COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Five observations on Ohio State basketball after the Buckeyes beat Miami (Ohio), 72-59, on Saturday.

1. Chris Holtmann saw what was coming on Saturday.

OSU went through some two-a-day practices following the North Carolina loss a week ago. Saturday, Holtmann said after the Buckeyes defeated Miami that he was not thrilled with some of the practices.

The warning signs he saw came true in the second half as Ohio State's 17-point lead was cut down to just three.

"I thought at times, more than at times, they were more physical than we were," Holtmann said. "We've got to answer the bell better than we did today in terms of just playing with more physicality.

"We won the game. Now the challenge is can we learn from some of these things where we have to get better? Because if not, we'll be in for a really, really challenging stretch."

Ohio State went on a 14-2 run early in the second half, which gave the Buckeyes their biggest lead of the night. The Redhawks responded with a 10-0 run to shrink the lead down to seven.

The Buckeyes had problems tracking down Miami's Bam Bowman. He had nine of his 15 points off the bench, all on 3-pointers, when the Redhawks pulled back to within three.

"We just took our foot off the gas pedal," Ohio State guard C.J. Jackson said. "We knew they were a good team and they weren't going to quit.

"We had a, whatever that was, 10, seven-minute lapse. And that kind of cost us."

Another problem the Buckeyes had was a slow start from the field. They made just one of their first nine shots. They went 6:02 without a field goal. The lone offense were three free throws before Keita Bates-Diop ended the field-goal drought.

Bates-Diop led all scorers with 19 points, but was 0-for-6 from 3. He entered the game shooting 42 percent from distance.

"We've got to be able to win a game when a guy like Keita who's so important to us struggles from behind the arc," Holtmann said. "Keita's been so consistent from behind the arc. He had some great looks today.

"He's going to have a night like that. We've got to be able to play through that."

Bates-Diop added a game-high nine rebounds and five blocks.

2. Jackson had 16 points and six assists, and was 4-for-6 from 3. But his most important contribution came in a 65-second stretch.

After the Redhawks cut Ohio State's lead to just three, Jackson answered with a 3 on the next possession. He missed a layup, and despite hobbling after the miss, got back on defense and drew a charge from Miami's Dalonte Brown. Next possession, Jackson found Kam Williams open for a 3, stretching the Buckeyes' lead back to nine.

That sequence began a 10-0 run to put the game away.

"We work on that drill every day, 5-plus-4 transition defense. So I had to kind of sprint back into the weakside," Jackson said. "I knew they were already on a run. They were feeling good. So we needed every stop we could get. At that point, I was trying to get a stop."

3. Kaleb Wesson had a difficult time getting anything going from the field. Ohio State's starting freshman center went just 1-for-7 from the floor.

Several times when he got the ball, Miami crowded the paint and didn't give him much room to make things happen for himself. He finished with seven points and seven rebounds, and was solid defensively as well. But what happened on Saturday was part of a message Holtmann gave to his young big man after the game.

"I think we need more from Kaleb. But he's a freshman, and I think you have moments like this," Holtmann said. "The other thing I told him is, 'Get used to playing in crowds,' because that's going to be what he's going to have to play in moving forward for the next couple of years.

Wesson got to the line several times and was 5-for-5 from the stripe. Holtmann also complimented his ability to pass the ball, something he will need to do more often when the paint is compacted like it was.

4. Jae'Sean Tate nearly missed Saturday's game. He suffered a left shoulder sprain on Thursday, and Holtmann did not know until about 40 minutes prior to tip-off that he was going to have his senior forward in the lineup.

Tate did not practice much on Friday, and Holtmann was concerned with Tate's conditioning.

"I don't know right now if he's in good enough shape to play as hard as we need him to play, to be quite honest. It happens to anybody who's off and then getting back," Holtmann said. "But he's had more days off and he's got to get in better shape."

Tate finished with 11 points and five rebounds in 28 minutes.

He was the first player to be subbed out when Andre Wesson entered after just more than three minutes. Tate got the last basket of the game for Ohio State on a baseline drive that ended with a two-handed dunk.

5. Despite Holtmann's disappointment about the lost 17-point lead in the second half, he was pleased by the team's performance at the end of the nonconference schedule.

The only significant blemish was the overtime loss to Butler at the PK80 Invitational when Ohio State gave up a 15-point second-half lead. Other than that, the Buckeyes' losses came to the two teams from last year's national championship game and a Clemson team that has just one loss.

"It was not an easy nonconference. And that's a good thing," Holtmann said. "To be 9-4 through it, I feel good about it. I think our guys feel good about it."

It's all Big Ten games now, starting with a trip to Iowa on Thursday. Four of the next six games are on the road, and Ohio State's next two home games are against No. 2 Michigan State and Maryland.

"We just focus on Big Ten. We can't really be looking back on what we did previously. We've just got to keep moving forward," guard Kam Williams said.