Ohio State used its fifth different starting lineup of the season Saturday against Michigan.
With JaQuan Lyle hobbled by a sprained ankle, the Buckeyes started sophomore C.J. Jackson at point guard. It was Jackson’s first career start and the first time Lyle came off the bench this season.
Both played a similar number of minutes — Jackson logged 28 while Lyle played 23 — and the result was a 70-66 victory for Ohio State over its archrival. The win moved the Buckeyes to 14-10 overall and 4-7 in the Big Ten with a home game against Rutgers scheduled for Wednesday.
Lyle’s injury caused Ohio State head coach Thad Matta to switch up his starters and when that was coupled with Jae’Sean Tate’s two first-half fouls, Matta had to do some mixing and matching he hadn’t had to do a ton of yet this year. As a result, all eight players who appeared for Ohio State logged double-digit minutes.
“I think guys getting better and understanding their roles and getting more comfortable out there obviously helps that,” Matta said Tuesday ahead of the game against the Scarlet Knights. “I think that’s ultimately what you want is everybody has a real good understanding of what they need to do to help the team play better.”
“That was definitely a game where everybody that was involved did a good job with what they were supposed to do which enabled us to — even when guys were playing pretty well we were able to get them a break and get them back in.”
Marc Loving led the way with 36 minutes played while Kam Williams was the only other player to top the 30-minute mark with 32. Jackson, Trevor Thompson (28), Tate (26) and Lyle each played over 20 minutes while Andre Wesson (16) and Micah Potter (11) were also involved in key stretches for the Buckeyes in the win.
Ohio State used three-guard lineups with Jackson, Williams and Lyle all on the floor together and it used more traditional lineups with two guards, two forwards and either Thompson or Potter at center.
And while it may have been a little unconventional, the end result was a win. It was a complete team effort and for a squad that doesn’t necessarily have a go-to scorer, the mixing and matching may be a blueprint for future success.
Thompson said he didn’t really notice a difference, however, with all of the shuffling.
“I think especially playing against Michigan we were just losing ourselves in the moment and playing as hard as we possibly can because the practices leading up were preparing us to give everything we got,” he said. “I didn’t really think about it too much.”
Matta said Lyle practiced full-go Monday and is expected to play Wednesday against Rutgers. At this point, the starters for the game are still to be determined.
But in the end, it doesn’t really matter who starts the game on the floor for Ohio State. Every player who gets in the game is going to need to contribute someway, somehow. That’s how this team can be at its best.
Without Keita Bates-Diop in the mix, the Buckeyes are rather thin and Matta is still searching for the right buttons to push with what he’s got. Perhaps he found a winning formula in Ann Arbor in the form of mixing and matching.
“I want to see us string something together,” Matta said. “I think for this team to have confidence is not probably a good thing for them because we’ve still got a lot of work to do. I think we’re playing better in the last week but I don’t think we’re quite there yet.”
