Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann stands with his team on the sidelines during the Ohio State-Illinois Big Ten Tournament game on March 14. Ohio State lost 88-91. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
After a grueling four-day run in the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes begin the NCAA Tournament with their first nonconference opponent in three months.
No. 2 Ohio State (21-9) came up just shy of earning its sixth Big Ten Tournament title Sunday, but the team has turned its focus to its national championship pursuits. Beginning with a matchup against No. 15 Oral Roberts (16-10) Friday, the Buckeyes will be tasked with slowing one of the nation’s most potent offenses led by the country’s leading scorer.
Despite the low seed, head coach Chris Holtmann said he and the Buckeyes are aware of what the Golden Eagles bring to the table.
“We’re obviously playing a really good team to open in Oral Roberts, who can really score the ball. (They’re) one of the best shooting teams I’ve seen on film, and their numbers back that up,” Holtmann said. “They obviously have the leading scorer in the country. He’s a really dynamic guard and they play through him at a really high level.”
Oral Roberts enters the tournament with the No. 12 scoring offense in the country, averaging 81.8 points per game.
Sophomore guard Max Abmas spearheads the attack with a nation-leading 24.4 points per game to go along with 3.7 assists per game.
Abmas is shooting 48.6 percent from the field — including 43.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.
Holtmann said Abmas’ ability to hit from anywhere on the court requires a different approach defensively.
“Our pickup point is going to need to obviously be different than what it is typically because of how dangerous he is,” Holtmann said. “He really can come across halfcourt and raise up, and he shoots it with great accuracy.”
Although Abmas enters as the nation’s top scorer, junior guard Duane Washington Jr. will take the stage as one of the hottest bucket-getters.
Coming off a Big Ten record for points scored in a single conference tournament, Washington said his development is a product of him sticking with the process.
“I’ve just been believing in myself at the highest level, so have my coaches and my teammates, my family, my support system,” Washington said. “At this point, I’m just trying to do everything I can in my power to help win basketball games and just keep surviving and advancing.”
Washington averaged 23 points per game for the Big Ten Tournament.
With four Big Ten programs seeded inside the top eight teams in the NCAA Tournament, Washington said conference play has prepared the Buckeyes for the grind of the bracket.
However, Holtmann cautioned that coming from what is considered the strongest conference does not guarantee his team any success going forward.
“I think the one thing you can’t have is a false sense of ‘Well, we played in a great league so that guarantees us something,’” because it doesn’t guarantee us anything,” Holtmann said. “We’ve got to earn whatever it is we get.”
Following the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes followed the recommendation of the Big Ten and remained in Indiana to prepare for the NCAA Tournament.
Holtmann said the team focused on healing up for the final stretch of the season, but added that he did not have an update on senior forward Kyle Young, who missed the final three halves of the conference tournament with a concussion.
Staying in a hotel leading up to the Buckeyes’ first contest, Washington, who played just 21 minutes in the NCAA Tournament his freshman year, said the experience in the bubble has made him realize the historical context that surrounds the postseason.
Despite the tournament happening for the first time in two years, Washington said the heightened stage is still about playing basketball.
“For us, we’re just taking it all in, understanding where we’re at, what we’re doing, how cool this actually is,” Washington said. “Obviously there’s stuff we’ve got to work on — scout this, this and this — but at the end of the day, it’s just basketball, and I think it’s connected us so much more, got us all bought into the end goal of what we want.”
Tipoff between Ohio State and Oral Roberts is set for 3 p.m. on CBS.
