Turner: 4th double-double this seaon (AP: Goldis)Since celebrating moral victories seems to be en vogue for both the football and hoops squad's, I guess it's good news the Buckeyes didn't quit in addition to getting strong performances from B.J. Mullens and Wil Buford but they still didn't have enough to threaten Sparty in a 67-58 loss tonight in the Breslin Center.
Buford scored a team high 17 points on 7/13 shooting while Mullens put up 16 points (8/14 FG), six boards and two blocks in 22 minutes. Considering the stiff competition, it was easily Mullens' best performance of the season and it was much needed as Dallas Lauderdale laid another egg with two points, two rebounds, 3 blocks and two turnovers in 18 minutes of virtually invisible play.
Keeping with a recent theme, Ohio State allowed a big run to close the first half, this time a 21-7 stretch in which Sparty shot 5/6 from three point land while holding the Buckeyes to 2/10 shooting. The blitz turned a 17-14 Buckeye lead into a 35-24 halftime hole.
Preceding the run, OSU held Sparty scoreless for over four minutes forcing them into 4/15 from the floor before the defense once again lost track of perimeter shooters.
Though the offense sputtered shooting just 36% in the half, OSU did manage to assist on six of nine field goals compared to eight assists on 18 field goals for the entire Minnesota game. Baby steps, I guess.
Trailing 41-28 early in the second half, a 10-3 Buckeye run keyed by two triples and a dunk by Buford cut the deficit to eight at 44-36 but it was merely a teaser as the Buckeyes would get no closer than seven the rest of the way.
Evan Turner logged another 40 minutes and registered 14 points (5/11 FG), 10 rebounds and three steals after struggling with his shot (32.6%) in three previous games.
The Buckeyes get a chance to regroup with Houston Baptist coming to town Friday night before a home tilt with Indiana next Tuesday.
Hopefully, those two games will give Matta a chance to figure out what adjustments to make before back to back roadies against Michigan and Illinois.
One adjustment should be the insertion of Mullens into the starting lineup in place of Lauderdale. Though his blocks might be sexy, Dallas is incapable of adding anything offensively and Mullens needs more than the 19 minutes he's averaging over the last four games if he's going to develop at a rate fast enough to help this team keep their head above water.
Another adjustment could be the deployment of an occasional man to man defense. The continuous failings of the wings to pick up shooters resulted in another back breaking night from three point land as Michigan State went 8/17 (46%). In fact, Big Ten opponents are shooting 46% (30/65) from deep against the Buckeye zone through three games.
I'm really not sure what else Matta can do in an effort to jump start this team since kidnapping Mike Conley is probably against NCAA rules.
Oh, and I found it somewhat interesting Kecman didn't see the floor tonight. I think that probably tells you all you need to know about whether or not he'll be of much help considering he's been practicing all season.
Comments
Didn't see the game but it sounds like most others. Always seems to be a stretch where they don't score and give up too many.
Don't know if anyone else is watching, but there are only about 200 people at the Penn St. - Purdue game. I think there were more at the Grove City - Gahanna game tonight.
i feel like im watching the same game over and over again. it is quite infuriating. and i think kecman maybe the threatening to become the third member of club trillion...
I found a much more enjoyable way to watch our offense last night. Had to DVR the game, then watched it on fast forward #1. It appeared we were pushing the ball, cutting quickly and everything. Much more appeasing way to see this team attempt to run an offense.
[...] Spartans Add to Buckeye Misery Tumbling… [...]
The offense was a bit better last night, in terms of movement and post entry passes. They still don't use screens effectively. It is tough to gauge where this team is going after playing Michigan State, that team should win the B10 going away and is the conference's best chance at going to the Final Four.
OSU can work some more kinks out over the next week, with home games against inferior opponents.
With all they've gone through recently, I don't think they played badly at all. Matta is still tying to find a combination of players and tactics that works. After the 5:10 mark in the 1st half, I was convinced they were headed for a blowout.
It didn't happen. They fought and showed a lot of heart. I think they'll get it together soon.
Anyone else baffled by the officiating last night? It seems as if they let a ton of pushing go on around the rim and then called ticky-tack every where else. And the 2 offensive fouls against Lauderdale were a joke, especially since Ted Valentine made both the calls within a minute of each other. I can't believe Valentine was let back into the league, he is horrible.
Teddy Valentine makes Rick Hartzell, Jim Burr, Ted Hillary and Steve Welmer look good - and that's nearly impossible to fathom.
Off subject, about the poll on what TP needs to work on, I think footwork and throwing mechanics are hand in hand, but I couldnt vote for both. Ticky tack, I know.
I'll have to abstain since there's no "all of the above" selection...Pryor's got a LONG way to go before he's a legit QB instead of a RB playing QB. I am highly disappointed in his lack of growth from Michigan week to the bowl game.
I know mechanics are based off footwork, but I decided to separate the two, because sometimes TP throws a bullet, sometimes a duck, so I figured there has to be something in his arm delivery as well as setting his feet. Perhaps throwing motion should have been the term used.
I think Pryor is a lot closer to becoming a big time quarterback than most people think. There are two tiny things he does on a consistent basis that have to improve. (1) First to stop worrying about interceptions, and actually throw the ball. His arm motion is not bad, he is just too worried about throwing an INT. The reward is greater than the risk many times. (2) On the run he needs to set his feet before releasing the ball. Many times he puts too much air underneath the ball when running, especially when throwing across his body. Those are easy things to fix....and I think he will be pretty awesome next year!
His throwing motion IS bad though. He pushes the ball. It looks like he's shotputting. Because of that, it doesn't have a very high point of release.
I know he's capable of being a good passer. I want to see what we saw in the NU game. The majority of passes he threw were right on the mark and had a bit of a zip to them, even on the run. Besides that game and maybe the final drive of the Wisky game, a lot of the passes he has made were floaty jumpballs that could be credited more to our receivers.
Like Chris, I had high hopes for Pryor's improvement during the long layoff, but after watching the bowl game, he probably spent more time running routes than working on his passing.
(opening disclaimer) look, i don't want to open a bitchfest... and i am not saying fire tressel. i am just saying he needs to take a different role. whether as an NFL type coach yielding control of in game offensive and defensive strategy or replacing gene smith as athletic director.
...can the proprietors put up a run-down of tressel's record versus coaches, rather than versus teams. a nice clean excel box of tress's record against Carr, Charles the tuna Weis, Mack Brown, Urban Meyer, Les Miles, Joe Paterno, Barry Alvarez, et al.
against the best of the best coaches, i don't think it looks good for tress. maybe i am wrong and when a systematic effort is made, my limited knowledge will be exposed
(closing disclaimer) i recognize the man has destroyed michigan. that is awesome. love him for it. thats why i am not saying fire the man. he has some good wins. lloyd carr was one of the best in the business early in his career; later not so much, but still above average and a good win.
ZING! You're probably right on the route running. I know one thing, he's already twice the receiver Hartline claims to be.
At work now, but I'm going to check that idea out when I get home.
My gut feeling is that your theory won't be as strong as you might like.
Three bowl game loses in a row, all for different reasons, and all to top five
teams. None of the coaches you mentioned win every game every week,
and all have lost their share to unranked teams. That's one thing Coach
Tressel is not known for.
not a bad loss, really. if you were to pencil in a B10 loss at the beginning of the season, this would be the game. they are without their leader and best defender, and as a result they are not as effective overall as we would like. the bright side is that mullens and buford are getting considerable minutes, and that will pay huge dividends toward the end of the year. keep in mind that they are still a very young team, and we should expect to see inconsistent play throughout most of the season. they will hit a hot streak and play some great ball before the year is out. hang tough, get Lighty back, and put together a run to make the dance, and then, who knows? Buford is a terrific talent, and you gotta believe Mullens will come around.
5 things coming?
Yeah...I just needed to let the game marinate a little to avoid a knee-jerk spaz out...Probably Thursday or Friday at the latest.
Yea, how do you get outplayed in a bowl game by the guy you bitched about throwing you the ball?? Im glad TP didn't look his way.
I havent liked Hartline from day one, still dont, if your a possesion guy, be that, if your down field guy, be that. At least Sanzenbacher knows his role.
Look I love TP as much as the next guy (check gravatar), but Im a little uncomfortable with him ALREADY being the QB next year.
Lets not get started with the Bauserman talk, cuz thats just ludacris. But, if I were Tress and the big-wigs Id be telling Tahj Boyd to first commit , then come to summer practice ready to push TP for the job. Worst case scenario is you lose out and red shirt, which he's cool with anyway. Boyd is a better PASSER right now, plus has plenty of wheels to get out of trouble and burn somebod's ass.
Rumor has it that TP injured his shoulder prior to the game. Can anybody confirm or debunk? If so, it explains his regression in the passing game, him running out of bounds early and some of the game plan.
I have heard that Pryor had a hand injury or shoulder injury. The injury, from what I heard, is what allowed TB to see snaps and why they made it public early. Whatever the injury was, it was causing Pryor to lose his zip and arm strength so the staff did everything they could to cover it up and fill that "void" with Todd. Again, it was something I heard over the weekend from a good source, but I haven't been able to confirm.
After watching the game I would like to believe it's true... Only one pass had anything behind it (which was dropped in the end zone), his pass to Dane in the flats, hate to say this about the kid, but was embarrassing and he didn't want to run (In addtion to the few runs he had where he stepped out FAR too early, there was a play I believe the drive after he got his TD reception, that he forced a ball to Robo and he had at least 10 yards of open space in front of him). He didn't play like the kid we saw at the end of the regular season that's for sure and I don't think it's fair to gauge him off of that one game going into next season.
I've heard shoulder and I've also heard throwing hand so far...If he did have a shoulder, he played like he was favoring the left, not the throwing shoulder because all his unnecessary runs out of bounds were with his left shoulder exposed running to his right...I feel like I distinctly remember at least one occasion where he ran left, exposing his right, and he actually took on a defender. I'm not trying to sound like a hater but I think he was just so tight and paranoid about throwing a pick that he resorted back to his tentative shot-putting ways...That said, if he was hurt it will eventually be known. I hope he was hurt because that's the only thing that would make me feel better about what I saw which was regression.
Kinda funny. We all bitch about Tress calling the plays and it wasn't too long ago that we bitched about JHC not being involved enough.
Guess we need to find that happy medium.
Uh, didn't he just play most of a season with no Boeckman involvement?
Good thing he has 9 months to work on it.
Poe,
Not real sure what you mean, maybe I can clarify myself though. I meant to say if TP doesn't have proper competition for the starting job, then I'm afraid he may become complacent and not develop to his full. But, on second thought, he is one heck of a driven kid, so it probably won't matter whose there. I don't really feel that Pryor was afraid to lose the job this year. Not because of sitting, but because he was unsure of himself. Basing that off his alledged comments to JT about replacing him if he struggled.
Watching the Tennessee game, its becoming evident that Ohio State has to improve the atmosphere at the Schott. Its like being at a YMCA pick-up game and some dude's granparents are there watching them play.
With the electricity at the Shoe, you would think they would carry some over to the BBall program.
Dude have you read anything about this kid, say the Dispatch article today? He isn't lacking for motivation. Tressel constantly raves about his work and desire to be a great quarterback.
[...] State held steady for 37 minutes in the first meeting, but MSU hit 5 of 6 three pointers in less than 3 minutes during a first half run and the Buckeyes [...]