COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A.J. Harris sat on a stool outside of Ohio State's basketball practice facility on Saturday, and he couldn't help but smile when the topic of "Gray Squad" came up.

Gray Squad is the name of the Buckeyes bench players: Harris, Kam Williams, Mickey Mitchell, Daniel Giddens and David Bell. They go head to head with the starters in practice, often beating them according to Harris and Williams.

Before you get up in arms about the backups beating the starters regularly, know that there wasn't a member of the starting five there to refute Harris' and Williams' claim. The point is that Gray Squad had been playing well in practice. That forced Thad Matta to make a change.

Harris and Giddens started in Monday night's 66-46 win over Penn State. It was an interesting move for a coach who's more known for shortening his rotation around this time of the year.

The Buckeyes don't really have that luxury, because they clearly had things to figure out after losing three of four games coming into Monday night. Two of those were embarrassing blowouts. So Matta shook things up against Penn State, putting JaQuan Lyle and Trevor Thompson on the bench.

"You're constantly trying to send a message to your team," Matta said. "I want these guys to understand where this team is right now. Thursday night we'll turn the halfway point of the Big Ten. You've got to step out of your comfort zone every day. That's something that this team needs. This team can't ever feel comfortable. We can't feel good about what we've just done because it's so hard moving forward."

What was most surprising about Harris starting is that Lyle didn't start with him.

Harris and Giddens took the floor with normal starters Jae'Sean Tate, Marc Loving and Keita Bates-Diop. Bates-Diop scored a game-high 22 points, the most he's scored in a Big Ten game. He looked to benefit the most from Harris being on the floor. There were more openings for Bates-Diop to score.

Ohio State's offense is different with Harris, because he's more of a true point guard than Lyle. Harris is pass first, shoot second. He's fast and pushes the pace of the game. Lyle is more methodical.

Harris is also a generous 5-foot-9, and Lyle is 6-foot-5. You got the feeling that part of what was keeping Matta from deploying Harris more at the point was his size. Anyone would feel more comfortable with a 6-foot-5 guy on the ball. Penn State doesn't have the biggest backcourt, so that allowed Matta to make this change now.

This doesn't mean that Ohio State is moving forward with Harris at the point. Matta was clear that this change was based off results from practice leading up to Monday. So don't be surprised if the lineup changes again even as soon as Thursday's game at Illinois.

And that shouldn't worry you, because it shows Matta was willing to tinker with something that wasn't working. Maybe he'll settle on a starting lineup that includes Harris and Lyle at some point in the future. This was about avoiding complacency for a team that's still trying to show it can take the floor against a good team and not get blown out.

"In practice it's still a business, so that competitive nature is still there for spots," Tate said. "That makes us work even harder, push each other even harder."

That's what Matta wants.

Ultimately the best version of this Ohio State team features Lyle playing more than 18 minutes, which is what he played Monday night. He finished with six points, but only took two shots. He wasn't as aggressive as he's been in other Big Ten games, and definitely not as involved in the offense.

Maybe Lyle took the initial news of not starting as a shock, though Matta said Lyle was fine. A move like this is meant to light a spark under a player like Lyle, who has struggled at times when Ohio State has needed him at his best. Matta did admit that Lyle needs to practice better.

He made his point hit a little harder with Thompson, who only played 11 minutes. That was his lowest total since Nov. 27 against Memphis. Giddens played a season-high 28 minutes, finishing with five points and nine rebounds.

Playing 20 minutes for the first time this year, Harris finished with four points and four assists. He wasn't perfect. He had one turnover where he basically just dribbled out of bounds, but he protected the ball well on a night when the Buckeyes had 15 turnovers as a team.

Mostly, though, Harris did what Matta had hoped. He played good on-ball defense and ran the offense. The Buckeyes got the kind of start they were hoping for with energy guys like Harris and Giddens starting, and had a nine-point lead by the midway point of the first half.

This is a fluid thing, but consider this a little bit of Matta throwing down the gauntlet. He's talked all year about trying to get the best out of his players. This was one way of trying to do that.

"I want to see them fight," Matta said. "I want to see them come back and play a little harder in practice, a little bit better. Hopefully not only those two (Lyle and Thompson), but everybody says this practice thing is for real. We're not gonna come in wasting time, we're gonna compete and get after it. I think with that said, hopefully we're moving in the right direction."