Othello Hunter drops a chili fart on Carl Landry
The Buckeyes overcame Greg Oden’s foul trouble and a pesky Purdue squad to pick up their ninth straight win and their 16th consecutive at home. While I wasn’t overly worried, there was certainly cause for some concern when Purdue’s David Teague hit his 5th wide open three of the game to give the Boilers a 51-46 lead with 7:58 left to play. Unfazed, the Buckeyes responded by outscoring Purdue 17-5 the rest of way. The run was fueled by a more aggressive attack as OSU used their quickness advantage to drive the lane. The drives often led to layups or free throw opportunities as Purdue hacked away. Ohio State shot 12 free throws in the final 8 minutes (8-12) while Purdue managed just four trips to the stripe. Greg Oden contributed six points in the run including 4-4 from the line.
Ohio State led 33-26 with 1:21 left in the first half after a dunk by Ron Lewis but Coach Matta killed the momentum by foolishly leaving Greg Oden on the floor. Since Lewis was fouled on the dunk, Matta could’ve taken Oden out to ensure he didn’t pick up his second foul. Instead, Oden remained in the game and picked up his second foul 23 seconds later. Carl Landry and Tarrance Crump then hit back to back jumpers to trim OSU’s lead to 33-30 at the half. Matta’s poor decision to keep Oden on the floor at the end of the first half only became more magnified after Oden picked up his 3rd foul just 1:14 into the second. OSU played the majority of the next 11 minutes without Oden and got outscored 21-13 until Oden hit two free throws to kick off the aforementioned 17-5 burst to close the game.
Nine Buckeyes cracked the scoring column led by Oden and Mike Conley with 14 apiece. Oden also grabbed 9 rebounds and blocked two shots in just 21 minutes. In his absence, Matt Turdwiggler had another decent game off the bench with 5 points and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes. Jamar Butler and Ron Lewis finished with 9 and 7 points, respectively. It was a cold shooting effort by the guards, OSU shot 17% (3-17) from downtown. Fortunately, Purdue likes to hack (22 fouls) leading to a 21-6 advantage on free throw attempts. OSU scored 14 points at the line to Purdue’s five which turned out to be a key stat in this game.
David Teague led Purdue with 17 points (5-9 3FG) and Carl Landry added 13 points and 9 rebounds. Purdue shot only 29% from deep (5-17) and turned the ball over 17 times. Lastly, I'd like to say Congratulations the roughly 30 "fans" near my section that left to beat the traffic with five minutes remaining in a very tight game. Rest assured, I heckled more than a few of them. Losers.
Comments
Few thoughts:
Oden's foul trouble is starting to become a problem.
Cook is a great offensive player, but can't be on the court the final 4 min. of a close game.
The defense they play is not good enough to get them past the sweet 16.
At some point Matta has to stand up for his players and get a T.
Crowd sucked again. There is no home court advantage at the Schott.
Oden's foul trouble was definitely an issue today, however he has played at least 30 minutes in 5 of the last 7 games. He is usually a little smarter once he's in foul trouble. Today was not one of those smarter days. His 3rd foul was a really dumb over the back.
I couldn't agree more about Cook and it's a shame. He simply doesnt have the mental game to compliment his physical skills.
Before people starting leaving early, there were still about 300 empty seats in the upper bowl behind the baskets and a few pockets elsewhere. Definitely not a sellout unless there were 1000 no-shows.
I'm becoming very concerned about the lack of def. It's almost like they let guys in the lane and hope the shot gets blocked. How many charges have we taken this year?
Oden needs to learn to play with the fouls because his style of play is never going to allow for 40 minutes. Good point on the bad subs by Matta. He needs to utilize him on offense whenever possible. He can use timeouts late in the 1st if necessary.
The Schott will only be loud if they give out Yagerbombs and megaphones on the way in. I sat in the student section Saturday and they do their best, but it's just never going to be that loud. Traffic was crappy, but who is in a rush at 2pm on a saturday...sell your tix for the love of god.
You know, I never really noticed it, but you are right, we NEVER take charges. We play that matador defense and hope Oden will alter/block the shot.
I think some of that is on Matta. He's a great recruiter but I'm not convinced he's the greatest X's and O's coach we've had. I love his enthusiasm and how he stresses the positive, but sometimes you gotta blast your team and hold them accountable versus being rah-rah all the time. I dont see practices so maybe he does that, but I've never seen him really challenge a player on the bench during a game.
[...] if they put forth a lackadaisical effort similar to those experienced twice against Penn State and at home versus Purdue. At this point, a #2 seed appears to be the worst case scenario. I like Coach Matta’s track [...]