While not at full strength, Ohio State is looking for a third straight blowout when it hosts Green Bay on Monday in a non-conference game in Columbus, Ohio.
The Buckeyes (4-1) defeated Evansville 80-30 and Campbell 104-60 in the final without injuries to forward Sean Stewart (concussion), guard Ques Glover (ankle) and 7-foot-1 center Aaron Bradshaw.
“We may be down a few guys, but we’re not going to let that affect our games,” guard Evan Mahaffey said. “We still have to come out, play hard and do what we do and win. I feel like if everybody has that attitude of not focusing on it and doing things, it really helps us.”
This is bad news for Green Bay (2-4), coming off a 98-81 loss at Evansville. First-year head coach Doug Gottlieb is still deciding who to lean on at crunch time.
With eight freshmen and five transfers on the roster, Gottlieb has been giving tough minutes to his more experienced players.
“I’m trying to learn to trust some of these young guys,” he said. “For us as a middle team to get someone to play our style is kind of a win, but we have to learn to play when someone matches us with a small ball to get a small ball and what that looks like. We have to get a little bit. it’s better and I have to trust a few guys.”
Small ball was exactly what Ohio State played against Campbell without Stewart and Bradshaw. It didn’t seem to hurt the Buckeyes, who shot 65 percent from the floor and hit 10 straight 3-pointers at one point.
“I thought we really connected on both sides of the ball,” Ohio State coach Jake Diebler. “(A small roster) gives us a lot of flexibility on both sides of the floor.”
The status of Bradshaw, a Kentucky transfer, is unknown. The program issued a statement on Friday saying that he is not participating in group activities for an undisclosed reason.
–Field Level Media
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