Don’t look now, but Ohio State basketball is getting closer to beginning its 2016-17 campaign.
The Buckeyes have their only exhibition scheduled for Sunday as they’ll host Walsh at Value City Arena. Then, on Friday, Nov. 11, Ohio State will travel to Annapolis, Maryland for its season-opener against Navy as part of the Veterans Classic.
“We’re still kind of in that preseason mode with the first exhibition game on Sunday,” Buckeyes assistant coach Greg Paulus said Tuesday afternoon when speaking with reporters. “I know we’re looking forward to getting a chance to play against somebody else other than our own guys each and every day.
“Just continuing to try and build over the last couple of weeks of what we want to do offensively and defensively. I know on Sunday we’ll be excited to play.”
Sunday will be the first chance for Ohio State fans to catch a glimpse of this year’s team in a game-type environment — granted it’s just an exhibition — but over the weekend, the Buckeyes had a scrimmage against Ohio University.
Head coach Thad Matta confirmed at Big Ten Media Day last month the Buckeyes would scrimmage the Bobcats. It was technically a “secret scrimmage” so players and coaches can’t specifically speak about the details of the game, but Paulus and senior forward Marc Loving were able to provide some knowledge Tuesday of what they gained from the experience.
“There’s definitely a lot of learning opportunities,” Loving said. “Film is the golden thing when it comes to making adjustments. Just having that opportunity to play a different squad other than our scarlet and gray every day is beneficial before the season really gets going.”
Added Paulus: “I think one of the things is each and every day, whatever the situation may be, we go back and look at the film and try and see where each guy as an individual is progressing, where we think he can improve upon and then ultimately as a team, where are we getting better and what do we need to do to improve upon?”
Ohio State’s exhibition against Walsh is scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday at Value City Arena. It can be seen only on BTN-plus.
