Terry Gilliam/Associated Press
Well, the Buckeyes finally beat a ranked opponent although it certainly didn't come easy. OSU opened the second half with a modest 13-6 run to take a 49-39 lead at the 17:02 mark then proceeded to score just 10 points over the next 14 minutes to find themselves in a 59-59 dogfight with 3:42 left in the game. After an Ivan Harris three gave OSU a slim 62-59 lead with 3:12 left, UT's Chris Lofton hit three buckets complimented by a Ramar Smith free throw while OSU could only muster three Mike Conley free throws resulting in a 66-65 deficit with 52 ticks remaining. Faced with losing to a ranked team for the fourth time this season, Ron Lewis made a three pointer from the top of the key with 14 seconds left to give Ohio State the 68-66 victory. The Vols still had a chance but Smith's shot in the lane with 4 seconds left bounced away, extending OSU's winning streak to 17 at home.
Greg Oden dominated the small Vols with a career high 24 points to go along with 15 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks. The Vols had no answer for the big guy as he registered 6 dunks against either 6'9" Wayne Chism or 6'7" Duke Crews shooting 9-13 from the field. Oden's longtime running mate Mike Conley was also a force at the offensive end with 16 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists while Ivan Harris finished with nine.
OSU controlled the glass (39-27) and held the Vols to just 22% (7/31) from downtown but allowed UT to stay in it by committing 20 turnovers, the majority against the Vols' full court press. Mike Conley had 5 turnovers and Jamar Butler 4, however some of the blame for the ridiculous lack of press-breaking falls on coach Matta. Bruce Pearl's squad repeatedly forced our inbounder to pass to a corner allowing the UT guards to trap resulting in countless turnovers leading directly to scores. Matta finally realized that putting Greg Oden at the foul line to receive a lob from the inbounder would break the press everytime as the Vols backed off the press whenever the entry pass wasn't to the corner. Don't get me wrong, I love coach Matta but keeping Oden 85 feet from the teeth of the UT press the entire first half and much of the second was a waste of resources and a definite strategical error.
Chris Lofton led Tennessee with 23 points on 10-20 shooting however he was held to just 3-11 on threes as Jamar Butler chased him around for much of the contest. Smith had 14 points and 9 rebounds while Dane Bradshaw hit for 11 of 5-8 shooting and the Vols registered 11 steals against just 8 turnovers. They've got a nice trapping full-court press, utlizing a taller player against the inbounder, but their overall lack of height was exposed in the half-court and that was the difference in this one.
All in all, the win should supply a much needed boost of confidence with OSU getting back into conference play Wednesday night at home against Northwestern. The Wildcats gave Wisconsin all they could handle today before falling 56-50 at home.
Comments
Their press was pretty impressive. Nice to have in your toolset. Also would love to have Bradshaw on the Buckeyes -- that ball fake he had late was absolutely sick.
That was a slick move...
Yesterday's game was a nice one to attend so you could keep your eye on both Matta and Pearl. Those two were maniacs the entire game. Matta ripped off his jacket after a horrible call and Sweaty Bruce Pearl repeatedly berated the officials as well as his players on the bench after the players on the court made a mistake. It reminded me of high school when our coach would lecture the whole bench for a mistake made by a teammate on the court. Man, that used to piss me off. I'm thinking, hey brother, sub one of us in for the guy you are pissed at instead of yelling at us about it!
[...] It seems everybody’s picking Tennessee to upset Ohio State. The fact that OSU beat the Vols 68-66 to spark their current 19 game winning streak back in January seems lost in the glory that is [...]