Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle take the lead: Takeaways from Ohio State's Florida trip
NICEVILLE, Fla. – Zed Key stood near the entrance to the court at Raider Arena with a borderline gaudy souvenir in his hands. Equal parts yellow, orange and blue, the Emerald Coast Classic trophy bears an aesthetic befitting the beach vibes that permeate the region.
“It’s surprisingly light,” Key said, examining it. “I thought it’d be heavier. This is a nice trophy, though.”
It’s not a Big Ten trophy, or one with the NCAA logo emblazoned on it, but it wasn’t just the trophy that felt light. For the first time in years, Ohio State could tangibly feel some of the weight removed from its collective shoulders. The doldrums of last year felt a million miles away to these Buckeyes, who convincingly took down No. 17 Alabama on Friday night and enjoyed a blowout win against the Broncos one day later.
The Buckeyes had not won such an event since they brought home the 2012 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament title by beating Rhode Island and Washington inside Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Those Buckeyes would finish 29-8, win the conference tournament title and reach the Elite Eight.
March is still four months away. Ohio State hasn’t yet played a Big Ten game. But as December looms the Buckeyes are starting to show signs that maybe this year will be better than the last.
Bruce Thornton, named the tournament’s most valuable player after averaging 21.0 points, 5.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 47.6% (10 for 21) from the field, said it’s his role as a leader to make sure of it.
“You’ve got to keep everybody at a level,” he said. “Let everybody know this is not the main goal we had. We’re trying to win Big Ten championships, the regular-season and the tournament championships. We’re trying to have that mentality. If we take it day by day, I think we’ll have a good chance to do big things this year.”
Here’s a look at how the Buckeyes were so successful in Florida and what that could mean going forward:
Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle lead the way for Ohio State
Near the entrance to their locker room, Ohio State’s sophomore guards posed for a photo with some of their hardware. Draped like a sash around his neck, Thornton had the giant, white banner reading “EMERALD COAST CLASSIC 2023 CHAMPIONS” mostly obscuring his sweat-soaked, scarlet jersey.
On his left hip was Roddy Gayle Jr., who held the trophy in his arms. Together, the sophomore guards had scored 73 of Ohio State’s 178 points (41%), handed out 17 of its 32 assists (53.1%) and made 25 of its 35 free throws while shooting a combined 25 for 27 (92.6%) from the line. Both misses where Thornton’s; Gayle was perfect on eight attempts.
It could’ve been more if not for Gayle battling foul trouble against Santa Clara and only playing for 15 minutes.
“Man, they’re special,” fifth-year forward Jamison Battle said. “That has to go back to the work they put in in the summer and their whole career. It’s just showing now. Those two are the culmination of what we’re doing as a team, and for them to come out, the confidence level they’re showing to just go out and play like they did (against Alabama), that’s pretty impressive to do as sophomores.
“I love both those guys. I know they’re not going to be satisfied with what we did this weekend.”
There was more hardware to come for both players. After the players surprised Holtmann by dousing him with water when he entered the locker room, the coach handed each sophomore a plaque commemorating their efforts. Thornton was named the tournament’s most valuable player and picked for the all-tournament team, where he was joined by Gayle.
Holtmann said the sophomore guards were critical to Ohio State’s success in Florida.
“(Thornton brought) leadership,” Holtmann said. “Competitiveness. Played with real confidence that a good player plays with, both he and Roddy did. They played with real confidence that comes from just, being a good player. Hopefully we as coaches are gonna put them in good spots, ‘I’m a good player, I’m gonna go play.’ They did it. Those guys led us and they carried us with their play.”
Thornton credited those around him for his performance.
“I give it to the Lord, man,” he said. “He’s helped me with the tough times and the bad times. It’s really for my teammates, my coaches, the fans right behind me. They seen the amount of work I put in and they pushed me to be the best I can be.”
What statistics were the most surprising?
Four games in, Ohio State was shooting 67.9% from the free-throw line (55 for 81). Thornton was 17 for 21 (81%), but the rest of the team was 38 for 60 (63.3%). The Buckeyes then went 28 for 30 (93.3%) against Alabama and 7 for 9 (77.8%) against Santa Clara.
The Buckeyes are shooting 75% (90 for 120) from the line, No. 72 nationally. Thornton (34 for 40) is at 85% and Gayle went 8 for 8 from the line during the event to go from 50% (7 for 14) to 68.2% (15 for 22).
The better shooting didn’t just come from the line, either. Ohio State arrived in Florida shooting 35.4% (29 for 82) from 3-point range but hit on 23 of 46 (50%) against the Crimson Tide and the Broncos. Ohio State is shooting 40.6% on the season now, the 19th-best mark in the country.
“Hard to make too many judgments off of teams that zone early in the year because it is an adjustment for your guys,” Holtmann said of Ohio State going 19 for 57 (33.3%) in its first three games, all of which were against zone-heavy defenses. “I give our coaching staff a ton of credit. Jack (Owens), Brandon (Bailey) and Jake (Diebler), Jake did a great job calling the offense both of these games and Jack and Brandon and Mike Netti did a great job preparing our defense for what we were going to face in a quick turnaround.”
Then there was the overall defensive effort. Alabama has scored at least 98 points in its other five games this season but was held to a season-low 81 by the Buckeyes. Santa Clara’s 56 points tied for its fewest since it lost to UCF 57-50 on Nov. 20, 2022. The Buckeyes forced the Crimson Tide to take a season-high 53.6% of their shots from 3 while shooting a season-low 30% (9 for 30).
As of Sunday, Ohio State had climbed from No. 50 in KenPom when it arrived in Florida to No. 25. The Buckeyes are No. 18 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 45 in adjusted defensive efficiency.
Where does Taison Chatman fit in?
Holtmann made a surprise substitution with 4:16 left in the first half of the Alabama game and the scored tied at 27. With the under-4 timeout looming, Holtmann replaced Bonner with Taison Chatman, marking the career debut for the top-rated player in Ohio State’s 2023 recruiting class who missed the majority of the preseason after undergoing a minor surgery to repair his meniscus.
Chatman stayed on the court for 27 seconds and committed a foul, sending the game into the media timeout. He didn’t return against the Tide, but he played 3:56 against Santa Clara. His convalescence gives Holtmann some difficult decisions to make going forward after having settled into an eight-man primary rotation.
“Game experience,” Holtmann said of the benefit of Chatman making his debut. “That’s the biggest thing. It was good for him to get some live action. I’m really excited about him, but we’ve got to figure some things out with the rotation. He’s coming into a rotation that’s fairly set, so we’ve got to look at some things.”
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Either way, it’s a good problem to have, and Chatman’s teammates were happy to see him on the floor.
“It’s another guard that can help us out,” Thornton said. “To get to see everybody get on the court in a major tournament like this is great. You see how much work we put in, and when they get to display it there’s no better feeling.”
Buckeyes had to rely on themselves to finish off tournament
When Ohio State tipped off against Alabama, it had the benefit of four days in between games. The Buckeyes knew personnel, assignments and had a pretty detailed game plan for the Crimson Tide.
That was obviously not the case one day later against Santa Clara. On such a quick turnaround, Ohio State couldn’t spent nearly as much time preparing for what the Broncos might try to do. Instead, the focus had to be internal.
“With a quick turnaround you kind of have to play who you are because there are some things you might be able to take away, but we were able to game plan more for Alabama than what we were for Santa Clara,” Holtmann said. “It really did come down more to play how we play, do what we’ve coached you to do and then go be you. Go be the good players that they are. It really was that as much as anything.”
It wasn’t exactly roll the balls out and go play, but it did force the Buckeyes to rely on themselves and their strengths more than trying to negate Santa Clara’s.
“I feel like the bond, it’s just a trust factor with us,” Thornton said. “Everybody believes in one another to make shots, make the right play, make the next rotation on defense. When you have that trust in one another it gives you great confidence on the court and it shows out today.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Takeaways from Ohio State's Florida trip: Gayle, Thornton lead the way
