OSU junior forward Marc Loving (2) attempts a shot during a game against Rutgers on Jan. 13 at the Schottenstein Center. Credit: Samantha Hollingshead | Photo Editor Coming off a 35-point loss to Maryland in a season that’s been marred by turbulence, Ohio State men’s basketball coach Thad Matta is taking a variety of steps to right his inexperienced team’s ship. He’s always been an avid reader, but, in an effort to find something that might help his players, Matta recently began reading a new book about psychology. Although he declined to disclose its name, Matta started sharing lessons from the text with his team hoping that something — anything — might click with his youthful Buckeyes. “The good news is I just started it and it’s, like, 250 pages,” a smiling Matta said. In its 19 games thus far, OSU narrowly lost to then-No. 10 Virginia and stunned then-fourth-ranked Kentucky at a neutral site, but the Buckeyes (12-7, 4-2) have lost three games by at least 20 points. Figuring out just what makes this team so different on a night-to-night basis is like breaking the Enigma code — it might take a computer to do it. Or a book. “Yesterday (Matta) said he’s on page 36,” freshman point guard JaQuan Lyle said. “Yesterday he read us four quotes out of the book … so who knows how many quotes we’ll get the rest of the week. One of the quotes yesterday was something like, ‘if you look at things differently, maybe the outcome will be differently.’ It was just quotes that compare to us.” Looking at their next game differently is exactly what might work for the Buckeyes. They’ve had similar games like Thursday’s against No. …
Continue Reading: Ohio State men’s basketball hits the books in preparation for No. 22 Purdue
