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“Ohio State used the exhibition game to its advantage, bringing out a variety of lineups, each showing a strong defensive intensity and willingness to move the ball. Every player active on Ohio State’s roster saw time on the court during the exhibition.”
- Wyatt Crosher, The Lantern
Basketball is finally back! Well, kind of. It’s not technically back until Ohio State faces off with Cincinnati next Wednesday, but for the first time since March, there was live, legitimate Buckeye basketball being played at the Schottenstein Center. That basketball came in the form of an exhibition match against UNC-Pembroke, a D2 school and Peach Belt conference member.
While UNC-Pembroke isn’t a major team by any means, they were one of the best D2 teams in the country last year, going 27-6, winning their conference before falling in the second round of the D2 tournament to Queens. With that in mind, Ohio State’s 81-63 victory last night is pretty impressive, especially considering that the Buckeyes spent nearly the entire second half with their starters on the bench.
Leading the way for the Buckeyes was Micah Potter, who came off the bench as the backup center and dropped 13 points. Right behind him was Kaleb Wesson with 12, Luther Muhammad, Jaedon LeDee, and Kyle Young with nine, and C.J. Jackson with eight. The Buckeyes didn’t shoot super well (44% from the field, 20% from three on the game), but they looked good inside the paint, but they looked good on defense, and did just about what they were expected to.
“Meyer’s decision to finish his quote with a cliffhanger seemed deliberate. This is a man whose career careened into a guardrail after he “misspoke” at the annual Big Ten media gathering in July. He understands every word gets parsed for deeper meaning.”
- Rob Oller, Columbus Dispatch
Urban Meyer’s press conference earlier this week, and the subsequent announcement that the cyst on his brain is causing him more pain have both created a decent amount of frenzy in Ohio State circles in the past few days. That frenzy may be for good reason too, because while he said he’d be coaching next season, health concerns are enough to cast some serious doubt around that.
No matter what Urban Meyer wants to do, he can’t control how he feels. If he’s not capable of coaching, he shouldn’t push himself to do it, as Rob points out excellently in his piece. While Urban will have a spot in Columbus for as long as he wants it, it certainly feels like his tenure will be complete sooner rather than later.
“The 99th season of Ohio State University Wrestling begins this weekend (Nov. 2-3). An All-Star appetizer will be served Friday night (9 p.m. ET) when Joey McKenna competes in the 2018 NWCA All-Star Classic in Denver, Colo., before a main course in the form of a team dual versus the U.S. Naval Academy in Owings Mills, Md., less than 24 hours later at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday.”
- Ohio State Buckeyes dot com
Wrestling is upon us once again! After their excellent season last year, Ohio State looks to continue their dominance in 2018, despite the graduation of the best wrestler in the world, Kyle Snyder. The season starts tonight with Ohio State’s own Joey McKenna facing off against NWCA All-Star classic against Oklahoma State’s Kaid Brock.
The season gets started in full on Saturday however, in a battle with Navy. The Midshipmen have just one ranked wrestler, No. 19 Jared Price, and he’ll be up against Ohio State’s No. 2-ranked Micah Jordan in the 149 pound weight class. The match should be an easy first win for a Buckeye team with plenty of title hopes.
Buckeyes in the NFL
For the first time in a couple weeks, last night’s NFL game had very little Buckeye involvement. The 49ers don’t have a single Buckeye, and the two that the Raiders have (Johnathan Hankins and Gareon Conley) were both pretty quiet in the blowout loss. Hankins recorded four tackles (two for a loss), and Conley had two tackles, but neither played a huge role.
Unfortunately, they have to play for Jon Gruden—so losses like this have become the norm in 2018. Hopefully our beloved Buckeyes will be rescued from Gruden sooner rather than later, before he permanently ruins them.
Buckeyes in the NBA
Say it with me: D’Angelo Russell for most improved player. In the past week, D Russ dropped 24 points on the Pelicans, 25 on the Warriors, and averaged 17 points over his four games. Unfortunately the rest of his team stinks, but Russell has been a bright spot for the Nets this season.
Mike Conley has only played twice since in the past week, but he continued his steady pace, putting up 18 points and seven assists in a win against the Suns, and 19/7 against the Wizards on the way to another blowout victory. The Grizzlies are very quietly 4-2, thanks in large part to Conley’s steady hand.
Outside of those two, it was a pretty quiet week for Buckeyes in the NBA. Evan Turner put up a season high 14 points against the Pelicans last night, and added seven assists and boards, making it one of his best games of the season. His Trail Blazers are sitting at 6-2 on the season, and we can only assume that’s because of Turner entirely (it is not).