Ohio State’s Justice Sueing, on poor second-half start: ‘Put all of that on my shoulders’

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The blame, if you want to assign some, falls at the feet and on the shoulders of Justice Sueing.

That was the message from the Ohio State captain on Sunday afternoon. Standing outside the visitors’ locker room inside the Xfinity Center, the sixth-year forward was the latest in a line of Buckeyes trying to explain what had gone wrong in a loss to Maryland. For the sixth time in as many tries, Ohio State left a road game with fans in the stands against the Terrapins sporting a fresh, 80-73 loss that was equal parts discouraging and decisive.

Before getting into the details, Sueing was clear with his message: the Buckeyes weren’t adequately ready for the challenge, and that’s on him.

“You can put all of that on my shoulders just because being captain, it’s my responsibility to make sure the guys is ready going into the game, going out onto the floor, out of the half, whatever the time is,” Sueing told The Dispatch. “Us not being ready, you can fully put that on me and I’ll make sure that junk is done because if not, we’re not going to win games in this conference. It’s going to be a quick turnaround.”

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In this case, it was a five-minute stretch to open the second half that Sueing was reflecting on. Ahead 39-34 at the half, Ohio State weathered an uneven opening 20 minutes, closed on a 13-3 run and seemed to have answered the challenge the Terrapins, who had lost five of their prior seven games, had posed.

Then the Buckeyes turned it over on their first four possessions and five of their first six. By the time Ohio State took a second-half shot attempt, Maryland had scored six points and retaken a lead it would hold for the final 17:57 of the game.

Freshman Brice Sensabaugh turned it over on a travel in the paint on the first possession of the half, wiping out a made bucket. Freshman Bruce Thornton was called for a charge after the Terrapins set up their full-court press following a Jahmir Young basket. Then Thornton traveled against the press after a Donta Scott basket. Then Sensabaugh turned it over again on a poor cross-court pass. Sueing followed suit with a turnover after Felix Okpara missed a hook shot in the paint, and it all fueled what would be a 14-0 run in the first five minutes of the second half that flipped the game and left the Buckeyes scrambling.

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After the strong close to the first half, Sueing said it’s on him to ensure the Buckeyes don’t open the second half so flat.

“I’d say that the biggest thing is we just didn’t come out with the same intensity,” he said. “Those last five minutes of the first half was what we needed to play with for the remaining 20 minutes of the game, but they blitzed us and we just didn’t have the fight, that heart that we needed to come out of an away game here at Maryland. They fed off their crowd well.”

It’s a similar refrain preached by the Buckeyes after playing here. Ohio State’s lone win at the Xfinity Center since Maryland joined the Big Ten came during the 2020-21 season that was played without fans. Although students weren’t yet back from winter break, the result was the same for the Buckeyes, whose five losses here had come by an average of 16.2 points.

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Ohio State led those five games for a total of 18:16. In this one, the Buckeyes led for 6:54 and trailed by as many as 14 points.

“I’m just really disappointed with our approach to the second half,” coach Chris Holtmann said. “We’ve got to get better with that as players and coaches. We need our leadership to raise their level and understand what’s going to happen when you’re playing on the road in the first five minutes of the second half.”

The Buckeyes opened the second half with the same starters as it did the first, a lineup with three freshmen, Sueing and West Virginia graduate transfer Sean McNeil. That lasted 1:16 before Holtmann subbed fifth-year senior and Oklahoma State graduate transfer Isaac Likekele in for Thornton after he committed his second turnover and Maryland was within 39-38.

The starters featured Okpara, making his first career start at center with Zed Key unavailable due to a left shoulder sprain.

“I just didn’t believe we came out with the sense of urgency we needed,” Likekele said. “We needed to come out a lot tougher and a lot more focused, but those five guys we have out there starting, we believe in them. Every other time that they get it right, we cheer them on. One time they get it wrong, it’s OK. We believe in them still and next game they’re going to get it right.”

Likekele is one of three team captains as voted by the players. He missed three games to attend to a personal situation back home in Texas and has slowly worked his way back into the lineup as a reserve, and against Maryland he was on the court for 23:37, finishing with 2 points, two rebounds, four assists and no turnovers.

His subbing in for Thornton wasn’t enough to turn the tide, and in hindsight, Holtmann said he probably should’ve called a timeout sooner than he did. When Holtmann used his first of the half, Maryland had nailed consecutive 3-pointers from Donta Scott and Donald Carey to make it a 46-39 lead with 15:35 left. Ohio State wouldn’t score for two more possessions, when Likekele pulled down a Thornton miss and scored.

The Buckeyes missed their first seven shots of the half and committed five turnovers in that stretch.

“I thought they were just tougher that first five-minute stretch,” Holtmann said. “More active. Played harder in that stretch. I thought we closed the first half really well. We obviously opened the (second) half really poorly. I didn’t want to burn a timeout, but obviously, we needed to.”

It was eerily reminiscent of Ohio State’s last trip to the Xfinity Center. Last February, the No. 22 Buckeyes arrived at unranked Maryland with a path to at least a share of the Big Ten title only to take a 75-60 loss. Standing in that same hallway outside of that same locker room, fifth-year senior captain Kyle Young called the feeling “horrible” and said the Buckeyes didn’t bring enough to get it done in a game where the Terrapins scored the game’s first eight points and Ohio State led for only 1:46.

“I think it’s pretty simple: They came out more ready, tougher, played harder,” Young told The Dispatch after that game. “Honestly, I couldn’t tell you (why). I just think we weren’t as prepared and ready as we should be. Like I’ve mentioned in the past, the team that throws the first punch typically sets the rules. …

“We just weren’t able to do that tonight.”

The same was true eleven months later for an entirely different team inside an arena where Ohio State can’t seem to find a way to win.

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State’s Justice Sueing shoulders blame for second-half woes