Gameday Preview: OSU at Michigan
Will this emotion continue for the season?(AP photo)
 Ohio State 17-8, 8-4 Big Ten Roster | Schedule |
February 17, 2008 1:00 PM ET – CBS —— Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI |
 Michigan 7-17, 3-9 Big Ten Roster | Schedule |
OPPONENT: The first part of the West Virginia experiment is going as planned for Buckeye fans. Michigan still has the worst overall record in the conference, despite winning their last two games and will be looking to extend their season high win streak.
Michigan actually lead Ohio State at the half in their first meeting, before Ohio State turned up the defensive intensity and ended the game on a 9-0 run to win 65-55. Nothing would be sweeter for Michigan than a chance to play spoiler to any tournament dreams the Buckeyes have.
I know Beilein has 550 career victories and is considered a good “system” coach, but he has dug himself a huge hole and it will be interesting to see if he can get out of it by next year. Michigan ranks dead last in conference shooting, coming in with a 40 percent clip overall and 30.5 percent from downtown. They have shot over 45 percent in each of their last two games, so Ohio State will have to challenge their shots from the opening tip.
UM comes in averaging 61.5 points a game and gives up 68.5 points within the conference. Teams are shooting 47.4 percent against Michigan and outrebounding them by almost three a game. The only positive stat for Michigan is their 5 blocks a game, which is tops in the Big Ten.
KEY PLAYERS: Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims combine to score 44 percent of Michigan’s points. Harris, the 6′5″ freshman from Detroit leads this team in points (15.8), assists (2.9), steals (1.9), minutes (32.7) and FT percentage at 81. He struggled against OSU the first time around, registering just 7 points, no rebounds and three assists. Sims comes in scoring 12.7 points per contest, while also leading the team with 4.8 rebounds a game. He too struggled against Ohio State with 6 points and 3 boards in only 15 minutes of play.
Ekpe Udoh, a 6′10″ sophomore leads the Big Ten in blocks at 2.6 per game within conference play and chips in with 6 points and 4.7 rebounds. Ron Coleman is the only senior starter and continues UM’s recent trend of underacheiving seniors. The 6′6″ swingman is scoring 5.8 points per game, shooting just 39 percent from the floor and 29 percent from seep.
Kelvin Grady, a 5′11″ freshman point guard rounds out the starting five. He is scoring 5.6 per contest, dishing out 2.8 assists, and had his best game against Iowa Thursday with 9 assists and zero turnovers. Grady has not turned it over in the last two games.
Anthony Wright has developed into Michigan’s sixth man and saw a career high 25 minutes in the first meeting with OSU. For the season he is averaging 4.5 points and almost 3 caroms. Zack Gibson and Jevohn Shepard will also see some action, accounting for 10 points and 5 boards a game.
NOTES: Michigan has the second toughest schedule according to Sagarin and eighth in the RPI… This is the 40th year for Crisler Arena, with Michigan going 421-117 (doesn’t include forfeited games)… John Beilein is 6-4 in the NCAA tournament and 14-6 in the NIT… Michigan has not been ranked since Feb. 6 2006 (22)
BUCKEYE BREAKDOWN: Ohio State will be looking to grab their fourth road victory in conference play and will have a week off before the final stretch of Whisky, @Indiana, @Minn, Purdue and Sparty. A loss to Michigan would be another black mark on the Buckeyes tournament resume’, but I still think if they can win three of these games, they will be dancing in March.
IMO, it is critical Ohio State continues to look inside right away, their success in there against Michigan two weeks ago and again Wednesday night is an indication the post entry passes have to continue. Hunter and Koufos combined for 27 points and 16 rebounds in the first meeting and they registered 30 points and 16 boards Wednesday. Any successful team needs an inside game to open up the three and put pressure on the defense.
Ohio State’s defense is still rated sixth nationally for FG shooting at 36.7 percent. We all know this team has been frustrating offensively at times, but Thad’s old school defensive philosophy is what this team has hung their hats on. Another impressive aspect of this D is the lack of fouls committed. The Baby Bucks lead the nation in fewest fouls at 13.8 per game, limiting opponent’s free throw attempts and keeping them in games where the offensive sputters.
KEY PLAYERS: Most of us have been critical of Kosta’s softness all season, but he might be on a mission to prove us wrong, thankfully. He has scored in double digits eight straight games and has averaged 15 points and 8 boards over his last three. I think it was the Michigan game where he started to show some emotion and his stats have reflected it. His arsenal continues to grow and I hope a late season push doesn’t change his plans for next year.
Diebler continues to be the streakiest shooter I have ever witnessed, scoring over 12 points a game in his last three and connecting on 9-19 three point attempts. He started this recent break out against Michigan, after scoring only 10 points in the previous 6 games. Crisler Arena will be another new background for Diebler, as he has yet to score double digits on the road.
Jamar became Ohio State’s all time assists leader Wednesday, but continued his recent shooting woes. While Butler did hit four three’s, he has not made more than 4 field goals in his last four games and has not attempted a free throw since Iowa. The schedule has set up nicely this past week, so Butler’s legs should be fresh. I think Butler has a great game tomorrow, as he is looking to repeat what the football seniors just did, leave Ohio State having never lost to Michigan.
Which David Lighty and Evan Turner show up today? These two may play a large part in Ohio State’s destiny. If they can show up the remainder of the season, we might have an exciting post season.
NOTES: Jamar and Terwilliger will be looking to set the career wins mark with 99… Butler is 12th nationally in assists… Jamar Butler has made more threes (207) than free throws (206) in his career…Verne Lundquist and Clark Kellog will be doing the game.
Isn’t this game going to be graced by Rodriguez’ big speech? I can scarcely wait. You don’t think he’d have the presumption to quote Tressel’s little talk, do you?
It sure is. It’ll be interesting to hear what he’s going to say, but I can’t see him pulling a Tressel. Mostly because the Buckeyes are going to be S-T-A-C-K-E-D next year and the game is in Cbus.
Hey guys, just checking in from the other side of the blogosphere on the Michigan side. I am going to add a link to your game preview on mine as well (UMHoops.com). Should be a fun game tomorrow, Crisler is sold out (I am assuming there are plenty of Buckeyes in that crowd….) and Rich Rodriguez is getting introduced although he says he’s not planning any rah rah speech.
Hope for a good game tomorrow.
UMH – We’re definitely expecting a close game…I’m sure Crisler will be rocking with the RichRod speech on tap however what’s most important is that UM is playing better of late and OSU struggles on the road…That combo alone should ensure the game is up for grabs with 5 minutes left.
OSU put the lockdown on Beilein’s offense in the 2nd half of the last matchup however that was against a Sims-less UM squad as he barely played. The spread says OSU by 5.5 so I’ll say OSU pulls it out 66-60 behind big games from Hunter and Koufos.
Side note: The Ohio State’s men’s ice hockey team won on senior night last night. I actually went to it and they won literally on a last second goal, as in I don’t know how the puck made it into the goal in time, which was made by a senior to win 3-2 over Northern Michigan. It was a great game….
This is going to be a tough game for OSU to win, folks. Let’s hope “Good” OSU plays today, and not “Bad” OSU.
It looks like the pick and roll will be there today. Our boys have to stay set on the screen with this officiating crew.
Tied at half?
I could use a 9-0 run down the stretch
Anybody know if RR spoke at half and what he said if he did? I don’t think they have mentioned it on CBS but I could be wrong.
Can’t beat a team that lost to Harvard. NIT bound.
Was that leopard print on RR’s wife?
RR needs to do all of us a favor and keep his wife off T.V.
Great, now these tards will take this victory as some sort of a sign considering Rodriguez’s speech and all.
Hats off to the Wolverines, but the Buckeyes suck.
losing to Michigan was not an option, and somehow we’re managing to pull that off. Credit to the Wolverines and that Grady guy they have at point since Michigan is finally managing to beat Ohio State in front of a national television audience
Was a good game. For you guys asking about RichRod he didn’t make any predictions. Only asked the Buckeye fans who were chanting “ASSHOLE” at him if they liked their seats up top. When Michigan fans started the Beat the Buckeyes chant he said “OK I Get it, haha”.
It was a good game, we neutralized Koufas and Butler in the 2nd half and that was the difference. Also probably one of the first times we have played 40 minutes all game.
For the record, OSU fans were chanting ‘TRESSEL’ not ‘ASSHOLE’