Ohio State had never attempted more than 26 3-point shots in an NCAA Tournament game, and more than 36 shots in any game, before Thursday. The Buckeyes attempted 40 3-pointers in Thursday’s game against South Dakota State.
Ohio State appeared to have a clear, and perhaps overly simplistic strategy in Thursday’s game – shoot the 3-pointer at every opportunity – and though the Buckeyes only made 12 of them (30 percent), that was ultimately enough, as the No. 5-seeded Buckeyes defeated the No. 12-seeded Jackrabbits, 81-73, to advance to the second round of the tournament.
After the game, however, the Buckeyes said they didn’t plan to shoot that many threes, but that the South Dakota State defense gave them open looks that they couldn’t pass up.
"We were taking what the defense was giving us," said Kam Williams, who drew fouls on back-to-back 3-point shot attempts that led to seven crucial points in the final two minutes of the game, in Ohio State’s postgame press conference at Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho.
Keita Bates-Diop, who made four of a team-high 13 attempts from beyond the arc, said the flurry of 3-point shots "wasn't really in the game plan, but the game kind of called for it."
"We had good shooters, and for the most part had good shots," Bates-Diop said.
Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann agreed with his players’ assessment, saying that he felt most of the threes his team attempted came on good looks – and that the Buckeyes didn’t get the looks they wanted in the paint.
"It's really difficult because they're literally giving you tee-up threes," Holtmann said. "I think they knew we liked to play inside out. And they were taking away all the interior stuff that we wanted to do.
"The problem was, it was one-on-three inside when we threw it in there," Holtmann added. "That was our gameplan going in: attack the paint, play inside-out, but when it's one-on-three in there, we had to kind of do what we had to do."
At the same time, Holtmann – who had to tell his team at times during Thursday’s game not to settle for threes – said there were about eight to 10 shots from beyond the arc on which he felt his players should have found a better look.
"We didn't always make the ones that we had open," Holtmann said. "But certainly, 40 is too much for us."
Going forward, Holtmann said his team – which had a previous season-high of 35 3-point attempts against The Citadel on Dec. 19, but has attempted an average of only 19.8 3-pointers per game this season – shouldn’t come close to taking so many shots from long range.
"We will never do that again," Holtmann told reporters in Boise after the game. "I don't know that we will ever play (another) team that is literally daring you to shoot."
Holtmann said he was actually told that South Dakota State would dare his Buckeyes to shoot on Tuesday night by Gonzaga coach Mark Few, who he will now go up against on Saturday at 7:45 p.m., when Ohio State faces the No. 4 seed Bulldogs with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. Holtmann joked that Few had no problem giving him advice, and wanted to face the Buckeyes again on Saturday, after the Bulldogs beat the Buckeyes, 86-59, in the teams’ previous matchup in the PK80 Invitational on Nov. 23.
Ohio State, which went 6-of-20 on 3-pointers in its previous game against the Bulldogs, will likely not be able to afford a high volume of missed shots like it had Thursday if it wants to turn the tables and earn a win over Gonzaga on Saturday.
