Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann shouts from the sidelines during the second half of the game against Indiana Feb. 1. Ohio State won 68-59. Credit: Cori Wade | Assistant Photo Editor
Chris Holtmann doesn’t tweet much.
The Ohio State head basketball coach has sent out just one post to his 40,000-plus following in the new year, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t see what the college basketball community had to say about his Buckeyes on the platform a month ago.
“We realize plenty of people wrote us off when we were 2-6,” Holtmann said. “Had people making fun of us, putting all their sarcastic tweets out there. I got them all saved. All of them.”
For the moment, at least, the authors of such inflammatory posts regarding the sorry January state of the Buckeye basketball team have been made to look silly by Holtmann and the surging Ohio State squad.
The Buckeyes have won eight of their past 10 games in a Big Ten conference with eight of its 14 teams in the latest edition of the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and 10 in Joe Lundardi’s latest March Madness bracket projection for ESPN.
“I have been a part of some turnarounds from a difficult January, but I don’t think I’ve been a part of one this significant where you’ve seen such a dramatic turnaround,” Holtmann said. “And again, after the season we’ll sit down and try to figure out why exactly that is, but we’ve really had a dramatic shift.”
With wins against then-No. 7 Maryland and then-No. 19 Michigan in two of the past three games, Ohio State is closing out the regular season the same way it began the opening two months: like one of the best teams in the country.
Few foresaw the freefall that followed, dropping from No. 2 to unranked in three weeks time amid a six-of-seven-game losing skid where Ohio State won just two of its opening eight conference games.
By the time the Buckeyes took on Northwestern Jan. 26, only the Wildcats and Nebraska had lower standings in the Big Ten.
“We had to close ranks and find a way to try to come together and perform better and own why we were struggling and what we were doing to struggle,” Holtmann said. “Coaches, players, own it.”
Ohio State was so far behind the 8-ball that even its defiant return to form has only vaulted it back to No. 7 in the conference ladder. But with No. 23 Illinois and No. 16 Michigan State –– both ahead of the Buckeyes in the Big Ten standings –– left on the docket, Ohio State still has the opportunity to climb before the postseason begins.
“The Big Ten is a tough conference. It has its ups and downs, and right now we’re on our up,” redshirt junior guard CJ Walker said. “We’re just trying to stay consistent with that.”
The Buckeyes have had to do it without two key contributors.
Freshman guard D.J. Carton –– the team’s third-leading scorer when active –– has been away from the team for mental health issues since the end of January, and junior forward Kyle Young has missed two straight games with a high ankle sprain.
Walker has come alive in the absence of the only other point guard on the team, averaging 13.3 points and 5 assists in his past four games. He averaged 7.5 points and 3.1 assists in the 20 games he played alongside Carton.
“His play in general, in terms of his floor game, has been outstanding for really about how long? About four weeks now, maybe, with the exception of a few games,” Holtmann said.
Freshman forward E.J. Liddell has stepped up in his past four performances, as well, putting up 7.8 points, 1.8 blocks and 5.5 rebounds, all more than twice his averages in his past 13 games.
Still, with a short-handed lineup, each Buckeye starter played no less than 33 minutes against Michigan Sunday, and Liddell was the only other player to chart double-digit minutes.
But for Holtmann, leaning on the go-to guys doesn’t sound like a plan he has any intention of scrapping at this stage in the season.
“That goes back to the guys in the locker room, particularly our captains,” Holtmann said. “They’ve owned the fact that we have to perform better.”
