Buckeyes look to bounce back by hosting USC

Here were comments from OSU coach Jake Diebler from Tuesday:

* On his team’s quick turnaround to play USC after the loss to Michigan – “It’s one of the great things about this really tight stretch we’re in right now is you get a chance to come back and play in a quick turnaround. Our guys are excited about that. We talk about what’s done is done. Our focus is on today. 

“We need to prepare really well for USC. Then we need to go out and play better for longer. And that’s our focus.”

And so our team, because of their maturity, I think has been able to do that really well this year. Yeah, it’s, I don’t want last game to feel the exact same, right? I think that’s kind of what we’re, like, what we’re about, but still got to move on quickly.

* On the big picture of needing wins to improve the team’s NCAA resume – “Every game we play, it’s the way of life and being in the Big Ten, the nonconference game we have (vs. Virginia), every game is a great opportunity for us. Our guys know that. We’ve been preaching that for some time now. And I also tell them part of it is blocking out the noise.

“We have to focus on this opportunity right now. And our leadership plays an important role in that. There’s no denying what this time of year means, right? We can’t pretend like it doesn’t exist. This is what we play for. So I told our guys, this is the best time of year. We need to enjoy it. We need to be our most connected and tough.”

* On Devin Royal, who is mired in a 2-for-20 slump on three-pointers – “Yeah, he had shot it pretty well up to that point. I like a lot of them, and some of them I think he did force. Or, he did force. We have talked about eliminating a couple of them where, ‘Hey, this isn’t the time, right?’ or the place to be aggressive from three in that moment. Get to some other aspects of your game. I thought he was tremendous against Maryland in that regard.

“I thought that was a high-level game for him, even though it wasn’t his most productive scoring game. He had four assists and didn’t settle. He’s got to continue to work on his readiness. I don’t want him hesitating out there, certainly.

“My mindset is if you prepare well, you keep working, like a shooter like him who’s shown an ability over an extended period of time, even dating back to the second half of last year, an ability to shoot it at a high level, it’s only a matter of time. He will knock some down.”

* On getting Amare Bynum going again – “It’s providing clarity for him. He’s a freshman playing in the Big Ten in the second half of the Big Ten season, so scouting’s different. Teams are scheming for every player, right? You start to get used to players’ tendencies, and he’s seen different types of coverages on him.

“I think we have to help him and provide clarity and give him specifics in that regard. We keep challenging him to be that high-energy, flying-around, physical guy, and the rest will kind of follow along with that. So that’s what our focus is, just helping him have that clarity so he can play off instincts, because I think he’s got great instincts.”

* On having John Mobley Jr. coming off a down game – “I think the thing with our relationship is I just keep coaching him. Whether he plays well in some people’s minds or doesn’t play well in some people’s minds, I just keep coaching him and just keep pushing him to keep striving to be the absolute best he can be. And if he has 25 in a game, and there’s some other areas he needed to be better at, we talk about those. And we celebrate when he takes the stuff we talk about and work on, and he goes out and does it well.

“But he’s so dynamic with the ball in his hands. There’s some things that we’ve got to continue to work on, but just continually coaching him and pushing him to be the best version of himself. He takes it really well, and he’s intentional about trying to do those things. And again, he is another guy you’ve got great confidence in his ability to respond.”