Roth shines from range in loss to Ohio State

Matt Roth doesn’t look the type to bring 17,202 people to their feet. He’s certainly not one you would expect to drop Ohio State coach Thad Matta’s jaw.

“I honestly wanted him to keep shooting,” Matta said after Saturday’s game, “because I was like, ‘This is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.’”

The “this” in that statement refers to Roth’s shooting performance Saturday. The word “performance” hardly does it justice.

Roth hit nine 3-pointers in just 11 tries, one of the two misses an off-balance heave as the first-half clock died out, Saturday on the way to 29 points – easily a career high. The nine 3-pointers set a Big Ten record, while tying an IU record previously held only by Rod Wilmont for most 3-pointers in a game.

Amazing seems awfully close to what it was.

Roth is hardly the hero type, standing an unassuming 6-foot-3 and rarely answering questions beyond what he’s asked. True to form, he deflected most of his attention onto his teammates after the game.

“I’m confident in my ability to shoot. My teammates are,” Roth said after the game. “My teammates finding me in open spots put me in a good position.”

Shooters with a fetish for hitting from behind the arc have occupied a soft spot in Hoosier hearts since they first painted the line that Steve Alford tamed more than 20 years ago. Thus, Roth has gained something of a small following since coming to campus with the Illinois state high school record for most 3-pointers made in a career.

Like the rest of this team, Roth struggled with confidence and on-court poise early in the season. But thanks in no small part to his increased success from behind the arc, Roth has looked plenty comfortable within an offense that’s getting more effective at creating shots for him in IU coach Tom Crean’s drive-and-kick and ball-motion-based offensive schemes.

Saturday night, Roth did not disappoint, putting forth a seemingly effortless demonstration of the effectiveness of shooting from more than 20 feet and nine inches from the basket.

“We’ve always had a saying: We need to let Matt Roth get lost in the offense a little bit more so his teammates could find him,” Crean said after the game. “We knew it was a matter of time with him.”

That time came Saturday, Crean said, thanks to hard work in the gym outside of practice, something Roth said helps because “sometimes in practice, you don’t get enough reps.”

The freshman guard added there’s little structure to these extra workouts, just shooting and more shooting. Free throws are the reward for good performance.

Since Dec. 10 Roth hasn’t made a field goal that wasn’t a 3-pointer. Knowing that makes it easy to believe Saturday’s performance falls three makes shy of Roth’s personal record of 12 3-pointers, a number he hit in his junior year of high school.

It won’t take 12 a game at this level, however.

Crean backs the statistics that say the corner 3-pointer is a low-percentage shot, one he commands all his players to avoid – all except Matt Roth.

If Roth consistently scores even half of his total Saturday, there’s really no reason that should change.

“He’s pretty well in range,” Crean said, “when he crosses that half-court line.”