After winning three of its last four games, Ohio State goes on the road to match up with No. 3-ranked Michigan at the Crisler Center on Friday looking to knock off the Wolverines.
In his on-court postgame interview, sophomore forward Colin White said the Buckeyes are “coming for blood” against the 16-1 Wolverines on Friday.
Head coach Jake Diebler shook his head when told about White’s comments, but he did acknowledge that everyone on the team is ready to get to Ann Arbor for what will be the Buckeyes’ biggest game of the year to this point.
“This is a game that we all are obviously really excited for,” Diebler said after beating Minnesota on Tuesday. “It’s a game that should be played twice a year. I’m glad the Big Ten did that and it should be that way always and forever.
“This game means more,” he added. “Yes, it counts as much on your Big Ten record as other games, but make no mistake, it’s this way in every single sport. This game means a little bit more.”
Michigan head coach Dusty May is in his second year with the program and has been able to bring the Wolverines to new heights. Earlier this season, they beat a ranked Auburn team by 30 points, 102-72, in the Players Era Championship and immediately after, went on to beat No. 12 Gonzaga 101-61. Since then, Michigan has also beat No. 24 USC 96-66, but lost its first game of the year to Wisconsin at home on Jan. 10, 91-88.
Transfer Yaxel Lendeborg has been the leader through the first half of the season with 14.2 points per game to go with 7.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists. But the depth that Michigan has is another thing that has made them tough to deal with.
Four players average over 10 points per game, and four more are over seven points per game, with Trey McKenney, L.J. Carson and former Buckeye Roddy Gayle Jr. all coming off the bench and producing.
“They’re playing really well, but we’re doing some really good things, too,” Diebler said. “We’re going to go up there and give it our absolute best and we’re going to prepare our absolute best for this game.”
Ohio State struggled at points against the Golden Gophers on Tuesday, giving up multiple double-digit leads before ultimately prevailing in overtime. But Diebler knows that the Buckeyes will not be able to play the same type of game against Michigan and get away with it.
“We’ve got to take care of the ball,” Diebler said. “We had some turnovers in that stretch. When we’re moving and the ball is moving, we’re really hard to guard. When we get stagnant, guys stand and we don’t go to the offensive glass, it’s a lot easier to guard anybody when they do that.
“We’ve got to watch from this game what we did good offensively and the possessions that weren’t as good, we’ve got to learn from that.”
This is the first of two matchups between Ohio State and Michigan this season, with the second coming at the Schottenstein Center on Feb. 8.
The game between the two teams on Friday is scheduled for an 8 p.m. tipoff and will be broadcasted on Fox.
