Ohio State Basketball: What to Expect from Buckeyes' Uptempo Offense in 2014-15

The saying goes that defense wins championships, but that certainly wasn’t the case for the 2013-14 Ohio State basketball team.

The Buckeyes, led by Aaron Craft’s efforts, were one of the most fearsome defensive squads in the country (third in the nation in Ken Pomeroy’s pace-adjusted defensive efficiency rankings) but still lost in their first game of the NCAA tournament because of a lackluster offense.

The cure to that this season will be fairly simple—run.

Jay LaPrete/Associated Press

Thad Matta has the athletes and personnel to unleash a fast-break style of play in every game. D’Angelo Russell, Shannon Scott, Sam Thompson, Kam Williams, Jae’Sean Tate, Marc Loving and Keita Bates-Diop all bring speed, ball-handling skills and shooting to the table, which is perfect for an uptempo team.

Russell and Scott in particular are effective distributors who will lead the attack with Williams, Thompson and the rest filling the lanes on the outside.

Perhaps the literal biggest reason the Buckeyes will be more efficient on the break this season is the presence of Anthony Lee. The Temple transfer checks in at 6’9” and is versatile enough to play power forward or center and athletic enough to get out in transition. He will anchor some fast-break opportunities with outlet passes off rebounds but is also capable of finishing on his own.

Jay LaPrete/Associated Press

Matta could go as many at 10-deep this season if he wants, which means his Buckeyes won’t have to worry as much about conditioning when they run. Fresh legs with regular substitution patterns and a transition style will ideally wear out the opposition by the second half.

Scott suggested as much, via Tim Shoemaker of Eleven Warriors:

"We just really wanna push the ball now. We know a lot of times last year we didn’t push the ball but there were times when we just kind of walked the ball up the court. Kind of stagnant, kind of robotic in how we played, but now we wanna keep going and be in attack mode at all times."

The offense absolutely needs to be better if Ohio State wants to compete for a Big Ten title, and fans should absolutely expect improvement with an uptempo attack.

Of course, there really isn’t any direction to go but up for an offense that was incredibly stagnant for much of the 2013-14 campaign. The ball didn’t rotate, and there was far too much standing around and watching in the half court. For as great as Craft and Scott were on defense, the lack of effective perimeter shooting let defenders sag into the paint and cut off any penetration from ball-handlers and the wings.

The Buckeyes averaged 69.8 points a game, which was 138th in the country. What’s more, they shot a mediocre 45 percent from the field and finished an abysmal 128th in Pomeroy’s pace-adjusted offensive efficiency rankings.

That means the slower pace of play in many Big Ten games was not to blame for the lack of offensive production.

Ohio State also finished 227th nationally in assists per game at 12 and will need better ball movement this season. That should happen naturally when the athletes are running floor.

Considering the Buckeyes’ top three scorers from a year ago (Craft, Lenzelle Smith Jr. and LaQuinton Ross) are all gone and Thompson is the highest returning scorer at 7.9 points a game, there will be plenty of offense by committee in 2013-14. Russell is going to be a potentially dominant scorer who will pace the offense, but if the Buckeyes push the tempo, there could be a different leading scorer almost every night.

That type of balanced attack is difficult to stop.

What’s more, Ohio State has thrived with pressure defense under Matta ever since he began his tenure in Columbus.

Even though Craft is no longer around to spearhead the efforts with his tenacious ball pressure and dogged persistence on the defensive end, Scott, Russell and Thompson will force plenty of turnovers. Instead of simply slowing down after forcing those turnovers, look for the Buckeyes to turn right around and run.

Nati Harnik/Associated Press

Even if that only leads to three or four additional easy baskets a game, it would boost Ohio State’s scoring and field-goal percentage significantly. Additionally, a couple easy opportunities on the break early in the game will let the shooters see the ball go through the basket and help them get in their shooting zone in the opening minutes.

That will pay dividends in the second half.

The bottom line is Ohio State needs to put up better offensive numbers in 2014-15 if it wants to compete for a Big Ten title against Wisconsin, Michigan State and the rest of the daunting league. Given the personnel and high number of athletes on the wing and perimeter scorers, the best way to do that is by running early and often. 

Get ready for some track meets.

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