Ohio State senior guard CJ Walker (13) makes his way around an Illinois State player during the Ohio State-Illinois State game on Nov. 25. Ohio State won 94-67. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
After a weekend off due to a canceled game against Alabama A&M, the Ohio State men’s basketball team will return to game action Tuesday night when they travel to South Bend, Indiana to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Both teams have battled through the uncertainties of cancellations, the No. 22 Buckeyes (3-0) were geared up to play Alabama A&M who made the trip to Columbus but had to head back to Huntsville, Alabama, due to positive tests. Notre Dame (1-1) had games canceled against Western Michigan and Tennessee, but the Irish may still hold a slight advantage in experience, due to their game against No. 4 Michigan State which resulted in a 80-70 loss.
“It’ll be a great challenge to go there,” head coach Chris Holtmann said Monday. “I’m looking forward to, obviously, being on the road for the first time. That’ll be a great challenge for us. They’re really skilled, great size, really well-coached, and have some veteran guys returning as well.”
This will be the first true test for the Buckeyes, as well as their first venture outside of Columbus. Ohio State has blowout wins against Illinois State and Morehead State to their credit as well as an unexpected nail-biter against a pesky UMass-Lowell team.
“I’m anxious to see how we do playing a veteran team. We’re playing, obviously an ACC opponent, that’s a talented group,” Holtmann said. “Right now, I think we’re all excited to see what we’re going to look like here in this environment on the road.”
The Atlantic Coastal Conference is traditionally a powerhouse conference and Holtmann said he believes this game will be a great warmup for playing in the Big Ten, which he has called the best conference in the nation, on numerous occasions.
Notre Dame has size with junior forward Nate Laszewski (6’10) and graduate forward Juwan Durham (6’11), averaging 14 and 8 points per game in the young season respectively.
The starters on this Irish team can score in bunches, most noticeably junior guard Prentiss Hubb, who has scored 23 and 18 in two games so far. The matchup between Hubb and defensive-minded redshirt senior guard C.J. Walker will be one to keep an eye on throughout the game.
Holtmann said he has been impressed by Walker’s play thus far on the year, calling him the steadiest player on the team.
Shooting 37.3 percent last year was going to be a hard task to follow up and so far, the Buckeyes have shot just 32.3 percent from beyond the arc. Ohio State, being undersized, will need their 3-pointers to fall more this year if they want to compete in the Big Ten.
Junior forward Justin Ahrens was one of the Buckeyes most efficient shooters from deep last season, shooting 40.4 percent from three. Against Morehead State Wednesday, Ahrens opened the game 0-for-2 from three and appeared to pass up a couple good looks before sinking his last three attempts of the game.
“To me, it’s been just keep shooting, keep taking good ones, keep staying confident in your ability to shoot the ball, don’t let a good shot pass you by, be confident and aggressive in doing that,” Holtmann said. “He provides a gravity out there on the floor even when he doesn’t touch the ball just because people know he’s capable of really shooting the ball.”
With Notre Dame offering Ohio State’s its first challenge, Holtmann said he’s held a great respect for the Fighting Irish program throughout his career.
“We’ve got a lot of respect for this Notre Dame program and the job that Mike has done over a number of years,” Holtmann said. “I think they’re gonna have a really good season and I’ve enjoyed watching them here,”
The Buckeyes and Fighting Irish tip off at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN2.
