It seems like common sense — and Ohio State knew it back in the first week of December — yet it keeps happening.
“We know we can’t go on the road and fall down by 20 points and expect to win,” senior forward Sam Thompson said following the Buckeyes’ first loss of the season, a 64-55 defeat to Louisville on Dec. 2.
In that loss to the Cardinals, the Buckeyes trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half and were down 17 at halftime. They battled back in the second half, trimming the deficit to as little as three, but couldn’t get over the hump.
Fast-forward six weeks and Ohio State seems to have the same problem now as it did then. It continues to get off to slow starts against the marquee opponents on its schedule.
The Buckeyes sit at 14-5 on the year and are 3-3 in the Big Ten. Four of their five losses have come on the road or at a neutral site, but in all five of their defeats this year they have fallen behind by double digits at some point in the first half.
That's not exactly a winning recipe.
In Ohio State’s 82-74 loss to North Carolina as part of the CBS Sports Classic in Chicago, the Buckeyes trailed by 12 points at halftime. Ten days later, at home against Iowa, they found themselves again down 12 at the half.
That carried over to a loss on the road against Indiana, where Ohio State jumped out to an early lead, but an 11-0 run midway through the first half put the Hoosiers ahead by as many as 11 in a 69-66 win.
And again, in their rematch Saturday against the Hawkeyes, the Buckeyes trailed early as they were down 11 at halftime. Iowa won the game, 76-67.
“Each game has presented us with a little bit of a different problem, but when you take the two Iowa losses — we were down 17-5 and 9-0 to start the game — those are things that can’t happen,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said Monday on the Big Ten coaches weekly teleconference. “As I told the team, we lost nine or 10 games last year and led all but one of them in the second half.”
So, how do the Buckeyes fix that problem? Well, a change in the starting lineup could be one possibility. Matta said Monday he wouldn’t rule out moving Jae’Sean Tate into the Buckeyes' starting five Thursday night when they travel to Northwestern.
“Obviously that is a possibility going into Thursday night’s game, but I’ve always liked what Jae’Sean brings off the bench for us,” Matta said. “It’s just a different look or a different type of player, but I wouldn’t rule out not starting him on Thursday night. We’ll see how practice goes this week, for sure.”
Whatever decision Matta makes, it’s clear Ohio State needs to play better to open games. The Buckeyes have trailed by double digits in the first half of each of their five losses, but they’ve yet to lose by more than nine points. Their slow starts have cost them opportunities to earn quality wins.
So somehow, someway Ohio State needs to figure out its slow-starting problem because as of this point it doesn't have a real quality win on its schedule and the Buckeyes are very much on the bubble for the NCAA tournament.
“I think I’ve got to do a better job in getting these guys to understand that it’s not the last play of the game that matters, it’s 72 possessions before that that add up to that last possession,” Matta said. “We have to be a 40-minute basketball team.”
