On radio show, Ohio State's Chris Holtmann addresses belief in keeping handshake line
Adam Jardy
For the first time this season, Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann’s weekly radio show was not held on its typical Monday time slot. With the Buckeyes hosting Indiana on Monday night, Holtmann’s show was bumped back a day for its first Tuesday airing of the year.
It gave Holtmann an opportunity to dig into Ohio State’s second overtime game of the season, an 80-69 win against the Hoosiers that featured substantial highs and lows. Ahead by 11 with 13:32 to play in the game, the Buckeyes went cold, Indiana took control and the Hoosiers led by four points in the final two minutes before Ohio State rallied, forced overtime and pulled away late.
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Freshman guard Malaki Branham and junior forward E.J. Liddell were the stars, accounting for 27 and 16 points, respectively, to help Ohio State bounce back after a Saturday home loss to Iowa. The Buckeyes now play Thursday at Illinois.
If you couldn’t listen to Holtmann’s weekly show, here’s what you missed.
Chris Holtmann is in favor of keeping the postgame handshake line
Postgame handshakes can be an emotional experience, but it’s one that Chris Holtmann said has value and should not be eliminated.
Sunday, Michigan coach Juwan Howard and Wisconsin coach Greg Gard exchanged words after the Badgers won at home against the Wolverines, triggering a melee that saw Howard strike a Wisconsin assistant coach with an open hand as players on both sides began to fight. Howard has since been suspended for the remainder of the regular season and will not coach Michigan when it comes to Ohio State for senior day March 6.
While it’s not the most enjoyable experience, Holtmann said there remains value in keeping the postgame handshake line.
“One of the most miserable things to do in life is after you’ve just got your butt kicked is go shake the hand of the person who kicked your butt,” he said. “It’s a worthwhile exerrcise for adults and young adults. It’s not enjoyable. No one likes it, but it’s a worthwhile exercise for all of us to do.”
Holtmann’s approach to the situation has changed over the years.
“After a win I try to keep it very brief because I don’t want to talk to the opposing coach after I’ve lost,” he said. “I understand why adults and adult leagues maybe don’t do it, but I think it’s an important exercise for people, grade school, high school, college, who are still growing. There’s nothing wrong with swallowing your ego for a moment and saying, ‘You were better than us tonight and deserve the credit.’ ”
Holtmann pointed to the time of year, when teams are fighting for NCAA Tournament berths and league titles, and the pressures that come with them and bring nuance to the situation.
“February is an emotional month,” he said. “What I would caution against as much as anything is the knee-jerk reaction we sometimes have on social media when people make errors of judgement. I get it. Nuance on social media doesn’t work. They want to read these takes that are significantly weighted one way or the other because we know that’s what get clicks. That’s what gets energy on the Twitter platform. It’s basically become a gripe session or session of extreme takes. There’s no place for nuance.
“What I would caution against is any type of reaction, in these situations, there’s an element of grace that’s important. People make mistakes. We’re emotional. You hope people respond when they make a mistake the right way.”
At no point did Holtmann mention Howard or Gard specifically by name, but he did address the league’s coaches as a whole.
“We all know this: every coach in the Big Ten understand we represent something bigger than ourselves,” Holtmann said. “When we screw up, we’ve got great coaches in this league who all take accountability when we screw up. We’re representing our universities. Hopefully across the board we can put this behind us and guys can move forward. I’ve got a lot of respect for both those coaches. Nobody wants that for the league, but we can put it behind us and move forward.”
Justice Sueing still potentially planning to return this season
He’s been out since the second game of the season, but fifth-year forward Justice Sueing is still not being officially classified as out for the season.
“We’ve had as significant of injuries this year as we’ve ever had in my career when you talk about major rotation players, in Seth’s case a season-ending injury and in Justice’s case, we’re not sure.”
Both players could still return next year and utilize one more year of eligibility regardless of whether Sueing returns this season or not.
“I think (Sueing) is excited about potentially playing this year, but he’s not going to play if he doesn’t feel 100% healthy and I don’t want him to play if he doesn’t think he’s 100% healthy,” Holtmann said. “For people thinking we’re holding secrets, we’re not. I don’t want him to play if he doesn’t feel that way. I completely respect that decision. I’ve never had a player (try to return after being) off the whole season, especially one as integral as he.
“We said he’s going to play some 1, a lot of 3, we’ll play through him a lot. How do you implement that back into a team that’s already gotten some personality? He’s got one more year. He’s got to make a decision in the offseason. I would certainly love to continue to coach a Justice Sueing.”
Busy slate of games forces schedule changes
The Indiana marked the second in a span of four games in nine days capped with this Sunday’s game at Maryland in part due to what Holtmann called a scheduling “quirk” after a Feb. 3 game with Iowa was postponed.
“That game, whatever travel issues they had, we had to postpone that,” Holtmann said. “Indiana had about six days to prepare for our game, so there was certainly a preparation advantage but this time of year you have scheduling quirks.”
Ohio State is off today.
“We typically would do a two-day prep for the Illinois but we felt like we had to give them today off,” he said. “I just didn’t feel like there was another way to do it. They loved it. Oh man, they loved it.”
The follow-up question was simple: had you lost, would you have today off?
“Would I have given them the day off if we had lost? No,” Holtmann said. “We’d be practicing.”
In addition to the second game in three days, Holtmann said the Buckeyes weren’t fully healthy.
“We had some guys who were fatigued,” he said. “I’m not going to get into great detail but we had a pretty important guy who was sick, under the weather. You wondered what would be left in the gas tank. Our guys really battled.”
Meechie Johnson will keep mask on for foreseeable future
After suffering a facial fracture and concussion that cost him three games, second-year freshman guard Meechie Johnson Jr. has returned while wearing a significant mask to protect his face.
He doesn’t like it much, but it’s not going away anytime soon.
“I think the mask has really bothered him,” Holtmann said. “It’s a hard thing for him to play through. I feel bad for the kid that he’s had to wear that thing. I thought (Monday) night what he can really do is really shoot the ball. I love the fact that he stayed aggressive. We need that from him.”
Holtmann said he recently asked the medical staff when Johnson might be allowed to play without the mask.
“I don’t know that it’s anytime soon, unfortunately,” Holtmann said. “He could be wearing that through the year. I’m not sure.”
Chris Holtmann lauds E.J. Liddell’s poise after foul from Xavier Johnson
With 47 seconds remaining in overtime, Liddell pulled down a defense rebound and was wrapped up by Indiana’s Xavier Johnson. After the whistle, Liddell slapped Johnson’s arm away and both players were separated.
Video and photos show that Johnson appeared to grab Liddell in a sensitive area. Both players were given offsetting technical fouls, and Johnson was also given a common foul.
“We had some, let’s say, unique incidents that we could’ve lost our poise,” Holtmann said. “I give E.J. a lot of credit for whatever the heck that was. That was a searching of a … another reach. The officials explained it to me. E.J was upset. He said I got hit, let’s say in a sensitive area. That’s why he was pushing him off.
“Fortunately he didn’t hit him, but if any of us were in that situation we’d have a similar reaction. Fortunately the officials saw what was done that and balanced it with technicals. First time I’ve seen that.”
Gene Brown rebounds from tough Iowa game with strong outing against Indiana
In 29:15, sophomore wing Gene Brown III finished with 10 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks to give the Buckeyes a spark on both ends of the floor.
“Gene Brown, he did not play well against Iowa but he’s come along and played really good minutes when we’ve needed him to,” Holtmann said. “He’s given us a lot of really good moments. He had too many turnovers against Iowa, but he’s been great outside of that game in this stretch.”
Buckeyes still working on aggression balance with Jamari Wheeler
Continuing a recent trend, Penn State graduate transfer guard Jamari Wheeler picked up a pair of early fouls and had to spend some time on the bench.
“He’s got to play with a little more awareness,” Holtmann said. “One of the things you loave about him is his bite and energy but he’s got to play a little smarter. He can’t get two fouls in four minutes because it impacts our team. I love him as a kid, love him as a player, he’s just got to play with his mind a little more.”
Wheeler hit a go-ahead 3-pointer during overtime and finished with 8 points and was 1 for 5 from 3-point range.
“I continue to talk to him about he needs to be more ready to shoot on the catch,” Holtmann said. “He passed up a couple and we ended up getting a worse shot on the possession. He’s got to be ready to take the first one when his hands and feet are set. Our team needs that.”