Know Your Opponent: Ohio State

By Bobby Hundley

Ohio State (OhioStateBuckeyes.com)
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Rankings: OSU - No. 46 KenPom, NR AP; UNC - No. 11 KenPom, No. 5 AP
Records: OSU - 10-3; UNC - 10-2
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Carolina leads 11-2 (UNC 82, OSU 74, Dec. 20, 2014, United Center)

A whirlwind five years for Chris Holtmann took the 46-year-old coach from Gardner-Webb to Butler to Ohio State, where his Buckeyes are off to a 10-3 start in his first season in charge. After leaving Boiling Springs to be an assistant at Butler, Holtmann was abruptly thrust into the spotlight when head coach Brandon Miller took a medical leave of absence from which he never returned. Holtmann steered the Bulldogs to three straight NCAA tournament appearances, including last year's Sweet 16 loss to Carolina that was ultimately Holtmann's final game at Butler before he replaced Thad Matta in Columbus.

One of the talking points around the Buckeyes this week was the fact that the team has started 10-3 for the second year in a row. Last year's squad promptly lost four straight to open Big Ten play and missed out on the postseason. One key difference for the 2017-18 start is that OSU has already banked a pair of B1G wins - a 25-point victory at Wisconsin and a 9-point home win over Michigan in which they trailed by 20 in the first half. The Buckeyes have two more non-conference contests to close out 2017 before diving back into league play to start the new year.

Another huge difference is the return of redshirt junior Keita Bates-Diop. The 6-7 wing, who is Ohio State's top 3-point shooter at 42.9 percent, missed the final 18 games of 2016-17 with a stress fracture. Bates-Diop leads the Buckeyes in scoring and rebounding, pacing a team that ranks 25th nationally on the defensive glass according to KenPom. At 18.2 points per game, he is one of four Buckeyes averaging double figures.

Junior C.J. Jackson is the team's second-leading scorer and handles the bulk of the point guard duties, averaging close to 4.5 assists per outing. He's also a legit deep threat as well as the best foul shooter on the roster. Jackson has been somewhat turnover prone at times, however, giving it up a total of 12 times in consecutive losses to Butler and Clemson in November.

Senior Jae'Sean Tate is a handful in the paint despite standing just 6-4, and he leads the team in 2-point shooting at a robust 64.2 percent. Fellow senior Kam Williams excels at defending without fouling and rounds out the backcourt rotation along with grad transfer Andrew Dakich and freshman Musa Jallow.

A trio of underclassmen provide the Buckeyes with the bulk of their size - sophomore Micah Potter and freshmen Kyle Young and Kaleb Wesson. Wesson has been the most effective of the bunch thus far, making 60 percent of his 2s and getting to the line better than five times per game.

Ohio State's season will be made or broken against a Big Ten slate that looks vulnerable beyond Michigan State and Purdue. But after coming up empty so far against marquee non-conference competition, the Buckeyes would love to use an upset over Carolina to kickstart their 2018.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

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