Buckeyes trying to get back on winning track

Ohio State men’s team has been struggling with injuries and poor play.

COLUMBUS (AP) — And things had been going so well for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Since stringing together nine wins to open the season, about all they’ve gotten lately is bad news.

“I haven’t heard a guy say, ‘Poor us’ or anything like that,” coach Thad Matta said Monday. “We’ve been pretty focused on what we’ve been trying to do.”

First, they lost captain and most experienced player David Lighty, out six to 12 weeks with a broken bone in his foot.

Then they were run out of their own gym 76-48 by West Virginia for their first defeat of the season.

A day later, backup point guard Anthony Crater left the team because he was unhappy playing only 13 minutes a game.

On New Year’s Eve, the Buckeyes regrouped to hold off Iowa for a 68-65 win. But three days later they followed that with a first-half letdown that led to another loss, 68-59, at Minnesota.

No wonder they’ve plummeted from No. 15 in The Associated Press poll just 10 days ago to No. 24 last week and now have fallen to well down the list of teams receiving votes this week.

On top of all that, they’re preparing to play tonight at No. 8 Michigan State, one of the toughest venues in college basketball.

Who could blame the Buckeyes for feeling as if the world is piling on?

Starting center Dallas Lauderdale said some players had their heads down after losing Lighty and then getting shelled by the Mountaineers two days before Christmas.

“We lost. We lost in both ways. We lost Dave and we lost a game to West Virginia,” Lauderdale said. “But it was just one game. There were some people down. But we had to pick each other up and get ready to come back and get after it. Coach told us in the locker room, ‘This is a wakeup call.’ We just needed to work hard and keep getting better.”

Several weaknesses have been exposed since that 9-0 start. Lighty gave the team a shot of adrenalin on defense, almost the same as someone else hitting a big 3 or a dunk at the other end. Without him in the lineup, the Buckeyes at times have not looked nearly as intimidating in their 3-2 matchup zone.

“I don’t think we’re as dialed in defensively,” Matta said. “A few games ago, we had the best defense in the country. A lot of that has to do with toughness.”

Offensively, the Buckeyes are reliant on Evan Turner (16.2 points per game) to slash through the lane, Jon Diebler (11.8) to hit 3-pointers and wide-bodies Lauderdale and B.J. Mullens (6.9 points apiece) to bull their way around in the paint.

Without a senior on the roster and with no players left from the national championship game just two years ago, the young Buckeyes have wilted when confronted with adversity. Odds are, they haven’t seen the last of the hard times.

“We’ve got challenges. Everybody’s got challenges,” Matta said. “Somebody along the way is going to win some games that they sneak up on some people and away they go.”