Ohio State's three-point approach helps set up NCAA tournament rematch with Gonzaga

Lindsay Schnell | USA TODAY

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BOISE — Kam Williams felt no need to mince words.

Asked if he had been part of a massive three-point shooting barrage before, the guard from Ohio State threw his head back in the Buckeyes’ locker room and laughed.

“Try every game in high school,” Williams cackled. “And in high school (at Mount St. Joseph’s in Baltimore) I took every shot! Wait, I’m kidding. It was myself and Phil Booth from Villanova and Jaylen Adams from St. Bonaventure. We took all the shots.”

Defense is often an after-thought in preps. But everyone at Taco Bell Arena was caught off guard Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the NCAA tournament when Ohio State, a team that typically shoots 19 3s per game, launched 40 (!) long-distance attempts.

Box Score: Ohio State 81, South Dakota State 73

The most important one came from Williams, a redshirt senior. Tied 70-70 with 12th-seeded South Dakota State with 1:36 to go, Williams knocked down an open look from the corner and drew the foul. He nailed the free throw, too, and following an SDSU miss, was fouled again on another 3 attempt the next possession.

Williams hit all of those foul shots, too, as Ohio State (29-6) went on to win 81-73, setting up a rematch with fourth-seeded Gonzaga. The 'Zags (31-4) held on to beat UNC-Greensboro, 68-64, in the day’s first game, to advance to the round of 32 for the 10th consecutive season. GU smoked Ohio State in November at the PK 80, 86-59. Williams said Ohio State players wanted another chance at Gonzaga as soon as they saw the bracket.

“When we played them last time we didn’t have much of a team identity,” Williams said. “We were still kinda feeling each other out. Once the Big Ten got rolling and we started winning, we started embracing our roles … the progression we’ve made from then to now has been unbelievable.”

But to get there the Buckeyes had to get past a South Dakota State team with a tendency to sag off and let opponents shoot open 3s.

That was certainly the case Thursday, when the Jackrabbits went under almost every screen, allowing Ohio State to bomb from the perimeter.

Keita Bates-Diop, the Big Ten player of the year, took 13 treys, hitting four. He led Ohio State with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Williams (2-of-4 from 3) added 22, and C.J. Jackson (4-of-9 from deep) chipped in with 20.

“It wasn’t really in the game plan” to take that many three-pointers, Bates-Diop admitted. “But the game kind of called for it.”

OSU coach Chris Holtmann said he took issue with “eight to 10” of the 3s, but otherwise understood it was a necessity, because every time the Buckeyes tried to put the ball inside they were double or triple teamed.

“I don’t know that we’ve ever played a team that is literally daring you to shoot,” Holtmann said.

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He was also warned it would happen.

Holtmann called Gonzaga coach Mark Few earlier this week to ask for a scouting report on South Dakota State, which GU beat in the first round of last year’s tournament.

“I called Mark about 10 p.m. (Eastern) time on Monday night and I said, ‘Mark, what’s going on?’ He goes, ‘Ah, I’m just drinking a beer, looking at the mountains here.’ And I said, ‘Mark, I’m in the office with (assistant) coach (Ryan) Pedon, putting the game plan together for South Dakota State — something’s not right here,” Holtmann said.

Asked if he trusted Few, Holtmann laughed.

“Oh yeah, I trust him,” Holtmann said. “Shoot, after playing us he wants to play again. He was hoping for that matchup.”