Ohio State men’s basketball a work in progress, but so far so good for the Buckeyes

In its first home game of the season Monday, Ohio State closed down Youngstown State like a 1980s rust belt steel mill.

All in the name of progress.

That’s what this 2024-25 season is about, right? Moving forward. Under Chris Holtmann, the program had reached a standstill. Assistant Jake Diebler stepped in as interim coach when OSU fired Holtmann in February, then kept the top job after the Buckeyes finished on an uptick by winning eight of their last 11 and advancing to the quarterfinals of the NIT before losing a 79-77 heartbreaker to Georgia.

Ohio State guard John Mobley Jr. drives past Youngstown State center Gabe Dynes on Monday.

Diebler injected freshness, and players responded. The Buckeyes appeared to have something to build upon, but then starters Roddy Gayle (Michigan) and Felix Okpara (Tennessee) transferred and Diebler had to go looking for new pieces. He also had to replace senior Jamison Battle, the team’s purest shooter.

Fast-forward to Monday in Value City Arena, where the new pieces fit relatively well into the puzzle. Not perfectly, but as a work in progress it wasn’t bad.

The same cannot be said for Youngstown State, which was bad. So bad that it was hard to get a solid read on how well OSU played in its 81-47 win in front of 10,797. At one point, the Penguins (1-1) were 3 of 19 from the floor, and they finished 14 of 59 (.237), including 3 of 22 (.136) from 3-point range.

Setting aside that YSU was DOA – the nonconference mismatch was never going to be close – the Buckeyes did learn a few things in the rout. Among them:

∎ Freshman John Mobley Jr. is the perimeter shooter who can effectively replace Battle. The 6-foot-1 guard from Reynoldsburg who played high school ball in Nevada and Utah, finished with 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range. Combined with last week’s 4-of-4 performance in the season-opening 80-72 win against Texas, Mobley is 7 of 8 on 3s. His defense needs work, but most freshmen need work on…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ohio-state-mens-basketball-progress-110752745.html

Author : The Columbus Dispatch

Publish date : 2024-11-12 11:07:00

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