Threebler did his part but it wasn't enough (AP/Huh)You can bet the Buckeye faithful are going to be fired up after Ohio State blew a 40-28 lead early in the second half surrendering a 21-3 run over an eight minute span before a John Shurna three pointer with :03 gave Northwestern a 72-69 victory.
Jon Diebler did all he could pouring in 28 points thanks to a career high eight triples and a clutch steal and layup tying the game at 69 with :28 remaining setting up Shurna's game winner.
It should've never came down to a last shot but the efficient Wildcats continued to find open looks against a porous OSU zone hitting 13/25 treys including a 7/12 effort from Craig Moore (23 pts) and a 4/6 night from Kevin Coble (26 pts).
Failure to identify and challenge the Northwestern perimeter shooters and 15 turnovers offset OSU's 29-18 edge on the glass.
The most error prone Buckeye was Evan Turner who coughed it up eight times but at least he was consistent with four in each half. Turner did finish with 14 points and six rips but the turnovers and two missed free throws in the final seven minutes of a tight game didn't help the cause.
Turner has racked up 14 turnovers during the two game losing streak proving once again this team will go only as far as he can take them.
In the post, B.J. Mullens came away with 11 points and 11 boards but struggled in the second half with only four points and three boards while Dallas Invisi-dale produced only four points and 3 boards in 13 minutes. Surprisingly, Matta used Kyle Madsen to chew up 14 minutes and he responded with six points on 3/3 shooting.
OSU scored enough points to win but it's going to be a tough stretch run if William Buford can't get back on track. The freshman made only 1/8 shots, a three cutting the Wildcat lead to 69-67 with :58 left, extending his shooting slump to a dismal 11/33 over the last three games.
Buford's worst shooting night as a Buckeye ended a four game streak in double figures though he has reached double figures in 10 of 13 conference tilts.
The much maligned point guard duo produced a mixed bag as Jeremie Simmons fared a little better than his previous three games (0 asst, 5 TO) with three points (1/5 FG), four assists and zero turnovers while P.J. Hill added zero points and two assists against one turnover. Seriously, can we trade these guys in for a rack of old worn Wilson Jet's? I digress...
The early second half scoring drought came out of nowhere as the Buckeyes broke open a 21-21 game closing the first half on a 16-7 run to take a 37-28 lead into the locker room.
Diebler was large early on hitting 5/6 triples giving him 15 of OSU's first 21 points. Turner and Mullens took it from there keying the 16-7 run with seven and five points, respectively. Mullens threw one down off a nifty feed from Turner giving OSU a 31-26 lead and hit 3/4 from the stripe thanks to establishing post position and forcing fouls. His efforts helped the Buckeyes generate 12 second chance points in the opening twenty minutes.
For the game, OSU shot 52% from the floor and from three land (10/19) but took 14 less shots.
With Penn State upsetting Illinois, the loss drops Ohio State into a three way tie for fifth place with the Illini on the slate Sunday at 1pm in the Schott.
All of a sudden OSU's tourney hopes are a little cloudy though they control their destiny with three straight games against teams ahead of them in the standings. After the Sunday home game against Illy, Penn State visits Tuesday before a Saturday roadie at Purdue. A trip to Iowa followed by the season finale at home to Northwestern closes out the regular season.
At 7-6 in conference, the Buckeyes might need three wins or else two wins plus a win in the conference tourney to secure a bid. That seems like an obtainable but very challenging task. Protecting home court could very well determine Ohio State's post season fate.
Comments
Let's start a facebook group asking them to play the final home games at St. Johns', so we can get something resembling home-court advantage. Beats watching the blue-hairs knit behind the bench at the Schott.
No doubt. I have a feeling these final home games are going to more important than we thought just a few games ago. The selection committee puts a lot of stock in how you finish and not only is OSU struggling at the moment, but the teams chasing them (PSU, Wisky) are heating up.
I still like that they control their destiny but I'd be lying if I said I felt as confident about an NCAA berth as I did two games ago. Losing at Wisky doesn't bother me but OSU needed tonight's game.
NW was one I had arrogantly chalked up as a gimme. Of course, I'm turning around and basically saying the same about our home game against them. As I said in the other thread, this team could lose all five games and win all five games and I wouldn't bat an eye. I honestly think a win over Purdue plus any other random win means we're in like sin. Most teams that beat 6 top 25 teams in a season with 20 or more wins make the tourney. I think we win four of five and make it.
But if not, there's no shame in repeating as NIT champs, is there?
It's pretty sad that IU can have one Big Ten victory but still have a home crowd that sells out and shows up for every game. Granted, they have nothing to do from August to November, but...
They do have one of the best, most tradition-laden arenas in the country to show up and see, even if it means watching crappy basketball.
The Schott is more suited to, I dunno, REO Speedwagon concerts than basketball games.
Have you ever been to Assembly Hall? The sightlines are shit in a lot of places and the lighting is pretty craptacular. I'll give you the fact that the program has a rich tradition, but that barn is garbage.
How about all of the above in your latest poll. Matta turned a bright shade of red in the first half after he called a time out when the Buckeyes were playing their usual matador defense out there. Time to let Mullens start in place of Lauderdale.
Im sure Matta was red for the same reason I was. Youth, lack of depth are expected. But lack of effort is unacceptable. This isn't the first time these guys have looked like they didn't care in an important game. I dont know who told them they were in the tourney already. Thad is gonna have to do something to light a fire under their asses, the talent is there, the will doesnt seem to be.
My thoughts that you can tear to shreds.
1. Turner is killing us, he needs to just take the ball to the basket like he did at the end of the NU game and stop forcing the ball into Mullens, and throwing it away on the break.
2. You can't beat anybody if you don't even take shots b/c you are turning the ball over and over. I don't care if you lead the league in shotting b/c if you take shots away with stupid passes.
3. Everytime Lauderdale came onto the floor last night I said "Oh God" and then "Where is Madsen", then I cried.
4. Matta has to get a point guard on this team, somehow. I know they have Crater's scholarship, but will another Juco really help? There has to be somebody that can play the point.
5. They have to win 3 of the last 5, which is possible. They can beat Ill, and have to beat PSU, but Iowa and NU should be wins, as long as Matta can coach these guys and get out of the zone when it's killing them.
..............ahhhhhhhhh what a horrible performance in the 2nd half last nite. Blowing a 12 point lead (I think) and giving up 50 to 2 white boys??? 14 3's???? Madsen having a career nite?? WTF is going on??
I have observed that OSU plays down to the level of comptetion. OSU is vastly superior in talent to NorthWestern and we still managed to lose a game we were winning. This ain't gonna cut it in the tourney.... gotta have killer instinct from start to finish...... gotta win games that are winnable!!!
I went to bed nauseated last nite.... we looked lost at times, missed rebounds that we had our hands on, and left 3 point shooters wide open (again). Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, there is.
the only chance the nerds had last night was if matta never switched out of his f*cking zone defense and they were able to jack up uncontested treys all night long. and surprise, surprise - look what happened.
its getting f*cking ridiculous. the reason we play this zone nonsense is so our bigs dont get into foul trouble, and if we arent even incorporating them into our offense who gives a flying f*ck if they are in foul trouble anyway. madsen playing 14 minutes = we can afford to switch to man defense so we dont let team after team kill us from behind the arc.
its like watching the same game time after time. this zone defense sh*t is f*cking killing me - we are letting teams that have no business being on the same court as ohio state hit 15 threes a game while grabbing offensive board after offensive board because no one knows who in the f*ck they are supposed to block out.
say what you will about thad mattas recuiting ability, but he must be a fairly sh*tty reader. the writing is all over the wall and he refuses to acknowledge it.
f*cking ridiculous.
pardon my french.
Well said Morgan
my sentiments exactly!!!!! Bravo.... I am rethinking my early assessments of Matta..... he may be the Jim Heacock of Basketball ...........we can call them the Zone brothers!!
[...] Uh-OSU: “With Penn State upsetting Illinois, the loss drops Ohio State into a three way tie for fifth place with the Illini on the slate Sunday at 1pm in the Schott. All of a sudden OSU’s tourney hopes are a little cloudy though they control their destiny with three straight games against teams ahead of them in the standings. After the Sunday home game against Illy, Penn State visits Tuesday before a Saturday roadie at Purdue. A trip to Iowa followed by the season finale at home to Northwestern closes out the regular season. At 7-6 in conference, the Buckeyes might need three wins or else two wins plus a win in the conference tourney to secure a bid. That seems like an obtainable but very challenging task. Protecting home court could very well determine Ohio State’s post season fate.” [Chris/Eleven Warriors] [...]
Well said Morgan - Thad says he doesnt want the bigs to pick up fouls hedging 25 feet from the hoop -- fine.
But with 5 min left in the game, who cares about foul trouble? I dont think either one of them was in any kind of foul trouble -- and who really cares if Lauderdale picks up his 4th or 5th at this pt. We could probably do w/o his 2 pts, 2 boards, and 2 moving pick fouls a game. We played right into NWs strength and let them hoist up uncontested threes for 40 min. Was hard to watch.
Maybe we can convince TP to play?
From what we saw last year, I think TP needs to stick to learning how to read defenses and the mechanics of throwing the football.
Agreed Lt. Agreed
Not too worried about TP tho. He has a fire to improve and suceed not seen since Eddie George. We all know how he turned out.
next year will be even more frustrating though. we are getting no recruits (no point guard) , turner is probably gone. Mullens doesn't seem smart so i think he'll leave too, and I don't see Matta playing anything but zone.
I'm not overly concerned either. I just know that's where his focus needs to be instead of worrying about helping this team squeak out a Sweet 16 at best.
Everyone get off Matta's back!!!!
Have you seen how many players we have on the bench?? In a perfect world Kyle Madsen should never see the floor.
Matta is forced to play zone THIS YEAR, he wasnt pulling this shit when we had an actual team.
And Evan Turner is NOT fucking killing us, I blame Mullens more than anyone. When you recruit the number 10 overall recruit in the country, he's supposed to play somewhat like that. He's not only soft, but he looks completely lost. He has been a total letdown!!!! He should be putting up double doubles in his sleep.
At least Buford has performed with a little more consistency, but he had a TERRIBLE game last night, it happens.
I agree, man to man would have definitely come in handy last night, especially when the Smothers Brothers started lightin it up like Anthony crater on a saturday night, but the zone is in place because of depth issues, not because Thad is a bad coach, gimme a fuckin break.
Everyone will be back on his nuts again when the Bucks make a run in b10 tourney, so act like you've been there before.
I feel bad for Turner. He is getting these turnovers because they are trying to force him into a SG/PG hybrid type role when he is clearly not.
I haven't kept up with it but didn't Dicky V. say Ohio State had the number 1 class coming in next year?
Thad Matta has brought Ohio State basketball back to an elite level and has done a phenomenal job recruiting year in and year out (clearly hurt by early departures for the NBA). I also agree with iball that Thad wouldn't be playing the zone this year if he felt this team could handle a man to man offense. You think he is stupid? Clearly if all of us are seeing different things on the court, the coaching staff is seeing it to, but there is a reason they are the coaches and we are not---they know what they are doing.
That being said, it is very frustrating to watch the lack of adjustments during many games at times this season. Whether Thad isn't making the proper adjustments or the players just aren't executing, I don't know, but this team should have 20 wins already and should have locked up the tournament. This team is too good to be on the bubble once again this year and I see no reasons why this team should not win AT LEAST 3, if not 4 of their remaining 5 games. At Purdue is the only game that you can say will probably be an L, but 3 home games (I don't care who they are against) and on the road against Iowa should all be W's in my book.
It's time for this team to stop playing gutless and to start showing some heart and desire to want to do something noteworthy this season.
The number 1 class for 2010...we had no room to recruit for next year's 2009 class, but now have a scholly open with the departure of Crater (please don't get another JUCO) and may have some available if BJ, ET, or WB leave....hopefully the staff can target in on a kid and sell him on immediate playing time, but it's unlikely this late in the process
do you happen to know if our scholarship limits were messed up because of oden/dofous/conley/cook leaving early? i was under the impression that we had to forfeit one because of our APR?
True. But what's the harm in running man-to-man in small doses? Just like football, if you continually show the same defense, you're going to get figured out (and burned).
Dont get me wrong -- I dont think Thad is a bad coach whatsoever I do agree w/the depth (or lack thereof) that we have this year, playing the zone is a necessity...BUT, it couldnt hurt to throw in some man here and there. Thats all I'm saying.
yeah - NO ONE is saying thad isnt a good coach. all anyone is saying is that when the freaking nerds are lighting you up on wide open treys all night, the least you can do is quit being stubborn and play some man defense down the stretch.
the bigs werent in serious foul trouble and we were losing due to PLAYING A ZONE DEFENSE.
i like thad as a coach and i think he is great for ohio state basketball. it doesnt mean he always makes perfect decisions. he was wrong last night and that is that. its why we lost the game. period.
The defense that OSU employs is a match up zone, not a traditional 2-3 or 3-2 zone defense. The principle is everyone is responsible for guarding man-to-man in their "zone". I won't pretend to know the reasoning behind Matta playing this particular defense, but I was lucky enough to play in this defense when I was younger and it had nothing to do with protecting our big guys from foul trouble. The power of the match up zone is it forces teams to abandon their normal offense because plays are not as effective and it eliminates mismatches b/c of switching on picks. It takes alot of discipline and communication to ensure "cutters" are picked up as they change sides of the floor and this is what the Buckeyes are struggling with. Mullens and Lauderdale have continually allowed wide open shots from the corner b/c they abondan their zone principle and do not man up on the proper player. I find myself continually shaking my head as I watch a cutter come open in the corner because the proper pass off from the wing defender to the post defender or vice versa did not happen. Properly guarding the man in your zone also gives each player an assigned block out duty, so executing the zone principles properly should minimize offensive rebounds. Again, it all comes down to communication and it certainly does not appear that the Buckeyes are doing a very good job of it.
I was there once, as a very little kid, so I can't say I remember much about it. Nonetheless, the place is legendary for its home-court advantage, isn't it? Not so much with the Schott
Problem is even a zone in small doses can mean two quick fouls on an important player, thus sending him to the bench for most of a half, which inturn hurts the flow and rythym of a game. Not to mention fatigue thats sets in from chasing a guy around the court. We cant sacrifice either this year, we are incredibly shallow and would have been even with Lighty and Crater.
Lack of heart and effort was the real culprit last night in my book, we have so much more talent than NW, we should have been in their faces every time down the court. We were extremely sluggish and didnt rotate fast enough to cover shooters. Just an all around bad effort.
Don't be shocked if Lance Stevenson(SP) ends up at Ohio State. He's a top five guy that has shown interest in the past. He could start from day one. Since crater jumped ship we have atleast one to offer maybe more if mullens,turner, and Buford go pro.
I hate when I'm right but I did say the key to the game would be to guard the 3pt line. How did that work out? No so good I think.
First off Mullens was the number one recruit in the country. Second when you play zone against a 3 pt shooting team you get burned. Its not mullens fault he isn't being used correctly. I didn't see the game but I can tell you NW hit alot of three's from the wing and corners when the bigs for Ohio state were out of position. You can't expect a 7 footer to guard 19 feet from the basket. A zone is nice against a team that drives the ball but NW is a set shot type of team. They want to swing the ball side to side and use motion to get open.
Anyway what the hell do I know.
He gets turnovers because he forces the ball sometimes. He's only a soph. so you can't expect him to be the man just yet.
I also dont know why Thad prefers the matchup zone over a more traditional zone D, but the reason we play zone (and Thad has said this before) is to keep our bigs from getting into foul trouble by hedging ball screens 25 feet from the hoop.