INDIANAPOLIS – Disturbances happen. This was not the first time that a No. 15 seed has beaten a No. 2 seed. The state of Michigan experienced this five years ago. Georgetown made it happen. Similarly, Missouri, Duke, Iowa State, South Carolina, Arizona and Syracuse.
Often, however, these results show when the team with the fewest seeds has an incredible performance that the big favorite simply cannot match. This does not describe much of Ohio State’s 75-72 defeat in overtime for Oral Roberts.
The Buckeyes had their chances. The Golden Eagles did not get away with this one. After all, Oral Roberts hit 35.7 percent from the ground, 31.4 percent from 3 and was hit by 17. This is not normally what a scoring box from a team with few seeds pulling a turnaround in the first round. But this is what happens in this case.
Here are 10 of the main reasons why the Ohio State NCAA 2021 tournament ended in a single game.
Free-throw shot
The numbers tell most of the story: the state of Ohio hit 9 to 18 on the free-throw line. Compare that with Oral Roberts going 14 to 18 – including 8 to 8 in the second half – and the disparity between the two teams is quite obvious.
Washington made 1 to 3 of the foul line in overtime, losing a pair that could have turned a three-point deficit into a one-point deficit at 1:09 from the end. EJ Liddell losing the lead in a one-and-one with 35 seconds remaining in the regulation, when leading for two is probably not going to leave his mind anytime soon.
What makes dirty shooting issues more painful? It was not a problem throughout the season. Even after performing 9 to 18, Buckeyes are ranked 44th in the country, with a free throw percentage of 75.6. For some reason, they just weren’t able to connect enough on Friday.
Attack at the end of the game
This shouldn’t have shocked anyone. The same failure that was a problem in recent weeks materialized again on Friday. This time, the state of Ohio failed to overcome.
The Buckeyes were goalless in the last two and a half minutes of regulation time and gave a single field shot in the last four and a half minutes of the second half. In other words: they had control of the game, they had a chance to arrest Oral Robert and they didn’t.
The last four possessions were as follows: a Washington turn, a Liddell turn, a lost Washington tray that Liddell recovered and then fouled, but missed the free throw, a failed backward jump by Washington.
“That was a critical stretch,” said Holtmann.
And it was not good enough.
Accumulated turnover
Only once in the entire season – during a victory in late January against Penn State – Ohio State ended a game with a turnover rate worse than Friday’s. The Buckeyes strangely coughed 16 times at a rate of 20.6 percent of their belongings.
Liddell had a record of five turnovers, and Washington, CJ Walker and Musa Jallow accounted for three. Zed Key also turned him over twice.
“I thought we were careless, but I also give them credit for their activity,” said Holtmann. “I thought we had some oversights in the first half, and they dug and got some offensive rebounds and some post-ups turns.”
For comparative purposes, Oral Roberts turned him over six times in 45 minutes.
Defensive plan for the big two
The lack of improvement during the season on the defensive side – especially in ball screen situations – continued to haunt this team until the end.
The Golden Eagles did not show at all, failing to hit 35% of shots or 31% of 3 point shots. But the two-player game with Max Abmas (29 points) and Kevin Obanor (30 points) scoring 59 of the 75 points was enough to win. Considering that no one else had more than six points and the rest of the team hit 6 out of 25, the Buckeyes were essentially defeated at one end of the court by two players.
“Obviously, we gave them a lot of clean looks throughout the game – the two guys – so, ultimately, it’s my fault,” said Holtmann. “They just looked too clean.”
Abmas and Obanor accounted for 23 of Oral Roberts’ 24 final points.
Drought score
Metrics say Ohio has the fourth best attack on college basketball. The numbers have been friendly for this group throughout the season.
But, especially at the end of the season, the seemingly random periods of time when the Buckeyes’ attack was weakening continually harmed the team. Those moments once again overwhelmed them on Friday.
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They scored two points over a period of five and a half minutes in the middle of the first half.
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They shot the field between the bucket of Key with 10:54 of the end of the first half and Justice Sueing’s dunk with 2:29 of the end.
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They hit a field kick between Justin Ahrens’ 3-point basket at 16:28 from the end and CJ Walker’s basket at 10:05 from the end.
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They started the game with almost two minutes without goals and ended with two and a half minutes without goals.
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They took a field shot in the first 3:51 of extra time.
Yes, as Washington says, basketball is a game. But many times this season, the state of Ohio has become dependent on racing. It was a racing team – good and bad.
Overcome
Holtmann said after the defeat that he felt that both his team’s vibrancy and preparation were “very good”. He thought his boys were “as ready as they were all season.” But Walker voiced the belief that the state of Ohio “took it for granted, thinking we could just go in here and win a game” after getting so close to a Big Ten tournament championship the week before.
And that appeared in the Buckeyes play.
“I thought they were quicker at losing the balls,” said Holtmann.
Duane Washington Jr. inefficiency
Liddell was not perfect, of course. He missed the free throw mentioned in the final minute of the regulation. But for the most part, he gave Ohio State the production he wanted: 23 points out of 10 out of 15 shots, 14 rebounds and five assists. The same cannot be said for Washington.
The third-year point guard entered the postseason as arguably the most important player on this team, given the frequency with which he has the ball in his hands to make important decisions, and he scored 18 points out of 7 out of 21 shots, including 3- -12 of 3 and 1 of-3 of the foul line.
He came around in the last two minutes of the regulation and missed the free throws in the last minute of overtime. At the end of the second half, he had a chance to win and missed a jump back. At the end of overtime, he had the chance to draw and move on to double overtime and missed a 3-point basket.
Those moments will stay with him during the next off-season.
“Maybe there are a few different things that I could have done better to relax him, because I thought he played in an unusual way, maybe a little over the top,” said Holtmann. “I just thought he had some clean looks that he missed, and then he made some bad decisions. Duane is a guy who has been an incredible player for us all year. He will use this as a learning experience. ”
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Not “protecting some guys”
Here is part of Holtmann’s response to why the Ohio state attack failed to keep pace as the game progressed: “They weren’t protecting some guys and we had a few careless twists. I think the most important thing is that they weren’t watching some of our guys and really getting things together and making driving directions and post-ups difficult. ”
In a match of high-major vs. low-major, the high-major team usually does not have the problem of inserting players who are not very important at one end of the court. But the state of Ohio did on Friday.
Jallow, who ended the season with 50.8 / 0.56 / 56.5 split shots, continued not to make much of an offense. Even with Oral Roberts leaving him alone at that end of the court, he made three points, three assists, three rebounds, three fouls and three twists in 32 minutes. Zed Key made four points in six minutes with two turns. For Ohio State coaches’ estimation, it was not worth keeping him in play, considering his problems in defending a Golden Eagles team that does not use a real threat. Justin Ahrens (5 points) and Seth Towns (0 points) were in the game for offensive purposes, but combined for five points in 33 minutes.
Bad 3-point shot
For the season, Ohio State was a perfectly good 3-point pitching team, hitting 36 percent of its attempts from afar. On Saturday, it ranked 68th in university rings.
Friday’s performance was obviously below average. The Buckeyes made just 5 of 23 trebles in their second worst single game, with 3 percentage points of the season. They hit three out of the first four, then went on to make 2 out of 19 for the rest of the game. Incredibly, they went through separate sections of 19 and 20 minutes without a single feat 3.
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Duane Washington Jr: 3 out of 12
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Justin Ahrens: 1 of 4
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EJ Liddell: 1 of 3
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Justice process: 0-of-2
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CJ Walker: 0-of-1
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Seth Towns: 0-of-1
Without Kyle Young
No one will ever know if Kyle Young’s presence could have rocked the game in favor of Ohio. Of course, a # 2 seed shouldn’t take a game to seed # 15, even if someone like Young can’t play – hence the 16-point bet line.
But one can imagine that he would have provided some of the energy that this group lacked, defensive versatility that he lost and complementary scores that were not enough. He suffered a concussion.
“This team misses Kyle more than any team I was a part of, and it certainly lost its versatility today in the five because of how they play,” said Holtmann. “We knew that and we knew that there were going to be some confrontational challenges with the way they play. But there is a reason why Kyle did not play today. He was not ready to play. He wanted to play, but he was not ready or allowed to play. ”