My thoughts from the game last night, which I attended. I somewhat agree that
OSU came out thinking that Coppin St. would just roll over. There did not seem to be much fire in
OSU tonight. Then again, the crowd didn't help much, as it seemed that the crowd was waiting for the Buckeyes to do something great to get them into it. Unfortunately, that never really happened.
I still see the same negatives that have been there thus far in this young season, namely a total lack of rebounding (late in the game, the rebounding margin was 29 for CSU and 15 for
OSU, and I need not go into detail about how bad your rebounding is if you get doubled up by a mid-major that isn't very strong this year), a tendency to turn the ball over, and what I think is a total lack of effort and/or strategy on the offensive side of the ball. This latter point I've been harping on for several games now. It seems that on offense,
OSU has no plays called, but is rather content to let one man dribble the ball around the three point line or the players are content to swing the ball around the three point line; there appears to be very little driving the ball to the hoop (with the exception of Turner, who did this a few times last night) or off-the-ball screening and cutting. Those things lead to open shots, yet
OSU does very, very little of it. It is frustrating to watch at times, especially when you know
OSU has the athletes to do so. Lighty seemed to disappear again last night, and KK once again didn't really assert himself much. Those guys have so much ability, I am not sure what is going on.
The positives last night that stick out most in my mind were pretty nice games from Turner and Hill. Turner, with his slashing ability and outside shot working, had an especially good night. Hill plays solid defense and can handle the ball, but he still plays a bit reckless, and he needs to be more confident in his shot.
All in all, a win is a win, but it will be nice to see the team play with a little more emotion on Saturday.
