Expect extended minutes for Mullens
Ohio State
2-0, 0-0 Big Ten
Roster | Schedule
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November 29, 2008 12:00 PM ET - BTN —— The Schott Columbus, OH |
Samford
3-1, 0-0 Southern
Roster | Schedule
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Ohio State welcomes the 3-1 Samford Bulldogs to Value City Morgue for a nooner that will serve as a final tuneup before tough contests next week against Miami, Fl and Notre Dame.
Matta's squad comes in at 2-0 thanks to Jon Diebler's 17 point effort in a 61-57 win over Bowling Green this past Monday night.
The Buckeyes and Bulldogs have met just once prior with OSU recording an 80-63 win back in December of 2003.
| # | Name | PTS | REB | ASST | POS | # | Name | PTS | REB | ASST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Jeremie Simmons | 8.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | G | 4 | Josh Davis | 11.0 | 2.8 | 1.6 |
| 33 | Jon Diebler | 13.0 | 4.5 | 3.0 | G | 1 | Curtis West | 6.0 | 4.0 | 2.5 |
| 21 | Evan Turner | 10.0 | 5.0 | 2.0 | F | 11 | Trey Montgomery | 9.3 | 6.3 | 1.6 |
| 23 | David Lighty | 8.5 | 3.5 | 1.5 | F | 13 | Bryan Friday | 9.3 | 2.5 | 0.5 |
| 52 | Dallas Lauderdale | 7.5 | 4.0 | 0.0 | C | 23 | Matthew Friday | 2.8 | 5.3 | 2.5 |
Opponent:
Samford, out of the Southern Conference, most recently beat Lipscomb 57-50 overcoming a three point halftime deficit to capture the W. I know. That sentence doesn't exactly strike fear in my heart either.
In any event, 6'6" junior Bryan Friday paced the Bulldogs with a career high 20 points as he apparently showcased a variety of moves in and around the paint.
Defensively, the Bulldogs held Lipscomb to 27% shooting and are allowing just 52 points per contest during their three game winning streak. The victims? Lipscomb, Campbellsville and Spring Hill. Not exactly bubble teams, right...
Regardless, Samford is shooting 40% from deep thanks to Josh Davis (64%, 9/14) and Josh Bedwell (48%, 10/21) but their assist to turnover ratio (1/1.3) is about as attractive as the mythical spawn of say Lyle Lovett and Kelly Osbourne.
Buckeye Breakdown:
As mentioned, this is the last layup before the Buckeyes take a huge step up in competition next week with the likes of Miami in the ACC/BigTen Challenge before a Saturday tilt with Notre Dame.
Considering the landmines ahead coupled with the fact nobody has stepped up to help Swatterdale in the post, I expect Matta will do all he can to give BJ Mullens as many minutes as possible. So far, Mullens has showed very little to get excited about looking even more tentative than Diebler a year ago. Getting Mullens into the flow to generate some points and rebounds would be huge for his confidence level, even if it is Samford.
Another focus of Matta's will be to shore up the zone defense with an emphasis on stopping penetration. Bowling Green seemed to get in the paint at will forcing the back line of the zone to rotate creating some easy looks for the bad guys. In fact, it appeared Matta even switched to a more conventional 2-3 zone at times to pinch the penetrator but to no avail. Considering Samford's A/TO ratio, I also expect another dose of full court 2-2-1 press.
Look for David Lighty to assert himself early after a subpar 4 point, 5 rebound, 2 turnover performance against BG. Interestingly, Lighty has attempted just five shots in each of the first two games. I can't figure out if he's still trying to carve his niche at the four spot and/or if Matta is purposefully asking him to defer a bit in hopes of developing some of the other guys faster. Either way, with all the talk of Lighty stepping up in the off-season both on and off the court, I thought we'd see him be a more focal point of the offense keeping in mind we're only talking about two games thus far.
Lastly, keep an eye on whether or not the Buckeyes do a better job of valuing the basketball. Against Bowling Green, the Buckeyes committed a ridiculous 15 turnovers against only 11 assists after turning it over just 6 times against 14 assists in the opener against Delaware State. Particularly, let's see if Turner fares any better after turning it over 5 times with just 1 assist Monday night. Yikes. I was hoping those stat lines were behind the supremely talented sophomore.
Etc
- Personal favorite William Buford is actually second on the team in scoring through two games (11.0) even though he's getting just 19 minutes per game (6th). I'm also a fan of him turning it over just once in 38 minutes.
- Besides Diebler's points, I think I'm more in love with the fact he's recorded 4 defensive rebounds and 3 assists in each of the first two games.
- With a blowout expected, stay tuned until the final minute to see if Titus or Peters can register the allmighty Trillion.
Comments
I like Swatterdale as a nickname. Lauderdale has been incredible and keeping Mullens on the bench is impressive.
My Morning Jacket is the greatest rock band live. But don't take my word, check it out for yourself. Whyyyyyyy!? Don't you ever turn it out!
Kyle, you're my emo dreamo.
"value city morgue"
Can we get the sign out front changed?
Value City Retirement Community- has a nice ring
I like beaver every other day except for today I'm a duck man. Go Oregon!
Go Ducks.
Unless we have to play Texas or Oklahoma. Then Capital One here we come.
Still a full quarter left but Georgia Tech is running all over UGA. 38-28 right now. This should shut more SEC fans up.
I'd love for the Buckeyes to get a piece of them in a bowl game.
I'm loving every bit of what's become of this Georgia Tech-Georgia game. Apparently all the SEC speed doesn't translate to stopping a flexbone option attack.
The runaway SEC homerism from the SEC commentators is grating, though... and someone still has to tell me why Trev Alberts is still alive. The mere existence of Trev Alberts -- that he continues to breathe and walk among us -- is a sad confirmation that all of the human experience is but a vulgar absurdity.
Over 400 rushing yards given up by Georgia's vaunted SEC defense. GT's Ronnie Jones had 214 yards on 13 carries. Wow.
Evidently once it looks like an SEC team is going to lose -- at home -- to a lower ranked ACC team on senior day, CBS cuts out so the viewing public can't witness the visible debunking of the noble lie about SEC superiority.
Nice, CBS. Nice.
Beautiful.
jesus vico, i love you.
oh that's right, I forget where I live... apparently that's why CBS cut out to the Iron Bowl in my market...
I wanted to see the sweat tears of infinite sorrow from the Bulldog faithful. Senior Day isn't what you thought it'd be...
*sweet tears.. I should remind myself to spellcheck as I go on a gloating rampage.
Cry for me Georgia fans, wherever you are. Cry for me. Your tears sustain me.
Completely agree about the commentators. Between them choking on Tebow's balls and openly rooting for Georgia, I could barely watch the games with the sound on today.
And can somebody explain to me how Tuberville isn't unemployeed. What a joke of a coach. I'm sure he called out the Buckeyes at the beginning of the year. I hate Saban and Bama, but I've throughly enjoyed seeing that asshole get humiliated today.
SEC! SEC!......what a bunch of bullshit.
The best part about Tuberville calling out the Buckeye pre-season and saying that they would finish 5th in the SEC is that he was tacitly admitting that the Buckeyes are better than his Tigers. Auburn finished 5th in the SEC in 2007 (when the whole regular season is considered).
Auburn boosters and movers-and-shakers are an obsessive, impatient and nosy bunch, so there's been a lot of innuendos about the Auburn job opening up either this offseason or the next. Whatever the case, the 7 losses, bowl ineligibility, and one of the worst offenses in college football this season couldn't happen to a nicer guy. For all his diversionary antics on the Buckeyes' postseason follies and still bitching for a national championship and pony for not getting his chance to get his ass handed to him for a third straight year by USC (23-0 at Auburn 2003, 24-17 at USC 2002), scheduling heavyweights like Louisiana-Monroe (5 wins), Citadel (3 wins) and LA Tech (6 wins) and going undefeated in an SEC that was 5th best in 1-A, he's deserved whatever bad comes his way. It's worth it, even if the coworkers will be a teensy-bit obnoxious on Monday.
No matter, they're more obnoxious over the Tennessee game anyway.
Now I turn my attention to Versus, where Oregon better win this one. They owe me for me having to watch Oregon's athletic department assault all that is decent with their everchanging uniform set.