There was no hesitation in Sam Thompson's response. He shouldered all of the blame when asked how much falls on the seniors to get Ohio State up for games on the road in the Big Ten.
"All of it," said a disgruntled Thompson outside the Buckeyes' locker room inside Crisler Center following their 64-57 loss to Michigan on Sunday. "We’re the leaders of this team, we’re the guys who have had weeks off in the Big Ten, we’re the guys that have been on the road for four years now, we’re the guys that know what it takes to win on the road. It’s our job to have us ready to play and we didn’t.”
But why? Why has a team with five seniors, five guys who have played dozens of road games throughout their career struggled at the beginning of games throughout the course of this season?
“I wish I could give you a detailed answer," Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said.
This isn't a new thing. The Buckeyes have struggled to start games all season long. They've trailed at halftime in each of their eight losses this season.
Sure, Ohio State has four freshmen — D'Angelo Russell, Jae'Sean Tate, Kam Williams and Keita Bates-Diop — who play significant roles on the team, but it also has five seniors and a sophomore. Not being ready to play isn't something typically seen with a senior-led team.
The seniors don't do the majority of the scoring or create many of the headlines. Those duties belong to Russell, the team's star guard. What guys like Thompson and Shannon Scott are supposed to do is get the team up for each and every game and provide consistency and stability.
Both have been a problem in this up-and-down year for the Buckeyes.
"We have to look ourselves in the mirror and see what’s up," Thompson said. "I don’t know where we went wrong as seniors this week, I don’t know where we went wrong as players this week, but for whatever reason we did not convey to our team that it was as big of a game as it was and we’ve got to fix that.”
Following the loss to the Wolverines on Sunday, Russell spoke with a bit of a different tone than he had all year. Having to carry the team on his back seemed to have finally taken its toll.
"I don't want to say it the wrong way, but we go as our seniors go," he said. "Me playing the way that I've been playing earlier in the year, I'm not considering myself a a freshman anymore. I kind of consider myself a senior or an upperclassmen that people can look up to. The better we play as a core, the better we'll be as a team and we gotta bring it every game."
Whether it's scoring more points, grabbing more rebounds or simply being a vocal leader, Ohio State's seniors must be better as the Buckeyes prepare for their last four games of the regular-season, the Big Ten tournament and NCAA
"I think from the standpoint that the sand is almost out of the hourglass, laying it all on the line is something they’re going to have to do and it’s got to be unconditional not conditional," Matta said. "Those guys have shown throughout this season they can play some really, really good basketball and I think that’s the thing we’re trying to get them to understand is — not just the seniors but everybody has to play their best basketball.”
