Though not at full strength, Ohio State seeks a third straight blowout when it hosts Green Bay on Monday in nonconference action in Columbus, Ohio.
The Buckeyes (4-1) defeated Evansville 80-30 and Campbell 104-60, the latter without injured forward Sean Stewart (concussion), guard Ques Glover (ankle) and 7-foot-1 center Aaron Bradshaw.
“We might be down a few guys, but we can’t let that affect our games,” guard Evan Mahaffey said. “We’ve still got to come out, play hard and do what we do and get the win. I feel like when everybody has that approach of not dwelling on it and getting things done, it helps us for sure.”
That’s bad news for Green Bay (2-4), which is coming off a 98-81 loss at Evansville. First-year coach Doug Gottlieb is still determining who he can rely on during crunch time.
With eight freshmen and five transfers on the roster, Gottlieb has been giving heavy minutes to his more experienced players.
“I’m trying to learn to trust some of these younger guys,” he said. “For us as a mid-major to make somebody play our style is kind of a win, but we have to learn to play when somebody matches us small ball for small ball and how that looks. We’ve got to get a little bit better and I’ve got to trust a couple of guys.”
Small ball is 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 in one stretch.
“I thought we were really connected on both sides of the ball,” Ohio State coach Jake Diebler. “(The smaller lineup) gives us great versatility on both sides of the floor.”
The status of Bradshaw, a Kentucky transfer, is unknown. The program issued a statement Friday saying he was not participating in team activities for an undisclosed reason.
–Field Level Media
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