When the Ohio State basketball team was defeated by the Michigan State Spartans it could be chalked up to a loss to a talented veteran team. Losing to the Scarlet Knights may have given the rest of the Big Ten a blueprint of how to defend the Buckeyes.
Rutgers often employed a zone defense which gave Ohio State problems. Other teams have tried the same approach but it hasn’t been a problem with the exception of the loss to Syracuse. So why should it be an issue now?
It’s because the long athletic players for Rutgers made it difficult to get the ball inside and the Big Ten is loaded with those types of players.