For the third time this season, and the 14th time in the last 16 games, Ohio State took down Michigan using a 16-0 run midway through the 2nd half on the way to a 68-61 victory today in Conseco Fieldhouse.
The win earns Ohio State a spot in the conference championship game tomorrow against the winner of Michigan State and Penn State.
Jon Diebler led the way with 16 points, Jared Sullinger posted a sturdy 14 point, 13 rebound effort albeit with some shaky shooting (5/13 FG, 4/10 FT) and William Buford chipped in 14.
With David Lighty and Aaron Craft saddled with foul trouble early in the first half, the Buckeyes also received big minutes from Deshaun Thomas. The lefty played some solid defense grabbing four boards and scored nine points on a controlled 4/6 from the floor in 21 minutes.
Tied at 25 after a Tim Hardaway Jr. and-1 on Jordan Sibert with 3:05 left in the half, Ohio State used a 6-2 run to close the half with a 31-27 lead and kept the spurt alive scoring the first seven points of the 2nd half to take a 38-27 lead with 16:19 left in regulation. Four different Buckeyes scored during the burst including a nice lefty drive from Buford, two bully moves on the low block from Sullinger, a steal and nifty left scoop shot from Diebler and a three pointer from The Tank.
As they’d done in the previous two meetings, Michigan clawed back 47-45 with 9:53 to play sparked by Tim Hardaway Jr. and combined 8/10 shooting but the Buckeyes had the answer in the form of a 16-0 run spanning four minutes.
Sully started the blitz with a barreling move to his left for two. After a Hardaway Jr. miss, Sullinger was fouled, made the first free throw and missed the second but Lighty was there for the offensive rebound and putback making it 52-45 good guys with 8:27 left.
The intensity ratcheted up a bit shortly thereafter as Sullinger stepped on Jordan Morgan at the start of the under eight minute TV timeout prompting Sullinger, Morgan and Buford to chirp right in front of the Michigan bench.
The minor scrum didn’t disrupt the Buckeyes as Craft splashed a triple out of the timeout before Buford put together three straight buckets via a silky pull up jumper in the lane, a paralyzing hesitation move for a layup and finally a soft jumper from the left wing. After another Michigan miss, Craft capped the run with a pair free throws giving the Buckeyes a commanding 63-45 lead with 4:45 left on the game clock.
Though the game was all but over, Michigan did put on a cute little 13-0 run to close the gap to 65-61 with :21 left but Diebler hit one of 1/2 from the stripe and Lighty 2/2 to wrap it up.
With Sullinger using his trunk of junk to clear space, Ohio State built a 28-18 edge on points in the paint. The Buckeyes also posted an 11-3 cushion in fast break points.
Ohio State shot 46% from the floor, 36% from downtown and a dismal 57% at the stripe while holding Michigan to 37% shooting including 9/29 from distance (9/29).
Darius Morris led Michigan with 16 and Hardaway Jr. added 15.
Now, how about that officiating? I’m not even going to note all the bad calls. My bigger issue with both Valentine and Hightower is the non-stop theatrics. We all know they love to be on TV but the growing antagonism they show towards coaches and players needs to be dealt with. The demonstrative pointing at Lighty on his 2nd foul of the 1st half was beyond out of line and Valentine was even worse when he basically put his finger in Smotrycz’s chest when whistling him for a foul on the baseline. It happened right in front of me and even after the finger poke, he was in the kid’s ear which made no sense as Smotrycz wasn’t even really whining about the call. I’m so sick of those two blowhards.
To finish on a positive note, Ohio State is 46-4 in their last 50 games.
Comments
The mgoblog girls are over there crying about the officials saying there were two bad calls that caused an 18-0 run! This team really needs to buckle down when they get these large leads. That has to be the 4th or 5th time they have been up big only to let the other team threaten late. It hasn't back fired yet, but it is only a matter of time, before it does.
That being said, this time continues to have different guys step up each game and at different points in the game. To have Craft and Lighty on the bench with two fouls for most of the first half and still have lead, is a great sign. I love Sullingers play on the glass, and then to have Diebs in the first half and Buford in the second half provide the offensive spark, it was a great game all around.
I would really like to play MSU tomorrow for the title. It is going to take a really special and complete team to beat this group, and if they stay focused and hungry, I am really confident they can cut down the nets this year.
Big Ten Season Champs, Big Ten Tourney Champs, NCAA Tourney Champs! FUCK THE HATERS!
It hasn't backfired yet? Did you miss the Wisconsin game?
-TomCollins
http://www.smartfootballrankin...
good point, my bad, I suck
The refs sucked, but guess what, they sucked BOTH ways....and they were letting Harris get away with all kinds of chippy b.s. that needed to be called....he's a punk...
oh well, suck it Michigan, you lost, in the words of the immortal Bo Ryan, "deal with it"....onto the champ game tomorrow and then a #1 seed in hometown Cleveland!! Woo-Hoo
Well, here are some comments from MGoBllog that I like:
There were more. I think about 50-60% of the comments were along the lines of; "There were some bad calls, and everybody knows how bad some the of the Big Ten crews are, but there's no use in bitching..."
So it's State Penn. Wow. Who would have predicted that?
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
Anybody with a little moxie.
Nicely played.
Please.
Here's one comment I saw without even trying, from the live blog last night vs. TTUN: "1:55 blazers34: Sparty is a lock, especially after last night"
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
hey, i still think they are in.
Hightower is a disaster - he wants to make the call that will put attention on him as opposed to doing what is right - I also dont' care if it says Michigan across a basketball jersey - I still hate them.
valentine is equally as terrible
Anyone know the refs line up for tomorrows game.
go bucks
I don't yet. It's usually posted on the game preview sheets they hand out courtside but we usually don't get those until about an hour before tip. I bet at least one of Valentine and Hightower work it. Plus probably Mike Sanzere. That would be a nightmare crew.
So don't get me wrong, I think the guy is gonna score lots of points for the Buckeyes, but I want to issue a stats related challenge.... I would love to see a points vs pass analysis for our boy Deshaun "im shootin it" Thomas. Only passes in the frontcourt.... not a d rebound and outlet pass. I would be more than willing to bet I'm shootin it has scored more points than he has passed the ball. Not hatin, just wondering.
As always, GO BUCKS!! Seven more wins and cut down all the nets in America.
****igan smells like old water that hot dogs were boiled in. FACT
i hear ya, but I was amazed when bob baptist (i think) mentioned on twitter that he has a better shooting percentage than craft, buford and lighty.
I thought D. Thomas played one of his better all around games. He hit the glass, played good defense and didn't throw up brick aftr brick. I thought that the contribution he and Sibert made were the real keys to the game.
Beware the sound of one hand clapping.....
I thought the refs sucked (so did a lot of the 11W livebloggers, I note) but that it was a very good game and the better team won. I thought this was the best of the three M-OSU games this year. Between Sullinger, Craft, Jr. Hardaway, Morgan and Darius Morris, there could be some really great games over th next couple of years.
I expect the Buckeyes to roll again tomorrow; I think that the way that they spread the minutes around the bench in today's game, they could have played another game after dinner.
But here's a weird notion -- if Penn State somehow (?!) won this little B1G Tourney, would they effecitively knock a bubble-Sparty out of an NCAA bid? (I suppose this is a possibility that nobody in E. Lansing or Columbus wants to consider.)
I am under the impression that sparty beating Purdue took them off the bubble. could be wrong, but i think they are in easy.
I suppose it will be a moot point when you guys put another Diebler 30-point beatdown on PSU.
Definitely a good, physical big ten game today. The buzz in the arena was fantastic and the players were really going at each other. Easy to see the hoops rivalry really starting to heat up which is saying something considering the end results have been so one-sided.
With Izzo's track record, even though it's not supposed to matter, I have to believe Sparty still gets in. They'll rightfully end up with the worst seed out of the big ten teams but I think they are definitely in. I guess Illinois could end up with worst conference seed, too.
Seven B1G's dancing is pretty impressive though Purdue and Wisky likely really hurt their seeding.
Were there any fisticuffs in the stands last night? Just curious, the way the ushers were talking before the game.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
I am honestly not bagging on the guy... he is instant offense and a big reason I think we win it all... I bet he has one of those 15 plus outbursts in the tourney. I just don't know I have ever seen anyone shoot it first touch as much as he does. I only think he is so good on the offensive glass cause he can't shoot it if he doesn't have it. We need the elias sports bureau on this one.
****igan smells like old water that hot dogs were boiled in. FACT