Basketball Preview: Ohio State at Uconn

By Tim Shoemaker on December 12, 2015 at 8:30 am
Marc Loving pregame.
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Thad Matta walked into the media room inside the Schottenstein Center on Thursday afternoon with a coffee in hand, drenched in sweat and a towel wrapped around his neck. Ohio State's head coach sat down at the podium for a press conference previewing his team's upcoming matchup with Connecticut, but before that could happen Matta was posed with a question.

WHO WHERE WHEN TV
Connecticut (5-3) Gampel Pavilion Noon CBS

"Just get done with a workout?" a reporter asked him.

"No," Matta responded. "I've just been in watching film of UConn."

The room filled with media members broke out in laughter; Matta chuckled to himself. The Buckeyes' coach was clearly joking — he had, in fact, actually just finished working out — but it was a way of showing his respect for the Huskies, the team Ohio State will play Saturday. 

The matchup with UConn will be the Buckeyes' first true road game of the season. It will be a big test for a team that has had a rough go of things early on. Ohio State won its first two games of the year, then lost four straight, and has now won back-to-back games to get back to .500. As the non-conference schedule winds down and BIg Ten play is only a few short weeks away, Saturday's game against the Huskies seems awfully important.

“I’m anxious to see, to be honest with you," Matta said. "I think that you play a game like this, against Connecticut, and you’re going to learn a lot about your basketball team. Being on the road, on their home court, we’re going to have to do it nine times in January, February and March so this is something that could be a good teaching tool for us both positively and negatively. With all the new guys, it is a little bit of an adventure.”

Opponent Breakdown

There were high expectations entering the 2015 season for UConn; the Huskies were ranked 20th in the preseason AP poll. But through the first month of the season, it hasn't exactly gone according to plan for Ollie's group.

UConn enters Saturday's game with just a 5-3 record. The Huskies have no bad losses — a pair of defeats in the Bahamas to Syracuse and Gonzaga, as well as a loss Tuesday to No. 6 Maryland — but they'd certainly like to have a better showing despite a difficult schedule.

With no superstar on its roster, UConn features a very balanced attack on offense. The Huskies have four players averaging in double figures, led by sophomore wing Daniel Hamilton's 13.9 points per game. Right behind him, though, is junior guard Rodney Purvis (13.8 ppg.), senior forward Shonn Miller (12.1 ppg.) and senior guard Sterling Gibbs (11.9 ppg.) — who chose to transfer to UConn this summer over Ohio State and Pittsburgh. Hamilton also leads the Huskies in rebounding at 8.8 per game.

"Looking at Connecticut, they’re obviously a very talented basketball team," Matta said. "They’ve got two fifth-year senior transfers that have played and they’ve got some veterans out there. I’m kind of excited to see how we do on the road against a really, really good basketball team.”

UConn ranks 26th overall in KenPom's advanced statistical ratings. The Huskies are 20th in adjusted defensive efficiency and 38th in offensive efficiency. UConn is averaging 79.5 points per game while allowing an average of just 64.6 points per contest. 

Buckeye Breakdown

There's no doubt Ohio State has played better in the last two games after going through its four-game skid, but the Buckeyes did so against a pair of inferior opponents: VMI and Air Force. They won't have that luxury against the Huskies.

Marc Loving has been Ohio State's best player so far, leading the team in scoring (17.1 points per game) and rebounding (7.0 per game). His production has been constant — something Matta has been looking for from Loving as the leader of a young group.

The Buckeyes are also hoping to get back the services of freshman center Daniel Giddens, who hasn't played in the last two games. Giddens missed last Saturday's game against VMI due to the flu and sat out Tuesday's win over Air Force with a strained hamstring. Ohio State did not practice Wednesday, but Matta said if Giddens was able to get through practices both Thursday and Friday he would be cleared to play.

The Buckeyes certainly could use Giddens and his 3.3 blocks per game in what's expected to be a physical matchup with the Huskies. Trevor Thompson has been solid in his place — averaging 9.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in the two starts in Giddens' absence — but again, both of those came against inferior opponents.

"The one thing I love about Trevor is, he is a team guy. He is also a guy that is very competitive in his own way," Matta said. "He seems to be more comfortable in terms of getting into the flow of the game and the timing of things."

How It Plays Out

It sounds cliché, but how Ohio State's newcomers respond to a true road environment will have a huge impact on this game. If they are not affected by the atmosphere, the Buckeyes can keep this one competitive as UConn has already proven this year it's very beatable. Look for that within the first five minutes of the game.

UConn has the significant experience advantage and is playing at home, though. If the Buckeyes are without Giddens, that's a huge edge to the Huskies, as well. 

This is certainly not an impossible game for Ohio State to win, it's just hard to envision the Buckeyes going on the road and pulling it out. In the end, UConn's size and experience might just be too much for this young group to deal with.

"It's time to — you've got to band together," Matta said. "You've got to play a team basketball game and you cant get rattled. But that happens at times. You learn quickly. A 6-0 run, timeout, whats the mood of your players? Are they calm? Do they know why they went on a 6-0 run? That's when you kind of know you've got  the making of a really good team."


Tim's prediction: UConn 76, Ohio State 68

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