Fresh off of a dominant tune-up win over Southeast Missouri State, No. 5 Ohio State Basketball looks primed and ready to go in a big-time matchup with No. 6 Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic.
Ohio State Basketball has started off strong in 2019-20 season and at 9-1, looks about as good as any Buckeye team has in the Chris Holtman era. Among the impressive things that the Buckeyes has pulled off this season (as of Wednesday morning): they have the best scoring margin efficiency in the country (+27.12 per KenPom), debuted as the No. 1 team in the initial release of this year’s NET rankings, and beat two top-10 teams by at least 25 points.
Each of the last three teams to beat two top-10 teams by at least 25 points in a season went on to win the national championship, so yeah, things have been all moonlight and roses for Ohio basketball fans.
In the third year of Holtman’s tenure, the Buckeyes have dominated with a familiar formula. They have eight players averaging between 7-to-13 points per game and they play extremely hard on the defense, leading Southeast Missouri State head coach Rick Ray to say that the Buckeyes are “locked-in” on defense. In a big show of their impressive balance, the Buckeyes are one of two teams in the top 10 in KenPom in both offense and defense.
After a 9-0 start to the season, the Buckeyes lost by 13 points to a feisty Minnesota squad. The Buckeyes were without second-leading scorer Duane Washington Jr. in that game and failed to get much out of their starters with Kaleb Wesson (13.9 points per game) in foul trouble. They bounced back with a dominating 80-48 win over Southeast Missouri State in which Wesson had 18 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks.
With Ohio State basketball appearing to be back on track with their win over SE Missouri, they now have a chance to back up their No. 1 rating in the NET with back-to-back games against top-25 opponents.
The Buckeyes’ next challenge will be against a Kentucky Wildcats team in Las Vegas in the CBS Sports Classic. Tip-off is coming up on December 21 and with lightning-quick sophomore guard Ashton Hagans leading the charge for the Wildcats, the Buckeyes will need to stay disciplined to knock off John Calipari‘s squad. Here are the keys to another big win for Ohio State basketball.