Chris Holtmann has been coaching Division I college basketball since 2003, but he doesn’t think he’s ever coached against any other big man who’s as good as the one Ohio State will be playing on Thursday night.
When the Buckeyes play Iowa for the first time this season in a battle of top-eight teams on Thursday night, they’ll be going head-to-head with the center who many consider to be the Player of the Year frontrunner: Luka Garza, who leads all Division I players this season with 26.5 points per game and ranks fourth in the Big Ten with 8.8 rebounds per game.
That statistic speaks for itself, but Holtmann is just as impressed by the film.
“He’s the best collection of offensive skill and physicality of any big I’ve ever coached against,” Holtmann said Wednesday. “I’ve coached against Carolina and their bigs a lot, we coached against them in the Sweet 16 when they won the national championship that year and they had a great collection of bigs, but his motor, it’s unparalleled. It really is Tyler Hansbrough-like with his motor and his physicality.
“When I say he’s been the best player in college basketball over the last couple of years, a lot of great players in college basketball, but I don’t think that’s an overstatement. He’s a fantastic talent.”
Making that matchup even more intimidating for the Buckeyes, they don’t have anyone who quite stacks up with Garza physically. At 6-foot-11 and 265 pounds, Garza is at least three inches taller and 20 pounds bigger than everyone who’s played regularly for Ohio State this season. Ohio State’s only true center, Ibrahima Diallo, hasn’t played since December due to a knee injury.
“It’s a game where, quite honestly, I would love to have Ibrahima available,” Holtmann said. “Just to have another big with size and length around the rim. I thought of that, this is kind of a perfect game to have another body like that that has some length and size.”
So far this season, Ohio State’s frontcourt has performed well despite its size limitations. The trio of E.J. Liddell, Kyle Young and Zed Key – who typically man the post for the Buckeyes – have combined for 29.9 points per game and 16.4 rebounds per game this season. Ohio State has out-rebounded its opponents by more than four rebounds per game (37.3 to 32.9). The Buckeyes have held their own against some of the Big Ten’s other top big men, limiting Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn to 15 points and Purdue’s Trevion Williams to 16 points in both of its matchups against the Boilermakers.
Facing Garza will be the toughest test yet, though, and Jack Nunge (6-11, 245) has also been productive off the bench with 7.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. So, Holtmann doesn’t want to make any proclamations about his frontcourt before he sees how they fare against the Hawkeyes.
“I think their physicality and how big they are is a concern, but there’s not really a team in our league that kind of plays like them,” Holtmann said. “So it’s an interesting, different matchup. They’re a little bit different in how they attack ... their numbers are historically good.”
In Ohio State’s only game against Iowa last year, Garza scored 24 points to lead the Hawkeyes to an 85-76 victory. So far this season, Garza has scored at least 16 points in all 17 of Iowa’s games, including 13 20-point games and eight double-doubles. Led by his production, Iowa ranks second among all Division I basketball teams with 89.4 points per game (behind only Gonzaga) and tied for 13th with 41.1 rebounds per game.
Holtmann knows the Buckeyes can’t expect to completely shut him down, but they have to at least prevent him from taking over the game.
“You’re not gonna completely neutralize him. He’s just too good,” Holtmann said. “So I think you just gotta make him work. You gotta try to make it difficult for him, make it work. But he’s got elite touch and can score a number of different ways, and that’s what makes him so good offensively.”
Given that, Ohio State’s frontcourt is going to need to be able to respond with scoring of its own despite its size disadvantage. There’s reason for optimism there, as Liddell had 17 points and eight rebounds off the bench against Iowa last year – and that was when he was a freshman, before he became the consistent double-digit scorer he is now as a sophomore.
“In that game (last year), he was able to find some holes and attack in places and was able to make some shots and gave us a lift there when we desperately needed it,” Holtmann said.
One more area of concern for Holtmann is the potential for his post players to get into foul trouble, as Iowa has drawn its opponents into 19.9 fouls per game this season, third-most in the Big Ten behind Minnesota and Ohio State.
“They do a great job getting you in foul trouble, so it is a concern,” Holtmann said. “We are gonna have to be aware of it, and do a good job of limiting our foul trouble.”
