MASON, Ohio — Ohio State and Cincinnati played as part of an outdoor exhibition doubleheader on Wednesday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. The Bearcats won 79-68. Here are a couple of things that stood out from a first look at the Buckeye basketball team heading into Jake Diebler’s third full season as the head coach.
1. It was mildly windy on Wednesday, and at times windy enough to alter shots. An outdoor game also brings weird sightlines. In the first half, one end of the floor was in the sun and the other in the shade. This is early in the preseason (it was technically OSU’s 11th practice) to be playing another team.
That led to abysmal shooting for both teams. Cincinnati shot 28-of-58. Ohio State shot 22-of-54. The teams combined to make eight 3-pointers on 42 attempts.
Cincinnati coach Jerrod Calhoun said he told his team coming in that they weren’t going to make shots. Diebler said afterward that he basically put no stock in how his team shot.
“We are a much better shooting team than 4-for-23 from 3 and however many airballs we had,” Diebler said.
I didn’t count the airballs. There were more than two.
Freshman guard LJ Smith was 1-for-6 from deep. Diebler said he’d be shocked if he ever saw that again based on how Smith has shot the ball thus far in the preseason. John Mobley Jr., one of the best returning shooters in the country, was 2-for-9. Ohio State was pleased with the shots it was getting. Diebler was adamant they’ll go down when they play in a more sterile environment. The Buckeyes shot well in two scrimmages in Puerto Rico during the summer.
“I thought we manufactured some great looks,” Diebler said. “We wanted to shoot the right shots. If it was windy or glaring, we wanted to do it the right way. We had some paint-touch threes that … we make those.”
2. Ohio State will need to shoot better, because the defense is certainly a work in progress. Most teams are on that end of the floor this time of year, but Cincinnati met little resistance when driving to the rim, especially in the second half.