The Ohio State basketball team is now 5-2 on the season after a hard fought loss to Duke. Despite the loss the Buckeyes are still No. 25 in the AP Poll and will look to get back in the win column today. Tip off is at 12 PM ET on BTN against St Francis (PA), live from Value City Arena in Columbus.

Buckeye Preview:

The Buckeyes fought tooth and nail against the Duke Blue Devils on Wednesday night. Despite traveling to Cameron Indoor Stadium to play in that intimidating environment, the Buckeyes hung within single-digits for most of the contest. Eventually, they would lose by a score of 81-72.

The leading scorer in the contest was Zed Key, who recorded 21 points and 9 rebounds. For the 2nd year in a row the Buckeye Forward/Center showed he wasn’t afraid to bang bodies with the big boys of Duke. It is very clear that Zed Key has continued to work on his game, looking more polished in the post and off ball than last season.

Sean McNeil, Justice Sueing, and Bruce Thornton also contributed double-figure nights for the Buckeyes. While Bruce Sensabaugh played his worst game of the year, struggling with offense and defense. It seemed the freshmen just couldn’t get into a rhythm after early foul trouble, Holtmann clearly felt the same as the freshmen saw minimal minutes in the 2nd period.

Overall, Ohio State’s inability to string together stops and make the deep ball resulted in them falling short of an upset. What was most impressive from this outing was the Buckeye’s resilience. Despite being outmatched, in terms of size, the Buckeyes only got out rebounded by two and refused to make offensive possessions easy for Duke. At the end of the day this was a great learning opportunity and valuable experience for a team that hopes to do damage in the Big Ten.

A Look at the Red Flash:

The Red Flash are 2-6, with wins over Hartford and Franciscan. They hail from the Northeast Conference, with teams such as Wagner and Sacred Heart.

The projected lineup:

Landon Moore (G)

Cam Gregory (G)

Maxwell Land (G)

Josh Cohen (F)

Marlon Hargis (F)

Redshirt-Junior Josh Cohen is a the driving force behind the Red Flash offense. Standing at 6’10” he has gotten off to a solid offensive start, averaging 20.4 points per contest. He also leads the team in rebounds, which makes sense for his size. He and Zed Key should be a fun matchup to watch down on the block.

Another Red Flash player to keep an eye on is Maxwell Land. The guard hails from Cincinnati, where he attended Archbishop Moeller, a school I’m sure many Buckeye fans are familiar with. He is averaging just over 13 points per game, despite coming off a poor outing against Bucknell.

Expectations:

The Buckeyes starting lineup should be the same:

Isaac Likekele (G)

Sean McNeil (G)

Bruce Thornton (G)

Justice Sueing (G)

Zed Key (F)

Eugene Brown III will miss this game, as he has yet to play this season due to concussion protocol.

The Red Flash rank as one of the worst defensive teams in the country. Which is a recipe for disaster when facing an Ohio State that is averaging 77.5 points per game. I don’t foresee this being much of a game. Thus it will be important for Ohio State to continue developing chemistry and work on getting guys out of offensive funks. I’d like to see some more aggressive play from Tanner Holden and a bounce back game from Brice Sensabaugh. The Buckeyes should handle business with ease.

Final: 94-64, Ohio State

Featured image: ohiostatebuckeyes.com