Four Things: An Ohio State checklist to beat the Terrapins

The Buckeyes travel to the DMV tonight, hoping to pick up a win in an absolute nightmare of an arena.

Wednesday night’s game is going to be a brutally difficult challenge for the Ohio State men’s basketball team (5-2), but that doesn’t mean the Buckeyes can’t walk out of the Xfinity Center victorious.

The odds are going to be stacked against them…. in more ways than one.

Since Maryland joined the Big Ten in 2014, Ohio State is 1-6 at the Xfinity Center, the home of Terrapin basketball since 2002. The Buckeyes’ last win there was Feb. 8, 2021 — the year the Buckeyes were a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament before…. well, never mind that.

Since then, Ohio State is 0-2 at Maryland, losing by 15 points in 2022 and seven points in 2023. The two teams only played once last season, in Columbus.

On top of the fact that Ohio State never beats Maryland on the road, this particular Maryland team looks to be a perfect foil for this Ohio State team.

The Buckeyes are down their starting center, as 7-foot-1 sophomore Aaron Bradshaw is away from the team as he goes through a “university process” per the team. There is no timeline for when he will be back, and in the meantime, his team is severely undersized below the basket.

Coincidentally, Maryland’s two leading scorers are its starting center, Derik Queen, and last year’s starting center who now plays power forward alongside Queen, Julian Reese.

Can Ohio State flip this game on its head and turn a supposed weakness into a strength? All hope is not lost. Here are four things the Buckeyes absolutely must do to have a chance at beating the Terrapins on the road Wednesday night:

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Use Devin Royal’s athleticism to counter the size disadvantage

There’s no getting around it — Ohio State is going to be severely undermanned in the post on Wednesday night. 6-foot-9 Sean Stewart will be tasked with guarding dynamic freshman big man Derik Queen, who is 6-foot-10 himself and is currently averaging 16.5 points and eight rebounds per game.

Stewart is about 25 pounds lighter than Queen, and is also averaging one personal foul every 5.4 minutes this season. He’s been limited to 16 minutes per game because he keeps getting in foul trouble — not because the coaches don’t want him playing more. Stewart will need to step up, accept the challenge, and give Jake Diebler and the coaching staff more than 16 minutes Wednesday night — there’s just no other option.

The other size issue is Reese. The 6-foot-9, 255-pound forward played center for Maryland last year, but now is playing more of the four. He’s averaging a super-efficient 13.4 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in just 22 minutes per contest this year, and it’ll most likely be Devin Royal who will draw the defensive assignment.

Royal is 6-foot-6 and about 220 pounds — not tiny. But Reese has three inches and about 30 pounds on the sophomore from Pickerington, and it’ll be a problem if the bigger Reese wears him out near the basket.

He’s only attempted one three-pointer over the past four games, but Royal has to knock at least one or two down in this game. He does not need to abandon what makes him great — offensive rebounding, smart cuts to the basket, etc — but Royal absolutely needs to extend Reese to the perimeter. Royal needs to force Reese to run around and guard him all over the floor, because Royal is much quicker than Reese.

Force Kevin Willard to either accept this mismatch, or force Willard to pull Reese out of the game.

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Prioritize defensive rebounding over moving fast

In Ohio State’s two losses this season, their opponents were able to grab over 35% of their own misses. During the loss to Pitt, the Panthers’ offensive rebounding rate was north of 40% (!).

Defending good teams is difficult as is, so Ohio State can’t stand around and allow Maryland to do the same thing — one shot, secure the defensive rebound, and get moving.

Jake Diebler wants Ohio State to move quickly and play with pace, but in this game the Buckeyes might have to sacrifice a quicker pace in order to limit second-chance opportunities. Box-outs have to be deliberate when Maryland takes jump shots. Multiple guys should be below the rim going for defensive rebounds, even if that means the Terrapins get a chance to settle back into a half-court defense.

Pitt had 20 second-chance points against Ohio State. Texas A&M had 16. Maybe Maryland will bully Ohio State below the basket to the point of no doubt, maybe not. But the Buckeyes can’t let the Terrapins out-effort them on the glass. They’ll be undersized, but that just means the effort will have to be that much higher than normal.

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Come out aggressive and be willing to take chances

Ohio State looked scared, stagnant, and slow against Texas A&M two weeks ago. The Buckeyes scored a whopping five points over the first 10 minutes of the game, and only had four assists in the first half.

After Ohio State’s win over Campbell, Diebler said that he’d love to see Bruce Thornton — who is averaging a team-high 6.3 assists per game — be even more aggressive with the ball in his hands. Thornton has only turned the ball over seven times this season, because he values each possession and makes the smart pass rather than the flashy one.

But in this Maryland game, the smart, easy passes aren’t going to be there like they have been against some lesser teams. To avoid a cold start like we saw against Texas A&M, Ohio State’s guards need to be aggressive with their passes and their drives.

Even though they’re the smaller team, they cannot play soft, settle for a ton of three-pointers, and refuse to drive. If you get blocked once or twice, so be it — but the offense cannot exist solely on the perimeter if you want to win.

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Austin Parks, keep getting better!

At some point on Wednesday night, Austin Parks’ number is going to be called. He may only need to play six or seven minutes, or he may need to play 15. Parks played really well against Pitt on Friday night, even when the Panthers continuously isolated him against much quicker guards.

Parks finished with four points on a perfect 2-of-2 shooting and one assist in eight minutes against Pitt. He picked up two fouls.

Parks has better passing vision than he’s given credit for, and at least looks competent in one-on-one situations below the basket. At 6-foot-10 and 260 pounds, he’s actually bigger than Stewart, Reese, and Queen.

The big sophomore from northwest Ohio is going to play a role in this game, but the size of that role will be determined by how Stewart plays.

At the very least, Parks has five fouls to give, but he doesn’t have to be just a big body with five fouls. Based on his play and how Diebler has talked about him, Parks has earned an opportunity to show that he can hold his own against any level of competition.

Ohio State is going to need him to be a difference maker at some point on Wednesday night, even if it’s only in a few short spurts.