Ten icon.”
“I think there’s certain coaches you really admire and respect the way they go about it, their team buy-in, their commitment to playing a certain way and how they consistently do that, and really Tom’s at the top of the list, and it just so happens we’re in the same league and competing and recruiting against each other but a phenomenal amount of respect for him,” Holtmann said.
At Izzo’s disposal for the 2020-21 season are a pair of forwards that provide an ability to score with size.
Junior forward Aaron Henry leads the way with 13.4 points per game to go along with 5.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.
Henry has lacked efficiency from the outside — knocking down only 23.1 percent of his looks from deep.
The Spartans’ No. 2 scorer is 6-foot-9 forward Joey Hauser. The sophomore pulls in a team-high 7.5 rebounds a game to go along with his 11.3 points per game on 49.5-percent shooting.
In the backcourt, sophomore guard Rocket Watts will look to draw on some of the success he had against the Buckeyes last season. In both the Spartans and Buckeyes’ final game of the 2019-20 season, Watts tied a career high with four made threes to help tally 19 points in the game.
However, Watts has struggled to make the jump in his sophomore season and he has seen dips in his field goal and 3-point percentages from his freshman campaign.
In terms of defending the Spartans, who lead the conference with 13.4 turnovers per game in Big Ten games, Holtmann said the Buckeyes will not change who they are to force more turnovers — an area they are last in the conference.
“Some of that is we haven’t been active and some of it is a little bit how our defense is built,” Holtmann said. “I think there’s a give and take there, because if you’re trying to turn people over, more than occasionally you’ll give up and create offense for the other team, so I think there’s a balance there with how you want to play.”
As the Buckeyes move into February, they have faced the strains of a long season coupled with living in the midst of a pandemic, but have stayed on course in terms of their play.
With the regular season heading into its last full month, Holtmann pointed to the gratifying nature of the season.
“This season has been incredibly rewarding because of the people that we get to coach, this group has been incredibly rewarding to coach,” Holtmann said. “There’s no question, it’s a challenging season for everybody, but it’s been a phenomenal group to work with.”
