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Holtmann: With chance for statement win, Ohio State ‘didn’t have the fight’ at Nebraska

Published

2 years ago

January 25, 2024

Holtmann: With chance for statement win, Ohio State ‘didn’t have the fight’ at Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. – Chris Holtmann had a four-letter word to describe his team’s play Tuesday night.

No, it wasn’t that one. Or that other one. This one is printable, discussable and in this case was the descriptor the Ohio State men’s basketball coach chose after an 83-69 loss inside Pinnacle Bank Arena. It wasn’t just that the Buckeyes lost a road game, something they’ve now done in their last 13 such games, or that they lost to a Nebraska team enjoying a breakout season that’s often been lights-out at home.

It was how Ohio State lost this one, and the lack of sustained fight, that was particularly worrisome.

“I thought we were really soft throughout the whole game, but again, give them credit,” Holtmann told The Dispatch. “Ultimately that falls on me. I don’t know if it was just the last 10 minutes or not. We did not have the fight in this game that we needed to have by any stretch. Ultimately, that falls on me. We just didn’t have the fight we needed to, really from the jump, to be honest with you, but certainly when adversity hit we did not respond.”

There has been plenty of adversity as this season has rolled on. The Buckeyes never trailed in last Saturday’s comfortable home win against Penn State, a game that snapped a three-game losing streak and had the potential to be a turning point in Big Ten play. In each of the previous three losses, the Buckeyes were in position to win in the final four minutes only to come up short each time.

Chris Holtmann: As Ross Bjork gets acclimated, Ohio State’s Gene Smith still the boss until July

At Indiana, the Buckeyes cut a game-high 66-56 deficit with 3:34 left to a 67-65 game with 1:44 to play before losing 71-65. At home against No. 15 Wisconsin, Ohio State overcame a six-point deficit with an 8-0 run to take a 56-54 lead with 5:49 remaining only to be outscored 19-4 in the final 5:16 to lose, 71-60. And at Michigan, the Buckeyes turned a 12-point deficit into a four-point lead with a 16-0 second-half run but were outscored 11-4 in the final 3:37 and lost, 73-65.

Tuesday night, with Rienk Mast destroying Ohio State’s defense behind a barrage of 3-pointers, things got out of hand and stayed there. In the biggest Nebraska win ever against Ohio State, the Cornhuskers led by double digits for the final 12:08.

Fourth-year center Zed Key, who had 7 points and six rebounds in 18:49, said it wasn’t from lack of effort or fight from the Buckeyes.

“Thinking about it, not really,” Key said. “They went on a run and we couldn’t get the stops that we need or the rebound that we needed. No, but I know we’re going to be better for next game. We’re going to learn from our mistakes and correct them.”

The nature of the loss meant that while Ohio State did not practice Wednesday, the coaching staff was holding individual meetings with a number of players to try and address where things currently stand. After playing Bowen Hardman for the final 7:35 for his first Big Ten minutes of the season, Holtmann said the sophomore guard had earned the opportunity through his everyday approach to being on the scout team.

“I think right now, that’s what we’re looking for out of our bench is just the right approach and the right attitude and I think he’s really had that,” Holtmann said. “I thought he needed to be given a look because he’s had the right approach and right attitude and I think his play was a by-product of having the right attitude.

Hardman scored a career-high 11 points after having totaled 20 in his first 13 career appearances. He saw more playing time than two of Ohio State’s freshmen who seemed ticketed for rotation roles this year. Forward Devin Royal had a turnover, was beaten for a basket in the paint and then called for a foul on an offensive rebound that led to two late-half Nebraska free throws in only 1:29.

He didn’t see any second-half playing time, but it was more than guard Taison Chatman, who was a healthy, unused substitute. Forward Scotty Middleton, who was suspended for the Penn State game for a violation of team expectations, finished with 2 points on 1-of-4 shooting in 14:11.

After the Michigan loss, Holtmann delivered a clear message that this team’s story was still to be written and that he still had “high-level belief” in this group of players.

Ohio State Buckeyes: Join the Ohio State Sports Insider text group with Bill Rabinowitz, Joey Kaufman Adam Jardy

The Buckeyes still have 12 games to turn the season around, and it wasn’t long ago that the 2019-20 team started Big Ten play 2-6 only to close by winning 9 of their final 12 games before the postseason was canceled due to COVID-19. There are plenty of opportunities ahead for the Buckeyes to climb back onto the NCAA Tournament bubble.

But sooner or later, they need to have the necessary toughness for a full game if they want to capitalize on a few of them.

“We just need to be better,” Holtmann said. “That’s it. We need to be better. I thought we weren’t tough enough, so ultimately that’s something that we as coaches need to get them playing tougher, much tougher.”

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

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Ohio

Ohio woman sentenced in $775,000 Medicaid scheme

Published

11 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

COLUMBUS — A Lake County woman was sentenced this morning to jail time and ordered to pay $775,000 in restitution for fraudulently billing Medicaid, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced. “She inflated her earnings through brazen fraud, but her scheme burst wide open when our investigators got the case,” Yost said. “Cheating taxpayers comes with […]

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‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

Published

23 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

A wind-swept blaze at an Ohio hog farm complex caused “catastrophic” damage and left thousands of pigs dead, fire officials said, marking another devastating barn inferno contributing to the deaths of millions of animals in recent years.

The massive fire occurred on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Fine Oak Farms in Union Township, Madison County, located west of Ohio’s capital of Columbus, according to the Central Townships Joint Fire District. Fire crews received a report of a barn fire shortly before 12 p.m. local time.

The incident was later upgraded to a commercial structure fire after Chief Brian Bennington observed a “large column of smoke visible from a distance” and requested additional resources. Multiple local fire departments, along with several other emergency agencies, were called to the scene.

“What our crews encountered upon arrival was a very difficult and heartbreaking incident,” Bennington said in a statement on Feb. 26.

The fire chief described the facility as a large farm complex used for hog production consisting of five large agricultural buildings, including four that housed about 7,500 hogs. When crews arrived at the scene, they found two of the barns engulfed in flames, Bennington said.

Crews were challenged by windy conditions that significantly impacted fire suppression efforts, according to Bennington. Three barns were destroyed in the fire, and about 6,000 hogs and pigs were killed.

Firefighters saved one barn and about 1,500 hogs, the fire chief added. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Bennington highlighted the assistance of the farming community throughout Madison and Clark counties, as multiple farmers responded with water trucks to help with water supply efforts. “Rural Ohio’s agricultural community is tight-knit, and they truly step up when one of their own is in need,” he said.

The incident remains under investigation, and the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office will determine the fire’s cause and origin. Bennington said there is no suspicion of arson and no ongoing threat to the public at this time.

‘Rapidly changing fire behavior conditions’

Heavy smoke from the fire could be seen for miles, and Bennington said first-arriving units were met with fire conditions coming from the opposite side of the hog farm complex.

The fire chief noted that the incident required extensive water-shuttle operations due to rural water-supply limitations in the area. Crews attempted to cut the fire off by deploying multiple handlines and using an aerial device, but “faced extremely challenging conditions throughout the incident,” according to Bennington.

Sustained winds of about 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph accelerated the fire’s spread, Bennington said. The high winds made it “extremely difficult” to contain forward fire progression and created “rapidly changing fire behavior conditions” across the agricultural complex, he added.

After about four to five hours, the fire was contained by fire personnel from four different counties, according to the fire chief.

“Unfortunately, the fire resulted in catastrophic damage to the business,” Bennington said in an earlier statement on Feb. 25. “A significant portion of the agricultural structures were destroyed.”

Latest major fire to impact an Ohio hog farm

The incident at Fine Oak Farms is the latest major fire to cause significant damage to an Ohio hog farm in recent years.

In August 2024, about 1,100 pigs were killed in Versailles, a village about 50 miles northwest of Dayton, Ohio, according to data from the nonprofit Animal Welfare Institute. In March 2022, about 2,000 hogs died in a barn fire at Kenneth Scholl Hog Farm in Brown Township, just west of Columbus.

Before the fire at Fine Oak Farms, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that other barn fires in Ohio this year killed 162 sheep, horses, cows, chickens, and other animals.

Hundreds of thousands of animals killed in barn fires each year

Data from the Animal Welfare Institute shows that hundreds of thousands of animals are killed in barn fires across the country each year. Since 2013, over 9 million farm animals have been killed in barn fires, according to the organization.

As of Feb. 26, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that 118,738 farm animals have died in U.S. barn fires this year, including the incident at Fine Oak Farms. The majority of farm animals killed were chickens in separate incidents in North Carolina and Georgia in January, and another incident in Missouri earlier this month.

“Most fatal barn fires occurred in colder states, particularly the Upper Midwest and the Northeast. New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois had the highest number of barn fires, respectively,” according to the organization. “The amount of cold weather a state experienced appeared to be a greater factor in the prevalence of barn fires than the intensity of a state’s animal agriculture production.”

In an updated report on farm animal deaths due to barn fires in 2025, the Animal Welfare Institute said more than 2.53 million farm animals were killed in barn fires from 2022 to 2024. The organization noted that the high death toll was “driven primarily” by fires at large operations that housed several thousand to over 1 million farm animals.

The majority of deaths in these incidents during that period, over 98%, were farmed birds, such as chickens and turkeys, according to the Animal Welfare Institute. But in 2023, a massive fire at a west Texas dairy farm became the single deadliest event involving livestock in the state’s history and the deadliest cattle fire in America in at least a decade.

18,000 head of cattle perished in the fire at the South Fork Dairy farm near Dimmitt, Texas. At the time, Roger Malone, who is the former mayor of Dimmitt, called the incident “mind-boggling.”

“I don’t think it’s ever happened before around here. It’s a real tragedy,” Malone said.

Contributing: Rick Jervis, USA TODAY; Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch

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Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose discussed voter fraud and Ohio’s efforts to prevent it during a recent radio appearance.

LaRose appeared on “The Bill Cunningham” radio show, where he defended the state’s efforts to minimize voter fraud. A clip posted on X shows audio of LaRose arguing that policies aimed at preventing voter fraud are necessary even though cases are rare.

Here’s what to know.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose says voter fraud in Ohio is rare, compares prevention efforts to TSA security

In the clip, LaRose says that Democrats claim voter fraud is rare, and should be ignored.

“The left claims that voter fraud is rare, so we should just ignore it,” he said. “Well, airplane hijackings are also rare — we don’t abolish the TSA. The reason why we keep voter fraud rare in states like Ohio because we do these very things that they’re trying to take away from me.”

LaRose announced the inaugural meeting of the new Ohio Election Integrity Commission, which replaces what he called the flawed Ohio Elections Commission, in January 2026. The new committee, he says, will be used in “enforcing Ohio’s election laws, reviewing alleged violations, and ensuring accountability in matters relating to voting.”

In October 2025, LaRose said that he forwarded more than 1,000 cases of voter fraud to the U.S. Department of Justice. The cases involved 1,084 noncitizen individuals who appear to have registered to vote unlawfully in Ohio, and 167 noncitizens who appear to have also cast a ballot in a federal election since 2018.

In February 2026, President Donald Trump said Republicans should “nationalize” elections. He also accused Democrats of bringing migrants into the United States to illegally vote, a claim that is not backed by evidence, USA TODAY reports.

Voter fraud in the U.S. is considered rare nationwide, according to NPR, but there are still debates from both political sides on how frequently it occurs.

What is voter fraud?

Electoral fraud is defined as illegally interfering with the process of an election, according to Ballotpedia. This includes in-person voter fraud, absentee or mail ballots and illegal voter suppression.

Criminal penalties can include fines or imprisonment for up to five years, according to U.S. code. In Ohio, election interference can carry a felony of the fourth degree, according to Ohio Code.

Voter fraud is often a topic of debate among Democrats and Republicans, where organizations such as the conservative Heritage Foundation maintains a database claiming to show nearly 1,500 cases of election fraud since the year 2000.

Meanwhile, research by law professor Justin Leavitt published in 2014 found 31 cases of in-person voter fraud among billions of ballots cast from 2000–2014, according to Ballotpedia.

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