It was tough on the eyes, but Ohio State (9-2) slowly and surely posted a 60-44 victory over the Delaware State Clock-Runnin' Bitches Hornets this afternoon in Value City Arena.
The Hornets slow it down style combined with sloppy and disinterested play from OSU allowed D-State to hold a 7-5 lead nearly eight minutes in before Jeremie Simmons once again provided a spark off the bench triggering a 20-10 run to close the half. Simmons got it started with a triple to retake the lead then hit another bomb on the ensuing possession pushing OSU up 11-7 with 10:55 left. Closing out the run, Simmons would team with Wil Buford to force a Hornet turnover then find Buford with an alley-oop lob to make it 20-13 then Simmons closed the half with another perfectly placed lob to Dallas Lauderdale for a thunder dunk and a 25-17 halftime lead.
That little burst was about all the excitement provided on the day as the Hornets walked it up every time down rarely shooting with less than :05 on the shot clock while committing six shot clock violations.
The slow tempo had a negative impact on Jon Diebler as he once again struggled to get looks out of the half court sets. He simply can't shake his man with any consistency, is still not cutting hard enough off picks and doesn't appear even willing to try and take his man off the bounce. As a result, he managed five shots on the day with his first coming nearly 12 minutes into the game. He did add a team high seven caroms but his lack of offense (8 pts) is only putting more pressure on Buford, David Lighty and Simmons.
Thankfully, Wil Buford again brought enough heat to lead the way with 18 points (6/10) including 11 as the Buckeyes slowly pulled away in the second half. Even more impressive is the fact Buford dished out another six dimes against zero turnovers. The WB has 24 assists in the last four games while shooting 22/44 from the floor. Good stuff.
Lighty complemented Buford with 12 points (5/8) and four boards but he coughed it up four times as the Buckeyes racked up 13 turnovers against only 10 for the Hornets. Lauderdale continued his FG accuracy onslaught going 5/6, good for 11 points, but he again was a no show on the glass with just two rebounds. I keep reading comments from him about how he's working on his glass eating but I'm still waiting to see it.
Rounding on the scoring, Simmons finished with seven, all in the first half, while adding three steals in 22 minutes. P.J. Hill continued to look like he's doing a lot without actually doing much going 0/2 from the floor with two points and two assists against one turnover.
For the game, the Buckeyes continued their season long hot field goal shooting with a 59.5% effort though the threes were just so-so dropping at a 35% clip (6/17). The stripe remains a concern after a 10/14 effort (71%).
Ohio State has just one more non-conference tilt before Big Ten play gets underway and it comes against Cleveland State on Tuesday night. This one looks like an automatic W on paper as the Vikings enter the game 4-8 but that includes a two point loss against Huggy Bear's undefeated Mountaineers earlier today.
That might actually be a good thing. It should surely get Ohio State's attention.
Comments
If PJ Hill shaved his head he'd get benched.
Sweet I'm first in the bowl pickem
WELP! ray small is most likely out for oregon for, you guessed it, violation of team rules. what an utter idiot, i rarely bash OSU players but holy shit i cannot wait to see him out of the program
Off topic but a good buddy of mine and recent 11W convert has been doing a blog with a write from one of the Oregon newspapers. Thought you all might want to check it out: http://blogs.wweek.com/news/20...
BTW, he actually recommended having this guy talk to someone from the site but they wanted the common man's perspective.
If that's true, I totally agree!
Why does this not surprise me? Ray-Ray aka The Ghost is a cancer on the system
Anywhere on the web actually confirming this?
Despite frequent bashing of PJ Hill, I feel he does help. Yea, yea, I know, look at the stats, and Im not saying he's a BIG help. But there are things players can do when on the floor. He pushes tempo, he tips alot of loose balls resulting in positives for the team, he forces teams to keep a man on him while he's running around the floor like a wild-man. I realize everyone's frustration with lack of a point guard manifests itself as despise for PJ's lack of production, but let's be happy with what he does. Help is on the way.
there are rumors going around, ray hasnt been practicing, and duron carter made an oblique reference to it on his twitter account. if this were any other player i'd say wait and see, but, well, it's ray small we're talking about
Where'd you hear this, bup?
Conley's stats weren't much better considering he had much more talent around him.
His defense is second to none. That is what makes him effective.
Eh, I don't know about that. Conley holds the record for most assists in a season with 238. If I remember correctly he had a 3:1 AST/TO also had over 10ppg. I watched the OSU vs. WISC game from that year the 1vs2 game that year and he was so good, if he would have been more selfish he could have 20ppg.
anyone know how to watch NFL games online, and the rose bowl online, if 360 isnt working, and your out of the country?
i'd go with either justinTV or myp2p.eu
that's what i always used, either that or listen to the radio broadcast online by either trying to find a radio station that forgot to pull it offline, which is a real pain since only one or two stations a week forget, and it's always different stations, or listen to the OSU student radio broadcast at http://www.ohiostatesports.net...
That might be the funniest thing I've ever read, Tampa. C'mon, now.
thanks.
Where are you reading that Ray Small is in hot water?