Ohio
After loss, Green Bay coach Doug Gottlieb impressed by Ohio State’s defense, physicality
Green Bay coach Doug Gottlieb breaks down Ohio State after loss
Green Bay coach Doug Gottlieb’s full press conference after Ohio State’s 102-69 win on Nov. 25, 2024.
Doug Gottlieb had a lot to say about Ohio State.
Monday night, the first-year college coach brought his Green Bay Phoenix into Value City Arena and took a 102-69 loss. The Buckeyes never trailed, built a lead as high as 35 points and closed the game with a 44-18 run in the final 12:12 to improve to 5-1.
Stronger challenges lie just on the horizon for Ohio State, which hosts Pittsburgh on Friday to begin a home-and-home series before playing at Maryland and hosting Rutgers next week. First, though, was this game against Green Bay, and Gottlieb said there was plenty that concerned him about the Buckeyes.
It started on the defensive side of the ball.
“They don’t have any weaknesses defensively,” Gottlieb, a longtime sports broadcaster who played collegiately for Notre Dame and Oklahoma State. “Everybody else we’ve played, we try and attack the weak link. Usually it’s a five-man, and we thought when Sean Stewart played, ‘Oh, we have more of a traditional big, we can expose them a little bit by spacing them out,’ but he just recovers so quickly and plays so hard.”
Playing their fourth road game in their last five games, all in the span of 12 days, the Phoenix finished with their lowest adjusted offensive efficiency rating of the season. According to KenPom, Ohio State limited Green Bay to 94.8 points per 100 possessions despite starting 6-9, 220-pound Sean Stewart at center. Gottlieb credited the versatility of not just Stewart but starting power forward Devin Royal (6-6, 220) and primary rotation player Evan Mahaffey, a 6-6, 200-pound wing.
“Look, that’s a really well-coached team,” he said. “If you watch on tape and you look at the analytics, their defense is outstanding. Outstanding. It’s really, really connected, physical. We played Oklahoma State and they were physical, but it was kind of to the point of ridiculous where you could call a foul every time. They’re just physical but with really good intention.”
Ohio State committed a season-low 14 fouls against the Phoenix, out-rebounded Green Bay 37-23 and shot a season-best 64.9% from two-point range (24 for 37). Gottlieb credited that to Ohio State’s players buying into their specific roles under first-year coach Jake Diebler.
“They’ve got (Evan Mahaffey) dialed in to, ‘All you’re going to do is rebound and defend and drive to the basket or cut to the basket,’ ” Gottlieb said. “They got Sean Stewart, ball screen roll or just be a big guy in the middle and they drive off him. They use him almost like a goalpost in the middle you’ve got to avoid. They are accepting their roles and they’re flourishing. Their perimeter players, all those guards can just go get buckets, and they’re allowed to take a couple chances defensively because they’ve got good anchors inside. They are elite, elite defensively.”
Gottlieb, who hosts a daily national sports talk show on Fox Sports Radio, saved his most effusive praise for junior guard Bruce Thornton, who had a season-high 25 points and nine assists in 29:36. Gottlieb described him as his favorite Ohio State point guard since Scoonie Penn or Jay Burson.
“Bruce was really the story,” he said. “Bruce and Meechie (Johnson Jr.), Meechie just with confidence and Bruce … he leads, shoots, scores, passes. He’s a big-time basketball player. The rest of the guys just defend and feed off his energy.”
ajardy@dispatch.com
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A Kentucky woman who had been missing for more than two weeks was found dead in her vehicle in Ohio, authorities said.
The body of Debra Wireman was found in her vehicle on July 3 in Clermont County, Ohio, the Flemingsburg Police Department in Kentucky said on Facebook on Wednesday. Investigators were called to the scene after a report identifying the vehicle as belonging to a missing person, police said. The remains were identified as Wireman’s by the Clermont County Coroner’s Office on July 7, according to law enforcement.
Police in Kentucky said the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio is investigating the woman’s death. No additional information will be released by Flemingsburg police “out of respect for Debra’s family and the integrity of that investigation.”
“While this is not the outcome any of us hoped and prayed for, we are thankful that Debra has been found and that her family can now begin to receive the closure they deserve,” police added on Facebook.
Wireman, according to police, was last seen on June 17 at around 4:30 p.m. in Aberdeen, Ohio, while traveling toward Maysville, Kentucky. She was driving a white 2020 Kia Forte with front-end damage. Police said family and friends were “concerned for her welfare.”
“The overwhelming response from our community, neighboring agencies, the media, and countless individuals across the region demonstrated the very best of people coming together in the hope of bringing someone home safely,” Flemingsburg police said.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Central Ohio has a new option for late-night sweets.
Jeff’s Donuts opened its first Ohio location Wednesday morning at 5717 N. Hamilton Road, between Gahanna and New Albany.
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Sixteen ‘almost feral’ children. Aged 18 months to 18 years. Hidden from sight in an Ohio house of horrors.
Until now.
It’s a situation difficult to fathom: Investigators found 16 kids living inside a 1,300-square-foot home in Vinton County, Ohio, confined in a 12-by-12 bedroom investigators say was covered in human waste. Gary Siders Jr., Elizabeth Siders, Gary Siders Sr., and Christina Siders were arrested on Tuesday, June 30th, and remain in jail after waiving their preliminary hearings today, Tuesday, July 7th.
Investigative reporter Anne Emerson goes beyond the headlines to understand the human impact in the developing Siders child abuse case. How did children live under these conditions for so long? We wanted to hear from the local community affected by this horrific story.
In this episode of Criminally Obsessed, we hear from those voices – from Captain Jeremiah Griffith who was a first responder to the shocking scene, to local Vinton County Pastor James Dimel who describes the community’s support of children who were trapped in a ‘den of evil’. Law enforcement and locals share their shock at the horror lurking in their own community. And Attorney Thomas Stolly, who represents Elizabeth Siders, says the case is more complicated than many believe, urging the public to remember that his client is presumed innocent.
Today, we react in real time to what we know so far in this developing story, and offer multiple perspectives of those closest to this case.
Subscribe to Criminally Obsessed for continuing coverage of the Siders investigation, true crime updates, courtroom developments, and exclusive interviews with the real people impacted by these cases.
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