By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) — COLUMBUS, Ohio — Center Dallas Lauderdale didn’t want to read it after Ohio State’s loss to North Carolina last Thursday, so he turned off his cell phone.

“I got a ton of text messages talking about how you guys played so well, and I’m so proud of you,” Lauderdale said Monday. “But I was saying in my head, what are you proud of? We lost.”

Coach Thad Matta didn’t want to hear it around the neighborhood when he was walking his dog after returning home.

“The neighbor says, ‘Man, you guys played North Carolina close.’ The next guy says, ‘Wow, that was a great effort against North Carolina.’ Well, we lost,” Matta said. “And for people to celebrate a loss is something I don’t want to do. I don’t care if we’re playing the Lakers.”

The No. 17 Buckeyes will be about as far from the NBA champions as they could get Tuesday against 0-3 Lipscomb from the Atlantic Sun conference, but after a 77-73 loss to North Carolina and 76-70 win against California at the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, they need to remember what worked and what didn’t against two pretty good teams.

Mostly, the Buckeyes felt like they took themselves out of the game against North Carolina by not working their offense they way they wanted to.

“It’s a greater understanding of how efficient we have to be on offense and understanding timing and doing the job we’re supposed to do,” Matta said. “When we’re efficient offensively, we get pretty good shots, and that’s what this team needs.”

Ohio State likes the offensive options in its starting lineup, with leading scorer Evan Turner working at point guard surrounded by shooters William Buford and Jon Diebler, slasher David Lighty and big man Lauderdale. The players have a lot of freedom to find their shots, but with that freedom comes responsibility.

“All the guys on the court, we’re very confident in our ability to score,” Diebler said, “and coach gives us freedom to play within the game. I’m not saying all of our shots were bad against Carolina — we had some good shots we just weren’t making. But there are times we feel like we’ve got to get a basket, and that might lead to bad shots. That’s us being confident. But at times we have to slow down and trust the system.”

That means cutting and screening and finding the open man in a place where he’s comfortable on the floor. Matta had to remind some players that they weren’t taking high-percentage shots, yet he never wants to pull back too hard on their aggressiveness.

Against Lipscomb, it will be easy to be aggressive and smart. But the Buckeyes can’t forget what happens when they are one without the other.

“The thing that hurt the most in the locker room after the [North Carolina] game was we knew we should have won the game,” Lauderdale said. “We didn’t play like we were supposed to play. North Carolina is a great team and hit some very big shots, but we knew at the end of the game that we made some silly plays.”

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