COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State was trailing by six with less than two minutes remaining when Marc Loving got the ball on the wing with a clean look at the basket. That’s one of two players Ohio State wants in that exact situation. It also happened to be the perfect time for Loving to officially announce he was back as a key player in the Buckeyes’ lineup. Airball. Ohio State got the offensive rebound. Loving got the ball back. Turnover. Game over. It wasn’t just one possession, one shot, one missed opportunity. It was proof that even if practicing, missing games, regardless of the reason, can put a player in a funk. “It kind of did,” Thad Matta said. You don’t have to look far to find an explanation for why Ohio State has lost two in a row – road games at Michigan State and Michigan – and has all of a sudden gone from being a sure-fire NCAA Tournament team to one uncomfortably situated on The Bubble. Thad Matta on Marc Loving Ohio State coach Thad Matta briefly talks about what’s been holding sophomore Marc Loving back since he returned from a three-game suspension. Loving was Ohio State’s second-most important offensive weapon behind freshman D’Angelo Russell. And in those two losses, Loving scored a total of four points and made no three-pointers in 22 total minutes. He wasn’t the same player he was before his three-game suspension for an unspecified off-the-court incident. During Ohio State’s 6-3 start to Big Ten play, Loving averaged 11.7 points per game. He scored 87 total points – 13.4 percent of Ohio State’s total 651 during that stretch. In his final game before the suspension, Loving played the best game of his career – a 19-point, six-rebound performance in Ohio State’s 80-56 win over Maryland on Jan. 29. In Ohio State’s last two games since his return, Loving accounted for 3.1 percent of the team’s total points. It’s a small sample size, and he only played five minutes vs. …
Continue Reading: Ohio State basketball: Marc Loving is in a funk, reversing it could be difference for Buckeyes
