Today’s Topic: When Will the Basketball Buckeyes Stop Turning It Over?
Spoiler alert: Not this year.
Most of you watched last night’s Ohio State basketball loss to Michigan, and those of you who did saw some absolutely terrible turnovers. It wasn’t the first time you have seen such turnovers and it isn’t going to be the last time.
It would be one thing if these turnovers came from an opposing defense that is stifling beyond all measures, but that’s not the case here. This is simply a poor-passing team that doesn’t always understand what to do with the basketball.
The Buckeyes turned the ball over 19 times Tuesday night against the Wolverines and the amazing thing is that point guard CJ Jackson only had one of them. This number could have been even larger if Jackson would have just had an average turnover night.
Things are made worse by players having to see extended minutes before they are ready. Because of the injury to Kyle Young and the transfer of Micah Potter, freshmen Jaedon LeDee and Justin Ahrens are playing more than they otherwise would have. Even though each player only had one turnover on the night, neither played more than 10 minutes.
Keyshawn Woods had four turnovers, negating CJ Jackson’s one. Musa Jallow and Luther Muhammad had three a piece, which is not what you want from your starting wings.
In Big Ten play, Ohio State leads the Big Ten with 13.9 turnovers per game, which is over four more per game than Michigan.
The Buckeyes have forced 110 turnovers this season, which is one fewer than they have committed.
When will it end?
As I said earlier, not this year.
There will be games where the turnovers are low, but that won’t mean things are fixed. The team responds to specific challenges from Chris Holtmann all the time, and the number of turnovers has been a focus at times this season. That focus is not indefinite, however.
Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, there are no fixes coming this season. The freshmen will get older and they’ll be much more prepared next season. Losing CJ Jackson and Keyshawn Woods will certainly put a dent in the experience department, but turnovers have gotten both players benched throughout their respective careers.
Maybe next year things will get better under incoming freshman DJ Carton and Florida State transfer CJ Walker.
Carton is the highest-ranked point guard recruit at Ohio State since Mike Conley. You can also count D’Angelo Russell if you want. The point is that Carton is very talented and needs to be a clear and concise answer for the Buckeyes next year.
Asking a freshman point guard to be the solution to a turnover issue, however, is generally a faulty plan of attack.
It won’t all be on Carton or Walker because whether you’re creating them or committing them, turnovers are a team effort.
The Buckeyes need to be more careful with the basketball right now, but since it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen, there’s no harm in worrying about it next year already.
“Winning is the only thing,” Last night’s game showed me three things;
1. MI is really, really good, especially at CRISLER.
2. OSU can’t handle the ball consistently.
3 And we can’t hit big shot or make the key play.
Reasons for this;
1. MI has stocked talent with a a history of 5+years of good recruiting.
2. MI reloads
3. MI has depth in all positions.
3 Anticipated Changes;
1. We need to be patient and give Holtmann and his due time to recruit, which is happening.
2. Probably 2-3 years from now, we will give any top 5 program on a road fits.
3. This will show itself with far less turnovers and D that stops fast breaks and huge shots and an O that knows how to make them.
This article is spot on….Go Bucks!
I have seen them have a good start to games by driving to the basket and scoring or getting fouled.
In this last game they were still close but they lost patience and started clanging three’s.
Game over.
I see 6 more wins and 4 losses.
Maybe better if the young guys continue to develop.
Holtmann doesn’t have the right ingredients in the mix. Last year he had great senior leadership with the perfect grad transfer. Not so much this year. After last season everybody had unrealistic expectations for this year. Holtmann will get the job done we just need to have some patience.
You are the hammer! Spot on!
Couldn’t agree with you more. Every turnover is minus one opportunity for you and plus one for them.
I won’t pretend to know exactly what is causing them or what can fix them, but they give the appearance of sloppy play and lack of court awareness.
Back to fundamentals in the off season.
It’s not fundamentals, it’s talent and experience. Holtmann has showed us the past season and a half that we have fundamentals. MI’s talent, depth and experienced out classed us last night.
Oh, it is fundamentals. This team is indifferent with passing, rarely break towards the ball and struggle to get good passing angles. This is a coaching issue.
OK, can it also be an experience issue? Can it be a speed issue? Can it be that various O options are negated by a lack of talent and depth, specifically in the front court favoring a D to pressure the back court more tenaciously? Can it be the players can’t shake their better D counterparts? You probably are making a valid point, but if what you say is true than why seek greater talent as coaching Fundamentals can take that all away?
Why does Holtmann always get a free pass on this topic? It’s his offense that leads to many of these turnovers. Also, the combination of certain players on the court together may be leading to more turnovers. That’s on him too.
Possibly on non game days?