Trailing by two points with exactly seven minutes to play, the Buckeyes closed on an 11-2 run to win yet another B1G tournament title, 50-43, over the Wisconsin Badgers as Thad Matta improved to 50-12 in the month of March during his tenure at Ohio State.
Deshaun Thomas led the charge with 17 points and Aaron Craft added nine.
In the decisive 11-2 spurt, the Buckeyes got 5/6 free throw shooting from Thomas, a pair of clutch buckets by LaQuinton Ross and a Craft layup off a steal by Shannon Scott while harassing Wisconsin into 0/6 shooting with two turnovers.
Both teams shot just 39% on the afternoon but Ohio State won the glass, 36-26, posting a dominant 13-4 edge in second-chance points.
Craft was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player and Thomas was awarded a spot on the 1st team.
Ohio State took a 13-6 lead in the early going but Wisconsin responded with an 18-2 blitz featuring a couple bombs from distance and some isos of Ryan Evans on the block while holding the Buckeyes to 1/12 shooting with three turnovers to take a 24-15 lead with 3:22 left in the half.
It looked like things might be getting away from the Buckeyes but they countered with an 8-0 spurt to close the half, cutting the Badger margin to 24-23.
Deshaun, who had missed six of seven shots to that point, hit three of four during the run off an aggressive drive down the lane following a hella ball screen from Amir Williams, a flat-footed tip-in of a Craft miss, and a midrange jumper.
The late burst from Thomas gave him eight points at intermission. Sam Thompson added six (3/5 FG), Lenzelle Smith Jr. grabbed six boards and Craft, despite two turnovers, managed four points and four assists.
Ohio State shot a sketchy 37% in the opening 20 minutes, including 0/5 from downtown, but turned it over just three times. Wisconsin couldn’t stretch their nine-point lead thanks largely to 2/10 shooting from distance.
The Buckeyes outscored Wisconsin, 27-19, in the second half, holding them to 1/8 from distance with five turnovers.
Comments
Yeah boy!
The troops rallied and ended the year year as one of, if no THE, hottest team in the country.
Kudos to Thad Matta. What a good job.
Deshaun getting those dagger free throws just seals it for me!
On to a 2 seed!!
with a special shoutout to Q for a couple key buckets!
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2012-13 B1G Tournament Champions.
Well done boys!
"Success - it's what you do with what you got" - Woody Hayes
And Boom goes the Dynamite!
Awesome Tourney Buckeyes!!!
"Statistics always remind me of a fellow who drowned in a river where the average depth was only three feet." - Coach Woody Hayes
Get the scissors!
Wait Indiana already cut the nets down! Too late.
Ohio State's band SLAUGHTERED Michigan's band. If this were a football game, it would have been Florida State vs. Savannah State. - SB Nation following OSU vs. UM 2012
Congrats to The Ohio State men's basketball team: B1G tournament champs! Love that they're playing their best ball of the year right before tournament time. I thought Matta did a good job switching to the smaller lineup when nothing else seemed to puts points on the board.
Ohio State's band SLAUGHTERED Michigan's band. If this were a football game, it would have been Florida State vs. Savannah State. - SB Nation following OSU vs. UM 2012
On behalf of the rest of the Big Ten Conference, please accept my congratulations and thanks for beating Bo Ryan and his eye-gougingly-boring brand of basketball.
+1.....common ground for a moment M Man. Good luck in the tourney.
"Success - it's what you do with what you got" - Woody Hayes
And if by "good luck", you mean "I hope you lose in the first round", I agree completely!
Common ground only goes so far. Beyond a shared disdain for Ryan and Crean, there's not much there. And that is as it should be (with respect to M Man).
I stated common ground for a moment.
The moment has passed.
"Success - it's what you do with what you got" - Woody Hayes
Out! Out, brief candle!
YESSSSSSSSSSSS, That's why I love being a Buckeye!!
WHOO! HOOO!
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
Q was a tremendous lift off the bench the entire tournament. Thompson appears to have developed a jumper to go with his ridiculous athleticism, and we're headed in the right direction at the right time. Deal with it, Bo!
Sweet!!! Way to go Buckeyes!
Nerd alert.....come on CBS, no douche free post game?
"Success - it's what you do with what you got" - Woody Hayes
LOL
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
Why do we have to look at him?
They just have to ruin the moment.
Is his team coming out to cut down nets? Oh wait.....
"Success - it's what you do with what you got" - Woody Hayes
Ohio State has proven that right now they are the best team in the BIG.
There's how you play defense, Bo!
Wiscy went 0 for life that last 7 minutes to close out the game, without a field goal.
Anybody else notice how CBS kept botching the graphics with errors. About 5 times they put up a that graphic stat about how the largest lead of the game was 9-7, but Wiscy had us down 8 or 9 in the first half.
They had Craft's stats wrong, too
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
If Aaron Craft can score with the dribble-drive, I sincerely think we can beat anyone.
Proud to be a Buckeye. Well done, boys!
B1G CHAMPS BABAY!!!!!!! Gotta love it! Beating MSU, Wisconsin, TSUN/IU via the transitive property...huge tournament. That's got to be my favorite tournament title of all since it was so unexpected, as well as how strong the B1G is this year. Get the Big Dance started tomorrow, I can't f***ing wait!
Class of 2010.
Wish CBS would have stuck with the post game rather than switching to an interview with Crybaby Crean.
Awesome to see Ross coming around, and huge game from Deshaun. Ice cold at the end there.
Quick stat lookup - was this the most boring Big 10 tourney championship ever? It wasn't just good defense, it was some pretty painful offense as well on both sides. OSU didn't crack 50 until junk time free throws :P
HOW ARE THEY DOING THIS
THIS TEAM SCARES ME
A great coach , who finally got his guys to play together with defined roles that they all accepted....
Wow. Great heart. I hope this shuts up the Thad-haters for a while. Just WOW!
The 2012 National Champions.
Guinness all around!
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
That is the Big Ten Coach of the Year not being able to adjust to Matta's own in-game adjustment of the small lineup. But who cares about the accolades when you get the big W!
Seriously. We go small, and so they start throwing up threes? They couldn't even out-rebound us in that lineup.
You think in that situation you go to the block, and you go quick. Hell, they had Craft matched up against their center and couldn't manage an entry pass.
YEAAAAAA BUDDY!!!! Big Ten Tourney Champs!!!! GO BUCKS!!!! Take this momentum into the Big 64!!
" ... let's beat the shit out of M*chigan." -Urban Meyer-
To go 2-1 against both UW and MSU is pretty awesome.
And splitting against Indiana (one road win) and Michigan... Pretty awesome. Proves once again for the 976th straight year how ridiculous some people on here sound when writing the basketball Buckeyes off in January and February.
October 20th: National Kenneth Guiton Day
ADV's hair > Bruesewitz's hair
Speaking of Brusewitz's hair, this is a guy that took lemons and made lemon juice. He has clearly given up on life. The Afro looked bad, the shaved head wasn't better, but with the Kramer, he's now just mocking himself. I get that he gets he's ugly, but in the words of Cris Carter, c'mon man. At least try to be presentable.
Kudos to Thad Matta for outcoaching Mr. Grinch. It showed amazing adaptability. Now going forward, I hope the players realize officiating may change and react accordingly.
It has been a common theme lately that this team is really coming into their own including a lot of individuals. The only player I am truly disappointed in is Lenzelle Smith. When he is on the bench, this team is final four good. With him out there it gets a lot more dicey. I really hope he doesn't hinder this team in the tournament but that is my biggest fear right now.
When LQ-R is aggressive and he wants to score, it's hard to stop him.
I hope he keeps up with that kind of play.
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
Matta flexes his tourney muscles again! Go Bucks!
We'll done buckeyes! Great job coaching Thad and staff! Best staff in the B1G!
this is really pretty amazing - a month ago I was expecting a low seed at the big dance. Tremendous turn around after the drubbing by Wisky earlier.
Nicely done.
I can easily make a case for a 1 seed (2nd place regular season in B1G, tourney champs, avenge 5 of 7 loses and actually go 7-7 against teams they lost to) but I gues we'll have to play the no respect card and deal with a 2 seed.
Ross, Thompson and Scott are really making a difference on this team. I could even make a point that Amir had some early plays that kept this game closer than it was for a bit there. I will take 5 good minutes from him and run with it!
Get your brackets ready. Tip, Buckeyes don't get upset by lesser teams. They do struggle against better teams though. So if they are the favorite, take them. If not, up to you!
Good to hear Matta giving Q props during the postgame. I can see Q having a big tourney.
I'm a friend of thunder is it any wonder lightning strikes me
" ... let's beat the shit out of M*chigan." -Urban Meyer-
Everyone stop what you're doing and listen to Charles Barkley: the Mountain West and Pac-12 are better than the Big Ten.
Charles Barkley must be high. He just said the Mountain West and PAC-12 are better than the B1G.
Tell him to make another dumb Capital One commercial. He's an idiot.
" ... let's beat the shit out of M*chigan." -Urban Meyer-
Charles Barkley may or may not have gotten another DUI on the way to the CBS studios this morning.
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
Bigger troll: Charles Barkley or Mark May?
Discuss...
Barkley, May and Skip Bayless are shock jocks...
I usually am at least amused by Barkley...but come on man, if you're going to make a dumb argument, at least bring something interesting to support it.
May. Barkley spreads his 'knowledge', May is in love with hating tOSU.
"Success - it's what you do with what you got" - Woody Hayes
Seriously how can you not love this team. We deserve a 1 seed
That other dude is likely high. He puts down the B1G, then follows up with how he thinks Kentucky should be in. Ooooooookay
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
Rex looks to be a few cheeseburgers over his 1990's playing weight.
Robert Morris.... nuff said!
Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever!
Charles Barkley is to college basketball what deshaun Thomas is to giving a f what shot he throws up
Go home Barkely, youre drunk.
Nothing like dancing on the field in 02...
Charles Barkley needs to stick to ranking donuts! He doesn't know what he is talking about when it comes to college basketball. He couldn't even think of another team outside of UM when they are the 5th best team in the conference based on record.
When the B1G has 2 teams in the final four and one becomes the champion, they are going to eat their words. There is no Kentucky this year so its not going to be the uber talented team to dominate the NCAAs, it will be the team that has been more battle tested. No team in college has been more battle tested than a B1G team. OSU could actually be the best team in the NCAA based on what they did the last month, 8 games. I don't see anyone being able to stop that small lineup from scoring. Matta has it now, Buckeyes are going to surprise many folks out there. This is not the same team that lost those games early.
Or eating cookies off his forehead.
Nothing like dancing on the field in 02...
I liked the moment when his colleagues questioned his thought process and the only thing he coukd do was "Uhhhhhhh uhhhhhh". Turrible, just turrible.
Off topic, but Charles Barkley is the dumbest ass ever.
I survived the riot police at UD today and I love this website and I love the buckeyes. We've always had the best damn band in the land. And we have best damn website in the land too!
At least Duke got a 2 seed. It would have been a shame if they got a 1 seed.
This team reminds me A LOT of UCONN. Got hot at the end of the season, wins conference tourney, wins the Dance
With good guard play. Another similarity we can hope plays out.
And was put in the West Region!
Way to go Bucks! Big Ten Tournament Champions!! Thad For President!!
So, the BIG championship streak is alive!! Four straight regular season or tournament championships for the awesome Buckeyes.
I am so very proud of this Ohio State Buckeye team. They've overcome adversity and come together as a team. What a ride so far! Best of luck in the Big Dance!
It's 3:02 a.m. here on deployment in Africa, the Buckeyes are Big Ten tourney champs, and Michig*n still sucks!
where do we get these goofy pics?