BASKETBALL PREVIEW: OHIO STATE PLAYS PENULTIMATE MID-MAJOR TUNEUP VS. MIAMI (OHIO) BEFORE SCHEDULE RAMPS UP
By Andy Anders on December 6, 2023 at 8:35 am @andyanders55
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If one were still caught up in the throes of football season, it might be a surprise to find out that only two mid-major opponents remain on the Ohio State men’s basketball schedule.
MIAMI
REDHAWKS
4 - 3
ROSTER | SCHEDULE
DEC. 6, 2023 - 7 PM ET
VALUE CITY ARENA
COLUMBUS, OHIO
B1G+OSU -21
The Buckeyes play their second Big Ten game of the season at Penn State on Sunday and will see UCLA and West Virginia sandwiched around their final mid-major, New Orleans, before they hit the conference-only portion of their schedule starting in January.
First, however, Ohio State clashes with Miami (Ohio) on Wednesday. The Buckeyes are riding a six-game winning streak with a victory in their first conference contest against Minnesota on Sunday, and Chris Holtmann says his squad will need “great preparation” to maintain momentum before its first true road game against the Nittany Lions.
The RedHawks have a 4-3 record after a 0-2 start to the year, but Ohio State will be their first opponent of the season from a power conference.
“(Miami) is playing well right now, just won at Marshall, won four of the last five games they’ve played,” Holtmann said. “They’ve got a great, very skilled group that is difficult (to defend), their effective field goal percentage is really good. They’re a disciplined group and well-coached and (we) need to have a readiness to play tomorrow.”
NEED TO KNOW
SUBOPTIMAL SCORING
Miami ranks 243rd in college basketball with 71.7 points per game, and its rate statistics aren’t any better. The Redhawks are only 240th nationally with 102.7 points per 100 possessions. Only one player on the team averages double figures, that being the 13.4 per contest scored by Darweshi Hunter.To Holtmann’s point about effective field goal percentage, however, a big contributing factor to that statistic is 3-point percentage, which Miami is 42nd nationally in at 38.1%. Conversely, however, it is 240th converting from inside the arc at 49.8%.
XAVIER BEHAVIOR
Travis Steele, head coach of the RedHawks, has experience from another, larger basketball program in Ohio. Steele spent four seasons as head coach of Xavier from 2018-22 after spending nine seasons as an assistant for the Musketeers. However, his four-year stint as head coach coincided with Xavier’s only four-year NCAA Tournament drought since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. He had a 70-50 career record with the Cincinnati-based university and was fired immediately following a first-round victory in the NIT in 2022.The system Steele ran at Xavier is alike in some ways to what he’s running at Miami and different in others, Holtmann said.
“There are some similarities for sure, but there’s also some differences there,” Holtmann said. “They’re different offensively than what they were when he was (at Xavier), (Miami) is predicated on great spacing and skill. They’ve got some really good young players, a couple are returning players that have done some really high-level things for them.”
GRAY UNIS
Ohio State will be pulling out its gray alternate uniforms for the first time this season when it faces Miami.
Basketball Preview: Ohio State Plays Penultimate Mid-Major Tuneup vs. Miami (Ohio) Before Schedule Ramps Up
Bridging the gap between its first two Big Ten games, Ohio State plays its penultimate mid-major opponent of the season in Miami (Ohio) on Wednesday.
