Ohio State basketball: Can the Buckeyes bounce back after the Michigan loss?

The Voice of the Fan saw where the Ohio State basketball team could improve upon after back to back losses versus conference foes.

After a lopsided loss at Penn State, came the question would the Ohio State basketball team present a better and tougher game against the Wolverines in Ann Arbor, MI? Another question was what’s up with Keita Bates-Diop?

He looked out of sorts and not himself on the offensive end. Specifically, his three point shot and overall offense has been a touch off. Despite that, Bates-Diop’s defense has been there.

After the Penn State game, coach Chris Holtmann questioned his team’s reaction to the Nittany Lion’s toughness and how they’d respond going forward.

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Luckily, the Buckeyes came out and tried to play tough on Sunday. They kept it close in the first half save for the last two minutes of the half as the Wolverines started to pull away. That is, of course, until KBD, as Clark Kellogg called him, finally hit a three.

As a result, Ohio State came within five points at halftime against Michigan, 33-28.

Unfortunately, in the second half, the Buckeyes tried to crawl back into the game but were still unable to be consistent on offense.

It looked as though KBD’s confidence in his shot is lost even more. That’s especially the case when opponents are doubling him when he gets the ball. While also being double teamed, he simply looks lost and no one outside of Jae’Sean Tate helped alieviate the responsibilities.

Tate helped keep the Buckeyes in the game with a double-double, accumulating 20 points and 10 rebounds. Despite his contribution, it was evident that Sunday was just not Ohio State’s day.

Down the stretch, Ohio State missed foul shot after foul shot which really hurt them especially on the one and one foul situations. They were overwhelmed the last few minutes.

It was evident that Ohio State needs to work on options to help KBD when he gets double teamed as there should be an open man to pass to. Holtmann also deserves some credit for not getting a technical for some of the ref’s calls, which were very questionable.

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Not to mention their free throws. Unlike football scores, Ohio State fell to the Wolverines this time, 74-62.

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