It is no secret Thad Matta's Ohio State men's basketball program has been trending the wrong direction. The Buckeyes did rebound on Saturday, however, grabbing a 70-66 victory at archrival Michigan.
Thad Matta's team returns to Columbus on Wednesday to play host to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. The head coach joined Paul Keels and Ron Stokes on 97.1 The Fan for his weekly radio show on Monday night.
NOTES:
- Matta's show was pre-recorded on Monday because the coaching staff left to recruit after practice.
- Matta called Saturday's win was "probably the most team-oriented" of its entire season: "This was an Ohio State basketball win."
- Matta said "for the most part" he felt like his team was really ready to compete after they left shootaround in Ann Arbor on Friday.
- How did C.J. Jackson handle his first career start? "I thought C.J. was tremendous in terms of understanding what needed to get done and when it needed to get done."
- Tim Hortons Coffee With The Coach Question from Greg in Athens — how does Matta intend on keeping the momentum going in terms of a well-rounded victory? "We have to keep telling guys that we didn't play perfect up there. There were many things we could improve upon ... I give our guys credit, though."
- Matta said it is "unique" how Ohio State was able to navigate and win a game when its opponent shot the ball 51 times: "I didn't realize it was that many but we rebounded well."
- Matta pointed out Andre Wesson's four first-half offensive rebounds and the way his backcourt rebounded: "That probably was the difference in the game." Michigan's penchant for shooting so many 3-pointers played into that as well.
- Ohio State not only reacted well with the game plan the staff put in place but adjusted during the course of the game, Matta said.
- Matta said he was pleased with how Ohio State looked to Trevor Thompson early in both halves on Saturday: "That's usually where we are at our best but it is easier said than done with how some teams collapse into the pain."
- More on Thompson: "Trevor didn't get off to a great start but he finished really, really well ... I thought his defense was really good with the guys he was guarding and how they could pick and pop and also pick and roll."
- Matta noted how Thompson stayed down defensively a few more times than normal to avoid cheap foul calls.
- On Michigan star guard Derrick Walton Jr., who scored a game-high 25 points: "He's a heckuva player and when you have a hot hand like that, you try to press up on him but not too much because he can hit the midrange shot ... for the most part I thought our guys did a good job."
- Matta was "very pleased" with how Micah Potter performed and "played in his role."
- Matta said it is a delicate balance where a player like Potter, a freshman big guy who can shoot the 3, has to learn to not shoot too early in the shot clock even though he had made a few back-to-back.
- Assistant coaches Greg Paulus and Chris Jent both had to practice last week as Ohio State prepared for Michigan after an ankle injury to JaQyan Lyle and walk-on Joey Lane also getting banged up: "Luckily, those guys are still in pretty good shape where they can do it. Because I wasn't going to do it."
- Elk & Elk Injury Report: Matta credited the strength staff for preparing Lyle to play on Saturday. Lyle's ankle was swelled up so much the night after he rolled it that he could barely put a shoe on.
- "It's that time of the year — everybody's got their bumps and bruises." Matta added that Jackson got hit in practice last Tuesday and had a black eye for a few days.
- Forward Keita Bates-Diop started rehab on Monday. He returned to Columbus after a week at home in Illinois in time on Friday to see the team before it headed to Ann Arbor.
- Matta said that Thompson accidentally tripped him on Saturday after he got off the bench and headed into the game: "I looked at Jae'Sean and joked, if anyone was going to do it, it would be him." Matta said Thompson apologized to him after the game.
- Monday's film sessions revolved around everything Ohio State didn't do well against Michigan: "We don't want these guys to think they've arrived or anything. We're a long way from that."
- "D'Angelo Russell was unbelievable in the film room. He wanted to know how and why things happened ... Aaron Craft was the same way. He wanted every single advantage he could get."
- Matta said Ohio State usually watches film right before practice starts. That isn't always the case, just depends on the team: "Sometimes we've brought guys back at night with no practice, just a film session."
- "We've got to keep our foot on the pedal to strive to play better, play harder and be better."
- Matta told his players to visualize things on the flight home that they did well: "Think about how good that felt and how great it would be to do it again."
- Larry Brown texted Matta after the Michigan game and wrote, "That Tate kid makes me smile."
- AT&T Insider's Access on Rutgers, who enters Columbus after winning its first-ever Big Ten road game. Matta: "You can see a drastic improvement. They've been in some Big Ten dogfights ... they had Wisconsin basically beat at Madison Square Garden."
- Rutgers averages 17 offensive rebounds per game: "We've gotta be able to get rebounds and push the pace and the tempo."
- Asked if any other opponent Ohio State has played this season that reminds him of Rutgers, Matta said no but the one thing that is different is there are games the Scarlet Knights have had different leading scorers unlike last year.
- Matta said it was surprising that Michigan switched to a zone defense briefly on Saturday but "it was probably because we weren't shooting from the outside that well."
- Wesson is "a guy that has both feet in and is confident," Matta said: "Good things happen to guys like that."
- Matta called Marc Loving's efficiency and timely shot-making against Michigan "tremendous."
- Matta thinks Loving is playing with a high level of confidence both in himself and his teammates: "That's good to see."
- Matta believes his team is getting better at execution out of timeouts.
- Six of the top-10 teams in last week's AP Poll lost on Saturday and all road teams in the Big Ten won their games. Matta: "That just shows the parity in college basketball ... my friend [Arizona head coach] Sean Miller had a rough one [at Oregon] but that happens. It is a grind. It is a challenge."
