Thad Matta is in uncomfortable territory.

Not that he has Ohio State tied for first place in the Big Ten midway through February and ranked among the top-10 teams in the country. That actually has been pretty standard for the eighth-year OSU coach.

What likely has him a little squeamish is that the Buckeyes (21-4 overall, 9-3 in league play) are coming off such a dreadful and potentially damaging performance that he has spent much of the quick turnaround time heading into a road test with Minnesota pointing out what went wrong in a 58-48 home loss to Michigan State on Saturday.

“We watched a lot of film yesterday,” guard William Buford said Monday. Jared Sullinger, seated to Buford’s immediate right, chuckled in agreement, as if to say, “That’s an understatement.”

In the setback to MSU, which snapped a 39-game winning streak at the Schottenstein Center, the Buckeyes were just 7 of 21 from the field in the first half and an even-worse 7 of 32 in the second, finishing with a season-low field-goal percentage of 26.4. That’s not going to beat anybody in the Big Ten, let alone a Spartans team that now appears poised to capture the league title.

“I don’t think we were running our offense the way we were supposed to,” said Buford, who finished just 2 of 12 from the field and scored only four points vs. the Spartans. “We weren’t sticking to our game plan the way we needed to, and it was just one of those off nights for everybody. That’s probably the lowest we’ve shot since I’ve been here.”

That’s taking in some real estate. Buford is the team’s lone senior and has seen the ups and downs of the last three-plus seasons.

Sullinger, who is a sophomore, went a step further with his assessment.

“We looked like spoiled brats out there,” Sullinger said. “If you look at the tape, (we were) arguing with one another and complaining about calls. We just looked like spoiled brats out there.”

Sullinger had to throw himself into the criticism. He logged 17 points – right around his average – and 16 rebounds against MSU but was just 5 of 15 from the field and committed 10 turnovers. He also was guilty of making eye contract with referees after physical plays.

Deshaun Thomas, whose scoring average of 14.3 points per game, is line with that of Buford (15.0 ppg), was an identical 2 of 12 from the floor. Matta tightened his rotation and got just one field goal and three total rebounds from his bench, which consisted of Evan Ravenel and Sam Thompson.

So Matta, who much rather would deal in positives and offer encouragement after tough shooting nights, was left with no other recourse before the team had to board a plane for Minneapolis Monday evening. He showed the tape of Saturday’s game to his players over and over and pointed out deficiency after deficiency.

On Monday, Matta said he and his staff will be “trying to look at the negatives and turn those into a positive.”

“So much of this is trying to get your players back,” he added. “I think it’s more attempting to get their minds ready to play tomorrow night at 9 o’clock.

“It’s what we’ve got to do, so I’ll view it as half-full and that it’s a good thing that we’ve got a quick turnaround.”

But Matta the eternal optimist also sounded like a coach with lingering concerns – like wondering to where the focus of his team has shifted.

“There were times when they had nothing to do with where we were going, and why we were going there we’re not exactly sure,” he said. “We weren’t thinking at the level we needed. Maybe they were making us not think that way.”

And when asked about Thomas, Matta bypassed his tendency for the philosophical view.

“He’s got to play better on both ends, offensively and defensively,” the coach said.

And that probably won’t happen if the Buckeyes don’t shake out the cobwebs before taking the court with Minnesota Tuesday night with ESPN again on hand.

“I think I’m speaking for the whole team: We just chalked it up to a bad day and said we’ll get (Michigan State) back on March 4th at their place,” Sullinger said.

“If we keep dwelling on this Michigan State game and harping on it, pretty soon we’re going to keep worrying about that Michigan State game and we’re not going to be able to focus on the next game and we’re going to let one slip past us. We have to stay focused on the present. We are focused on Minnesota.”

On paper, the Golden Gophers (17-8, 5-7) don’t offer much in the way of shake-in-your-shoes concern for a team at the top of the conference standing. They play with defensive tenacity, share the ball and feature Ralph Sampson III in the pivot. However, the talent out to the wings and the backcourt is glaringly mediocre, especially with power forward/rebounding machine Trevor Mbakwe out for the season.

However, Ohio State, which fell from No. 3 to sixth in both major polls, arrives with little preparation time and still licking its wounds.

And Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith knows what to do to a wounded animal – attack it. He said he’ll challenge his team to defend the Buckeyes just as hard as the Spartans did over the weekend.

UM’s last two games at Williams Arena went overtime – a 77-72 win over Illinois on Jan. 28 and a 68-61 loss to Wisconsin on Feb. 9.