Miami (OH) @ Ohio St. preview

Miami (OH) at Ohio St.

Last Meeting ( Dec 22, 2014 ) Miami (OH) 55, Ohio St. 93

Despite coming off its first sub-20-win season since 2003-04 and losing four scholarship players, Ohio State first-year coach Chris Holtmann hasn't backed off during the non-conference schedule. The Buckeyes, coming off an 86-72 loss to then-No. 4 North Carolina last Saturday, are poised to return to Big Ten play after the new year but first must focus during a home tilt against in-state foe Miami (Ohio) on Saturday.

The Buckeyes, who went 1-4 against its stiffest competition in the non-conference slate but beat Michigan and Wisconsin to open conference play, were outscored 24-7 in the final seven minutes of the first half by the Tar Heels in the CBS Sports Classic played in New Orleans. “They really made shots in the middle part of the first half,” Holtmann told the Columbus Dispatch. “We had some defensive lapses but give them credit for making those plays, particularly in that stretch in the first half." Keita Bates-Diop scored 26 points - one shy of his career high - on 10-of-17 shooting, while C.J. Jackson scored the first 11 points of the game for the Buckeyes and finished with 19 points and three 3-pointers. Miami, which hasn’t had a winning season since 2008-09, is already just four wins away of matching last season’s win total despite the transfers of twins Michael (16.7 points, 4.8 assists, 4.2 rebounds in 2016-17) and Marcus Weathers (9.7 points, 6.0 rebounds).

TV: Noon ET, ESPNU

ABOUT MIAMI (7-5): Freshman guard Nike Sibande scored 17 points, while junior guard Darrian Ringo added 15 and eight assists, but the RedHawks committed a season-high 25 turnovers which ultimately led to an 83-66 defeat at DePaul on Dec. 21. Sibande leads the team in scoring at 14 points per game and has connected on 27-of-74 shots beyond the arc. Senior forward Logan McLane chips in 10.3 points and 6.7 rebounds, while junior guard Jake Wright (8.8 points) is deadly from the arc (28-of-67) but has taken just five shots inside the arc all season.

ABOUT OHIO STATE (10-4): Jae’Sean Tate (12.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists) had nine points, nine rebounds and tied a career high with six assists in the loss to the Tar Heels. Bates-Diop, who was lost for the season after nine games last season due to leg surgery, has doubled his scoring average to 18.7 points on 53.3 percent shooting and adds a team-best 8.6 rebounds. Along with junior point guard Jackson, Bates-Diop gives the Buckeyes two deadly long-range shooters as the pair have combined for 136 3-point attempts, connecting on 41.9 percent of them.

TIP-INS

1. Bates-Diop, who has scored in double-figures in nine consecutive games and 13 of 14 this season, joins Minnesota’s Jordan Murphy has the only players in the Big Ten averaging 18 points and eight rebounds.

2. Ohio State did not grab a first-half offensive rebound against North Carolina and finished with three - the fewest since it had three in a 76-66 home win against Michigan on Feb. 16, 2016.

3. Jackson has raised his 3-point shooting percentage from 32.1 last season to 41.8 percent this season while taking nearly twice as many per game.

PREDICTION: Ohio State 87, Miami 61