Evan Turner (24 pts), Jon Diebler (20) and David Lighty 18) helped punch OSU's ticket to St. Louis (F. Victores) Release. Rotation. Splash.
Jon Diebler scored 17 points in the 2nd half on 6/9 shooting, including five points during a key 14-2 spurt, pushing Ohio State up front 46-32 before the Buckeyes held off a late Georgia Tech run to win 75-66 this afternoon in Milwaukee.
The victory sets up a Sweet 16 rematch (Holy '07)with Tennessee Friday night in St. Louis.
In what evolved into a balanced attack, it was mostly Evan Turner early as he led the Buckeyes with 16 points in the opening half - a half that set basketball back a few years - though OSU still managed to take a 28-26 lead to the locker room thanks to Turner, seven points from David Lighty and Tech's mix of sloppy play and foul trouble to bigs Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal.
Turner's bounce back effort consisted of 24 points (8/19 FG), nine boards, nine dimes and nine turnovers. He and Lighty were able to stave off the late Tech rally hitting 4/6 and 4/5 from the stripe in the closing 1:39.
Meanwhile, Diebler kept OSU comfortably in front much of the second half hitting four triples and converting a 3-point play from the 12 to five minute mark.
David Lighty also had a stellar day with 18 points, three boards and three assists while frustrating Favors and Lawal in support of Dallas Lauderdale's four points, four boards and three swats in 31 minutes of physical play.
Wil Buford never really got in the flow offensively with ET, Diebs and Lighty dominating the basketball but he still managed an active nine points (all in 2nd half), eight rips and three assists.
The zone gave what played like a poorly coached Yellow Jacket squad fits all night as they continuously rushed deep looks from the perimeter while committing an upset-killing 21 turnovers leading to 13 Buckeye points. I'm not saying I've seen enough of Hewitt to know, but there's no question GT struggled with decision making and fundamentals in a game where that could've been the difference considering OSU's 18 turnovers.
The Buckeye D also held Tech to 41% from the floor and a dismal 20% from distance (4/20) working in tandem with the non-stop turnovers.
Offensively, OSU shot 49% overall and 38% from deep.
It looked like this one could be close early as the Tech defense forced OSU into 3/13 from the floor in building a 16-12 lead. The foul prone Jackets couldn't sustain, however, as the Buckeyes took advantage of the early bonus hitting 8/8 free throws after two early misses from Lauderdale and Turner (12) and Lighty (7) scored OSU's last 19 points of the half.
Lawal led Tech with 11 points in only 21 minutes of action (4 fouls) while fellow big Derrick Favors was also saddled with foul trouble playing just 24 minutes.
Comments
Jazz, ribs and hound dog for lunch in St. Louis.
Rocky Top is going to be plenty sad.
O - H !!!
I - O
Nice choice of photo's. The Glen Rice's contunue to come up short against us. heh.
Jordan Crawford is F-ing sick.
Tip off time: 7:07 P.M., Eastern Time.
How about the slow and plodding Big Ten putting three in the Sweet Sixteen?
And just two from the 16 team Big East.
Awesome. My flight is during the entire game. God I hope this plane has wifi.
With Kalin Lucas out for the rest of the year, the Final Four slot is ours if we can just overcome Tennessee. Damn you, SEC monkey on backs.
No actually, it's not ours if we beat Tennessee, we would still have to play in the Elite 8.
And don't tell me we will automatically get the win if we play N. Iowa or Michigan State in the Elite 8. It's March, regardless if Lucas is playing or not.
The last thing we need if we can beat Tennessee is to get cocky in the Elite 8, c'mon man.
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm telling you. Beat Tenn and we are in the final four. I understand how a bracket works.
Uhm, no we play Tennessee in the Sweet 16, not the Elite 8.
We wouldn't be in the final four yet if we beat Tennessee, we would be in the Elite 8.
Yeah... So maybe you should take a look at that bracket that you already understand.
Damn SEC monkey isn't the same in hoops...did we not beat Tennessee in '07?
*twice
jake, i could be wrong, but i do believe that there may [or may not] be a hint of sarcasm in matt's post. but once again, i could be wrong. brackets are hard to decipher...
[hint: SARCASMSARCASMSARCASM]
I looked over his comment(s) again and I still don't see any sarcasm. Oh well, maybe I'm just not picking up on it.
I'm not picking up on the sarcasm either. I'm pretty sure that Jake is on par with his assessment: Matt is an idiot.
Anyways, Go Bucks. Sweet 16 is good, but I won't be happy until we're in Indy.
Wouldn't a OSU-Xavier match up in the Final Four be awesome????
Then the media could spend an entire week building up another non-existent "in state rivalry" for the Buckeyes.
Tech players crying about ticky tack fouls and not be able to be physical - I think I will hand out kleenex in the ATL today.
The way I read Matt's comment is that both Northern Iowa and Michigan State are eminently beatable, especially as Matt notes "with Kalin Lewis out.." and therefore a win against TN *should* allow
eventual advance to the final four. It's arguable, as Jake says, but not too crazy.
yeah, now that my bracket is in burning shambles, an OSU/Xavier/Purdue/Cornell final four would be aaawwweeeesssoommeee
Jake: "don’t tell me we will automatically get the win if we play N. Iowa or Michigan State in the Elite 8."
Matt: "Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m telling you. Beat Tenn and we are in the final four."
Not that I agree... I think Sparty would give us a serious fight if a final four bid were at stake.
It's hard not to look at the big picture...but it's still one game at a time. Thought this was the killer bracket, now would not like to be playing Cornell or St. Mary's. BTW, in a big NCAA pool in NYC (big buck$)...it's great no one believed in the Buckeyes...I'm the only one with "the Ohio State University".
I love when teams mouth off after taking an ass whipping:
G-Tech's Shumpert:
Elbows on knees, a scowling Iman Shumpert bent forward in his chair. Someone asked if Ohio State was better than Georgia Tech. “Not at all,” Shumpert said.
So: Was Tech better than Ohio State? Said Shumpert, almost spitting the words: “A lot better.”
http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-brad...
Enjoy the off-season, Iman.
Tennessee will crap out, they always do.
Ugh, that whole article is about how much better Georgia Tech is than us. Talk about sour grapes. "there was a clear imbalance of talent between the No. 2 seed and the No. 10. Tech had the three best big men this day"
What about having the four best guards?
Yeah, but I am sure that won't be covered by anyone in the media. I guess we'll just have to win it all here and also have the Vest win the BCS and then maybe they will look upon the B10 with smiles.
I don't understand the basis of the article. GT had a losing record in ACC play this year, and made it to the ACC final (loss) after getting through 3 tourney games by a combined margin of 12 points. The only ranked non-conference game they played was Dayton, and they lost.
Big Ten is 7-2. In years past when the Big 10 fell hard that is all you heard about from the 4letter. Now that the Big East is proving to be overrated, all they talk about is how it was really a 2 team league and the rest were always at risk of losing early.
Of course, a week ago, they were the most dominate basketball league ever with 5 of the top 12 seeds.
Could there be something to the theory that ESecPN has a little bitterness towards the Big 10 for having the audacity to start their own network?
Not to mention, everyone saw Tech look sloppy as hell right? Several forced and unforced errors, passes out of bounds, etc. Their 3-point shooting was abysmal. Frankly, if we were shooting well in the first half, I don't think we would have had to break a sweat. Sorry about your underachieving season, Tech...
I live in Atlanta and the city is split into two camps. GaTech and UGA. Tech fans assume superiority in bball because they play in the ACC. Dawgs fans assume superiority in football because they play in the SEC. Both are delusional and inferior to tOSU.
Bite me... you lost. Be gracious--you are all a bunch of douches.
Most GT Fans are of the consensus that Hewitt is an awful awful coach.
Tech would be quite good without him.
After the Orange Bowl and this game, I'm sure GT has seen enough of the Big Ten in post-season play.
I'm in ATL, too. Well put.
Well, that, and ESPN is HQ'd in Big East country, so yeah, they're a bit biased.
The thing about that is, we're like 11-4 vs Ga Tech all time now...only a few of their fans where crying in the comments, most where brutally honest. Oh well.