Buford's mojo wasn't enough to carry the Bucks.
(AP: David Smith)Ohio State opened the game in a 1-3-1 halfcourt trap off made buckets, which really confused and slowed down Huggin's boys. But the veteran coach made the proper adjustments as the game wore on to give his team the best chance to score. On the other hand, Thad may have stayed in the zone a bit too long and could've gone to man a few minutes earlier than he did.
Evan Turner and the boys were scorching the nets in the first half, connecting on 16 of 29 (55.2%) overall and 5 of 9 (55.6%) from deep. Their lead swelled to as many as 14 at 29-15, after Buford and Diebler combined for 15 points in a 3 minute stretch. Diebler hit 3 of his first 4 bombs, but picked up his second foul with 8:29 and sat the rest of the half.
The Bucks took care of the rock against a physical WVU defense, committing just 2 TO's in the first 15 minutes of play, before they committed them on consecutive possessions, which prompted a 4 minutes scoring drought. In that time the Mountaineers trimmed the lead to 7, but the Bucks held on and entered the locker room with a 40-28 lead.
Buford and Turner were fantastic in the first half, combining to make 10 of 18 shots. Turner hit 6 of 12 for 13 points, while also grabbing 6 boards and dishing out 3 dimes. Buford at one point scored 7 straight and hit 4 of 6 shots for 11 points. The Buckeyes held WVU to 38.5% shooting in the first, but 6 of their 10 made FG's were 3balls and the Mounty's held a slight edge on the glass, 14-13.
Perhaps it was that new batch of Moonshine-Ade at half or the experience of Bob Huggins shining through, but the second half was a completely different story. WVU opened with a 10-0 run over the first 3 minutes and it was clear their defense, offensive game and the crowd were back in it.
On offense, De'Shean Butler, Kevin Jones and Darryl Bryant lead the comeback, scoring 26 of WVU's first 29 points of the second. Butler, the leading scorer entering the game, was held to 5 points on 2/8 shooting in the first, including 1/4 from deep. Though he did dish out all 5 of his helpers in the first, his 3 TO's helped the Buckeyes hold a 11-2 points off TO's edge in the first. He finished with 21 points, 8 boards, 5 dimes and those 3 TO's. He hit 5 of 7 in the second, including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc.
Bryant scored 14 in the game, including 9 in the second, but it was his 4 assists in the second that lead to another 10 Mountaineers points. Jones came in averaging almost 15 and was held scoreless in the first, missing all 3 of his shots, but he managed 9 points and 8 boards in the second. Jones also helped change the rebounding back in the favor of WVU, as they outrebounded the Bucks 21-9, including 8-1 on the offensive side in the second.
On defense, the length was just too much for the 4 guard system Thad rolls out. Turner didn't make a FG in the second, missing all 5 of his shots and not scoring until making a couple of FT's with 7:01 left. He finished with 18 points, 11 boards and 4 dimes, to go along with 4 turnovers and 2 steals. Diebler also missed all of his shots (3) in the final 20 minutes, managing just 2 FT's with 1:37 left, which were his first points since the 9:37 mark of the first half. He ended up with 11 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists and 0 steals. I also thought his slow-footed defense was a liability in the second half, as the Mountaineer players continually drove right around him.
Thankfully Will the Thrill continued to stroke from every where and kept the Bucks within striking distance. After the lead was cut to a point at 42-41, Will scored 11 of the next 14 Buckeye points, as the lead slipped away to a 54-57 deficit. Buford hit 5 of 7 in the second and finished with a season high 22 points on 9 of 13.
D-Light continued his recent struggles since Turner came back, scoring just 6 points in 40 minutes of play. Lighty was 2 of 6, was held without a rebound, dished out 4 assists, but also had 4 TO's. Since Turner's return, Lighty has hit double digits in 2 of 6 games and has collected just 13 rebounds in that span. Each player is vulnerable to a slump, but the Buckeyes obviously need his attacking edge on offense and he needs to get his groove back before Iowa on Wednesday.
West Virginia is the type of team that Ohio State was going to have trouble with before the season started. The Bucks simply don't have the strength and length the 'Neers possess and once the shots stopped falling, the fouls got a bit touchy and the crowd started greeting The Villian with a "F@*K You Turner" chant with 4:30 left, you had a feeling this one was going to the home team. You can't win on the road with only 1 FG over the last 8+ minutes and a team with WVU's height will outrebound the OSU almost every time.
It was a hard fought, entertaining game and it doesn't hurt the Buckeyes recent climb up the B10 standings. They make a trip to Iowa City on Wednesday at 8:30, before settling at home for a 3-game stretch.
Comments
Although your right about this not being a huge deal, it is personally. Simply the fact that we had control until the second half drives me nuts. This was a winnable game, and I hope it doesn't show we can't beat OOC opponets.
cal and fsu disagree. no worries. although it was a game they could have won i think ohio st. is getting better. they just didnt bring enough intensity the second half and you cant do that on the road. deibler especially was lacking and needs to get tougher. i like the kid but he doesnt get open and shows no effort defensively unless his shots are falling.
These guys need someone to light a fire under their ass. Diebler needs to stop f'in joking and laughing all f'in game and ball. No offense, but focus and intensity are lacking and they need a motivational coach. Also, Matta got outcoached by Huggins today.
Does anyone know if something was wrong with PJ Hill? With the lack of defense in the 2nd half, not sure why we didn't see him at all. Diebler doesn't move without the ball enough, I don't know how many times he just stands out on the wing waiting for a pick. He needs to move, and cut more.
just a note tonight at the VCA: jared sullinger 24pts and 9 boards...deshaun thomas 36pts and 9 boards. kids put on a show
Matta got outcoached huh? Maybe Matta doesn't have elite players and Huggins does. This is a very unathletic Buckeye team.
Diebler is slow and dissapears against elite comp. He hasn't been able to create shots his whole career.
Im tired of hearing how Matta got outcoached by a bunch of football heads.
EVAN TURNER ran point guard the entire fucking game, this team has no depth, period. There is NO intensity problem. There is no X and O problem.
It's because PJ Hill is terrible. But you are spot on about Diebs.
Next year, can't get here soon enough. At least we won't have to listen to how Matta gets "outcoached" any more. That is until we get caught in a rebuliding year. I know the concept of rebuilding is hard for OSU football fans to grasp, but its a reality in bball.
Iball, no offense bro, but I watch as mucg basketball as I do football, and actually played on a few rec and Navy teams... When I said outcoached, I was specifically talking about
A. Second half adjustments; obviously Huggins made some, Matta didn't...agree or disagree?
B. Buford was on fire, missed a shot and didn't take another that I can remember.
C. The lack of rotation was crazy...every trip down there was an open three or someone cutting throufh the lane unguarded.
Not trying to pile on Matta, but that was my thought, that Huggins made adjustments, Matta didn't. Last year was a rebuilding year.
And my spelling is turrible on my ipod... I keep hitting the wrong buttons.
I think there are times when Matta gets outcoached, but I also think yesterday could be an experience factor.
Huggins: 654-236 (980 career games)
Matta: 243-82 (325 career games)
I know that Matta is an exceptional recruiter. However , he has too many one and dones. Just think, Oden, Conley, Cooke, Mullens and Doufus could still be on the roster. Add Turner in, and OSU would be going for their 3rd or 4th final 4 appearance this year. On that point, I'm beginning to believe recruiting 3 and 4 year players might be better, with a "superstar" thrown in every year or so.
Next year isn't going to be much better. Sullinger and Thomas will be one and dones. At least they have a point guard coming in which will finally fill the spot vacated by Conley.
For those who say that Matta got outcoached, I somewhat agree. Huggins made adjustments and Thad had no answer. But, this team has zero, nada, zilch depth which is the man factor with the 2nd half swoons; thanks to all the "one & dones".
I liked the WV fans getting all butthurt about Turner doing a 360 dunk and chanting vulgarities at him. I didn't expect anything less from those yokels. And the Buckeyes need to get tougher (mentally) if they want to be elite. That second half was disgusting.
OT but if Jimmy Jackson's son plays anywhere else, I'll kind of feel sick.
Alex sent me a note yesterday from VCA saying he spoke with the young Jackson and was worried he may be a slight Wisconsin lean.
Ill post a video with the event wrap-up but traevon jackson said osu has not been in touch....its wisco, arizona state, miami-oh, and akron as his top 4
It seems the PJ Hill movement has begun. He brings it on defense and doesn't turn it over.
Don't you think giving Hill some mins at point would have allowed Turner to rest so he wasn't tired late in the second half. You can't expect Turner to bring the ball up all game long when he's your number one option on offense and the only guy that goes after the boards hard. You don't need Diebler and Buford on the court at the same time.
Go stick you head in the sand till next year then. Your a joke. We have the number 1 player in the nation this year and you want to talk about NEXT YEAR!? If this team gets hot in the tourney they will be dangerous.
PJ Hill has had two turnover-free games since December 5th. It feels like Diebler turns the ball over more because he's seeing a lot more time, but in terms of overall turnovers-per-minute-played, it's fairly even
The point is you gain more with Hill on the floor. Defense wins championships.
With Hill at the point your getting less then 1 turnover a game. Thats running the PT. Diebler just catches and shoots when is he going to turn it over?
Having Hill get his mins(16) its going to keep Turner from being worn down late in the game. Along with the benefit of have a lock down guy on the ball defensively. Its really a win-win.
I'm not saying Diebler sucks and he shouldn't see the floor but against good teams you have to go deeper then 1 guy at the pt. So you slide Turner to the 2 when Hill comes in.
I'm in the Thad-got-outcoached camp. During WVU's 2nd half run I was waiting for a "stop the bleeding" timeout. I agree with BuckeyeChief's 1st comment last night; there needs to be a fire lit under the Buckeyes. There was too much standing around on offense (waiting for ET to do something, no doubt) and a damn little blocking out in 2nd half. I agree that we should have switched out of zone earlier; but I saw a few plays that indicated that Madsen and Diebler are defensive liabilities.
You can't coach desire.
But Hill wouldn't be at the point with Diebler gone.
I'm just not buying that Hill adds more than Diebler. While I think "defense wins championship" is a blowhard cliche, I don't think Hill plays defense consistently better than Diebler in a way that justifies removing Diebler's scoring ability. I mean, perhaps Diebler just sucks on defense. He's still our second-leading scorer.
I haven't had a chance to see Sullinger play at all. But he is only 6'8", which means we are still going to be missing that true Center.
Thomas is the best player coming in next year hands down.
Sullinger will give us some toughness in the paint. I Think he has a nice game facing the basket as well. He can score off the dribble and has 3pt range.
Andy his size and control over his body will do more than make up for a few inches of height, never know either he may still have an inch or two to go
Isn't part of coaching recruiting talent? I mean Diebler has been bad at OSU for several years and Matta still has not found a replacement. who does the blame fall on in that situation? So Huggins having more elite talent than OSU falls directly on Matta's shoulders.
Matta has to do a much better job on the recruiting trail because he has struggled with depth damn near every year.
I like Matta but to continue to put Diebler on the floor is a real mystery to me. I am going to miss Turner when he leaves because he is one of my favorite buckeyes of all time. Best all around player I have seen at OSU in quite some time.
All I hear about here in Columbus is how great this next class is going to be. Being in this conference you need that true C to control the paint and be able to score. I hope this class pans out like most think they will.