Bubble Buster?
“Your mama wears combat boots”There are too many big games left to definitively say today’s crushing 80-70 loss to Michigan cost Ohio State an NCAA Tournament bid but it certainly could play out to be the case. If nothing else, the defeat just put a lot more pressure on the Buckeyes as they likely need to win at least 3 of their final 5 conference games against the likes of Wisconsin, @ Indiana, @ Minnesota, Purdue and Michigan State. Yikes.
Based on what we witnessed today, there’s not much reason to think OSU will answer the bell. Tied at 38 to start the second half, the Buckeyes failed maintain their focus turning the ball over 5 times, leading to just 6 points, in the first 6 minutes. Miraculously, they trailed just 50-48 at the 12:58 mark before an 8-0 run capped by a DeShaun Sims triple gave Michigan a 58-50 cushion with 10:43 on the clock.
To their credit, OSU would bounce back with a 10-2 run behind a pair of threes from Jon Diebler to cut the deficit to 60-58 with 8:08 left but turnovers and their continued inability to find the shooter on defense led to Manny Harris hitting a key three extending Michigan’s lead to 69-66 after Ohio State had cut the lead to three on a natural three-point play by Evan Turner.
Thanks to Jamar Butler the sequence turned out to be only the second biggest dagger of the game. Trailing 73-68 with just over a minute to go, Butler committed his season-high 6th turnover on a lazy pass intended for Turner after foolishly picking up his dribble 35 feet from the basket.
Michigan’s Kevin Grady blew the layup at the other end but, appropriately, Harris grabbed the o-board and hit 1 of 2 free throws giving the Wolverines a 74-68 lead. Harris was large all day scoring a career high 27 points (10/11 FT) and he was clutch down the stretch hitting 7/8 free throws in the final 2:41 to ensure the victory.
As a team, Michigan hit 20/24 free throws while the Buckeyes managed just 3 trips to the line. I wish I could blame the refs but the discrepancy was more the result of Ohio State settling for jumpers in the second half then being forced to foul to stop the clock and get the ball back in the final minutes. Matta’s squad shot 14 threes in the final 20 minutes after attempting just 7 in the first half while scoring 24 of their 38 points in the paint. Why they got away from that remains a mystery.
Overall, Kosta Koufos led the way with 18 points and 12 rebounds however he managed just 6 points in the second half after being benched for turning it over 3 times in the first 4 minutes helping Michigan take the lead for good (46-44) with 16:32 left. The frustrating sequence followed a solid first half in which he shot a healthy 6/7 from the floor while grabbing 4 rebounds. Is it simply agonizing watching this kid. He’ll light it up offensively then next thing you know he’s turning the ball over and letting smaller defenders take the ball away from him. His 4 turnovers combined with Butler’s 6 gave the pair 10 of OSU’s 14 miscues. Butler finished with 14 points and 6 assists.
Looking at the positives, freshman Evan Turner was outstanding with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists against just 2 turnovers in 35 minutes. Turner was 7/10 from the floor proving his wrist injury is in the rear view mirror.
Diebler finished with 10 points and 5 rebounds against 0 turnovers in another solid effort. Streaky D is averaging 11.8 points in his last 4 games buoyed by a 12/26 (46%) showing from downtown.
With Turner and Diebler possibly settling into a groove it might be time to put Diebler back into the starting lineup – in place of David Lighty. I’m sure this won’t happen because Matta likes the scoring punch off the bench and he’s trying to stay in Lighty’s corner but if nothing else, Diebler deserves more court time by comparison.
Lighty’s best attribute is man to man defense which is useless in Matta’s matchup zone whereas Diebler can stretch a defense which is paramount on a team that struggles to score consistently. Lighty was nothing special today with 4 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists and I counted at least 3 examples of his finest Roy Orbison Defense (Blue-by-you) allowing easy layup’s for scrubs like David Merritt.
Not to be outdone, Othello Hunter turned in a lackluster 6 point, 3 rebounds performance before fouling out in 21 minutes.
Defensively, the Buckeyes allowed Michigan to shoot 44% from the field including 42% from downtown. Michigan hit 10/24 threes behind Sims and Harris. Sims registered 4 triples (4/8) on his way to 22 points teaming with Harris to score 49 of Michigan’s 80 points. Ohio State did win the battle of the boards (36-30) but forced just 9 turnovers while committing 14.
I gotta admit, I’m wondering the point of the Buckeye 2-2-1 press? It yields a low turnover rate and seems to give up a lot of wide open threes as the Buckeyes scramble to identify the shooter in secondary transition. Considering the lack of depth and Butler’s mounting minutes, wouldn’t it be better to simply get back and zone up?
The good news is Ohio State will have a week to ponder the loss and the questions it presents. The bad news is Bo Ryan and his physical Badgers are coming to town.
I flipped on CBS with about 5 minutes left in this game, and I was shocked that it was even close. But I think most teams get a break or two, and OSU has had two slip ups already (at Michigan and Iowa). Tough loss.
I don’t think many buckeye fans were shocked it was close…this young team has struggled on the road all season and Michigan has been playing good ball lately. OSU still should have won but unfortunately we knew a loss was highly possible. Michigan played us tough for 30min last week.
Looks like it’s your Gophers and the Buckeyes vying for 5th place and, hopefully, the final NCAA bid for the conference. We’re two games clear but you’ve got the easier schedule down the stretch…
As a Michigan fan I was very impressed with Turner. That kid is a baller. Diebler also hit some huge threes and Koufas dominated the first half but seemed to get rattled in the 2nd.
Next year you guys seem like you will loaded except for the PG (I am not a Noopy fan).
The Gophers and Buckeyes are more likely competing for a good seed in the NIT. Tough loss, but if you lose by 10 to Michigan (or by 24 at home to Illinois, ouch) then you have a hard time arguing for a bid to the big dance.
No question about it. We are not competing for a home game or 2 in the NIT.
Wisconsin
@ Indiana
@ Minnesota
Purdue
Michigan State
That’s a tall order. Three wins away from 20, but I’m having a hard time seeing them in that stretch.
No, they’re done. They lose four of those remaining games, with only a game at Minnesota being slightly winnable right now. They’re going to the NIT.
Koufos is serviceable, but Hunter is too inconsistent. Diebler has played a little better, but Butler is tired and Lighty is an almost complete non-factor.
Too bad.
Maybe we can be the runners up in the NIT this year.
I see 2 road games remaining, which mean 2 losses based on the way we have played away from home. That means we have to win at least 2 of the 3 home games and 1 in the tourney……which is also away from home.
Maybe Florida’s bubble will bust and they can beat us in the NIT final…sweet!
Seriously, this remaining schedule is absurd. They could easily go 0-5. I don’t think they will, but anything is possible at this point. This is the time of the year when good teams start to get in the groove. I’m wondering if this team falls into that category. I pray the week off will help.
I knew this game might be bad when the score was tied at halftime and the Bucks shot 60%. Settling for jumpers in the 2nd half is just mind boggling after the first half. Michigan was simply more aggressive and the FT discrepancy was the difference. That press definitely seemed to be worthless yesterday. I guess you need to be 8-9 deep to really turn up the pressure.
Can anyone tell me what the heck Eric Wallace did to get banished to Siberia?
I think even the walk-ons have played more minutes this year.
I know I am not the only one who has thought this all season long. Butler is completely gassed and PJ Hill is hardly a wash off the bench. I think it is time to give some other guys some minutes to see what can be done. I don’t see why PJ Hill can’t give Butler a 2-4 min spell each half. I really don’t see why Wallace is getting no PT. Dallas Lauderdale seems to have the look but really hasn’t played the minutes to show anything to this point. Granted, he hasn’t done much with the time he’s had. However another wide body in there to battle and give some minutes is hardly the worst thing. Fact: our 7 deep rotation is NOT working right now. Time to mix things up and try something different. Right now the NIT might not be the worst thing. I would rather see these guys go a couple games into the NIT possibly get a shot at MSG then go one and done in the big dance because if we get in at this point we are a 9-11 seed and likely gone after one game. That of course would all change with a run here at the end of 4-1 or winning all 5. Coming back to reality though it is highly unlikely and VERY doubtful at this point going 2-3 or 3-2 with even winning one in the Big 11 tournament getting us in the dance. Too many interesting looking teams on the bubble. The only hidden thing that could help us is the fact that we do travel well so I’m quite sure if we are close we may get the nod. $$$ are ALWAYS an underlying factor to the committee no matter what anyone says. That is why they try to put teams somewhat close to home when seeding and regionalizing the games.
This team has been somewhat disappointing but building towards bigger things next year as long as the idiots who say Koufus should consider pro ball after this year zip it. The only question mark is how good Noopy Crater will be.
I have not given up on us yet, I still think we may a run at the tourney. They are still a top 10 defensive team and have been in every game since that late November stretch.
This week off should do wonders for the freshness of legs and hopefully Thad can add a couple of wrinkles for the stretch run. Winning on the road within the Big Ten is tough, so they just have to protect the Schott, which means all of the fans have to do their part as well.
My biggest gripe yesterday was the consecutive fouls with about 1:30 to go, when Michigan’s lead had been cut to three points.
First, Butler gets called for a pretty obvious reach-in on Kelvin Grady, then on the next possession, after a quick OSU basket, Hunter fouls out thirty-five feet from the basket (again, an obvious call).
Each of those fouls basically gave Michigan two points (Grady shoots almost 90% from the line, Harris over 80%). Why concede those points when you don’t need to. As poorly as they had played, OSU had made it a one-possession game with plenty of time left–over 1:30. Why in the _world_ would you foul then? You don’t need to. Get back, get the defense set up, and force Michigan to hit a shot in a pressure situation. The way things were going, they probably would have, but the odds of getting a single defensive stop are a lot better than the odds that an excellent free throw shooter is going to start hoisting bricks.
It was very frustrating to watch.
It’s interesting – painful, too – but interesting to watch this coaching staff continue to reshuffle the deck in an effort to find the seven-man rotation they think can help them. I don’t remember Matta ever going this deep into any season with a rotation and mixture this unsettled. Bizarre.
I’m with Kelly vis-a-vis Wallace and Hill. I’d leave Hill spelling Butler closer to two minutes than four, but at least it would be a break, and allow Butler to rest a moment and see the game from the sideline.
It was nice to see Lauderdale on the floor, and not on the side of a milk carton. I had high hopes for him coming out of high school.
But the real mind-sticker where Buckeye-watchers are concerned is your pure class. Chanting “asshole” while Rich Rodriguez was addressing the crowd — magnificent show! Something to tell your grandkids about!
MGo, they were chanting “Tressel”, but thanks for the lesson on morality douchebag.
Tressel, not asshole. Tressel was what they were chanting.
to b. fett, scott:
when a michigan fan hears “tressel”, it sounds an awful lot like “asshole”.
:)
Whatever they were chanting, it was stupid and just made OSU look bad. Really, when you’re an visiting fan in another team’s stadium/arena, there’s a line you shouldn’t cross. They did.
I think the MSU game will be a win, since they are a terrible road team. (They’re something like 5-17 on the road the last three Big Ten seasons.) Wisconsin and Minnesota are tossups. IU and PU are probably losses.
I love fans of the Hun. With their arrogance they will reach for anything to prop themselves up as better than everyone else.
Lets look at this Sr. classes records against the Hun:
Football – 4-0 – and a lot of our guys didn’t even come back for their Sr. year to prove a point.
Men’s Basketball – 7-1 – Something here about a blind squirrel, I think.
Women’s Basketball – 6-0 – Not that anyone paid any attention but one team was pretty lucky they were only on the schedule once each of the past 2 years.
That’s 17-1 for those of you that can’t figure it out.
I guess if you are a Hun you would want to include Men’s Hockey where you hold an advantage 5-4.
Point is, one school is elite in multiple sports and the other is…..not.
And one school has a coaches wife who wears a leopard print and the other does not.
“..there’s a line you shouldn’t cross. They did.”
Huh? That’s an epic win when you can get a chant going on the road. Not quite the O-H-I-O we saw at Ross-Ade and the Big House, but good enough in my book.
Oh, and TLB.. they do own us in hockey, but at least the Jackets got over on the Wings Friday night in Joe Louis.
“But the real mind-sticker where Buckeye-watchers are concerned is your pure class. Chanting “asshole†while Rich Rodriguez was addressing the crowd — magnificent show! Something to tell your grandkids about!”
:)
Proof positive that a m*ch*g*n fan hears only what he wants to hear, and nothing more.
L-o-o-ove the “Trailer Park Chic” look Mrs. Rodriguez was sporting. That’ll go down well at the faculty mixer.
Still wondering how it makes OSU fans look bad to get a harmless chant going on the road. Please explain.
I think Mrs. DickRod has been shopping at the 8 Mile Outlet Stores. Snap!
As a Michigan fan, I’ll say that I’m not looking forward to playing against Evan Turner for the next few years – that kid was impressive. I’m not a big Koufas fan, though. I wonder why Matta stayed with the press, considering that it was beeing roughly 100% ineffective at forcing turnovers, and actually handed Michigan some easy looks?
Nothing makes a team look bad more than their fans rushing the court when they beat an NIT bound team.
Michigan can’t even get winning right.
This team is just not very good.
Now that being said, they still have a reasonable shot at the tournament. A lot of people make the mistake of just looking at a team’s resume and saying “that’s a tournament team” or “that doesn’t look like a tournament resume.” The thing is, you can’t look at teams in a vacuum: there have to be 34 at-large teams, and they have to come from somewhere. OSU’s resume is not strong, but for them not to make it, there have to 34 (not counting conference tourney winners) that are better in order for them to miss out. Relatively easy wins over two fellow bubble teams (Florida and Syracuse) look good, but the team still needs a good win or two.
The thing is, based on what this year’s Buckeyes have shown me, I’m not sure they can get those wins…
Chitown – I couldn’t agree more about Matta’s poor decision (again) to stick with the highly ineffective 2-2-1 press. It doesnt do much except occasionally force the opposition to starttheir offense a little later in the shot clock at the expense of more fatigue on Butler. Pressing with what’s basically a 7 man rotation just doesn’t sound like a good idea but I defer to Matta.