Daequan glides in for 2 of his 11 points
Talk about a tale of two halves. OSU raced out to a 43-23 halftime lead on the strength of 63% FG shooting but shot just 24% in the second half to allow MSU to climb back in it. Drew Neitzel put on a show with 24 second half points, including 16 of MSU's 18 points during the second half surge as OSU settled for jumpers early in the shot clock. Luckily, the bar where I watched the game switched over to music at halftime so I was spared hearing Dickie V cream himself over Neitzel's hot shooting. Unluckily, like you, I was forced to watch Neitzel mean-mugging after every bucket and Izzo's countless half-laugh-half-whine expressions. I can't help but hate on him, but I will reluctantly admit that Neitzel played one hell of a game scoring 29 points on 9-20 shooting in 40 minutes of action.
Greg Oden did not hit a field goal after the 13 minute mark of the first half, but he still led OSU with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks including 8-10 on some huge second half free throws. OSU struggled to run an efficient offense in the second half as Mike Conley was saddled with foul trouble. Conley played just 22 minutes which marked the first time he's played less than 31 in conference play. Jamar Butler tallied 12 points and 6 assists and went 4-4 on free throws, all with under four minutes to go. The last two gave OSU a 65-60 lead with 3:33 left. MSU responded with a Travis Walton jumper and Neitzel hit 2 of 3 free throws after getting fouled on a missed three to cut the lead to 65-64 with 1:41 left. From there, Ron Lewis missed a jumper followed by two missed three point tries by Neitzel before Oden was fouled in a scrum for a loose ball with 16 seconds left. Oden made 1 of 2 free throws to make it 66-64 before MSU ran a play generating a wide open three that Maurice Joseph missed with 2 seconds left. Whew.
The victory snapped MSU's four game winning streak in Columbus and moved OSU to 6-1 in the conference. The Bucks are a half-game behind Wisconsin. The Badgers play at Iowa today at 1pm.
Comments
You put that together at 2:55 am.....pretty impressive.
Just my opinion, but I thought the refs did a good job of putting them back in the game early in the 2nd half.
That said, we were a little uninspired, and perhaps Matta should have gotten T-ed up to light a little fire. Once again we relied on the 3 ball instead of going inside.
If Oden is as good as folks say, how can he go that long without making a field goal?
Yeah...it was a late one last night...I agree, TLB, that the refs helped make it a game, but the bigger issue seemed to be us going through the motions and settling for those long jumpers...I need to re-watch the 2nd half to see if I feel like it was Oden's fault, the guards' fault, or MSU covering Oden more closely in the 2nd half that to him not really getting any scoring opportunities from the field. . I know they never doubled in the first half but the 2nd half seemed to be a little different. Considering MSU had won 4 straight here until last night, I am okay with how we won. They are still young and not having Conley out there definitely impacted the shot selection and inability to run the O through Oden.
It was nice to see Oden using that half-hook........sounds like the consensus outside of I-270 is that he is all but gone (not really surprising) but I would love to see him play next year with Kosta Koufos coming to Columbus. I watched a bit of the second half of Glen Oak and Canton Mckinley and this kid definitely has some skills (real nice shooting touch).
part of his interview from the Nike All-American camp last summer:
Coach Matta …we reviewed tape about my position. Oden is a year older than me. He might go to the NBA or he might stay two years. It doesn't matter. He said he'll play me at the three or the four. Getting off screens, shooting the elbow jumper, driving the hoop, and passing it out. Dallas Lauderdale of Ohio will be the five man in that case. So we've got all of the Ohio people coming to Ohio State."
I also watched that replay of Glenoak/McKinley...Koufos is a smooth cat - it's hard to believe his coordination is that polished considering he's 7-foot...I see him as more of a 4 than a 3 but either way he is going to cause serious matchup problems once he arrives...
On a side note, McKinley's coach was my JV and asst varsity coach at Gahanna (Greg Malone). I didnt realize he took that job this year...I knew he was an asst before...I wonder if Dave Hoover retired or had illness or something?
[...] Opponent: Michigan State returns home to the Breslin Center where the Izzone and the rest of Sparty’s faithful will hope to see MSU extend ther current 14 game home winning streak. Looking to build on the insane comeback and near upset of the Buckeyes last Saturday, the Spartans took a big ole dump in their pants losing to Illinois 57-50 Tuesday night in Assembly Hall. The loss featured 17 first half points, 37% FG shooting (2-12 threes) and 20 turnovers. When Drew Neitzel doesn’t have it going, this team looks like it couldn’t score if it was locked in a room with Heidi Fleiss. [...]
Just so you know...Dickie V was still too busy talking about Oden to even know Neitzel's name