Eleven Warriors

Payne hurt OSU with 15 points on 6/6 from the floor

In an MMA fight disguised as a B1G basketball game, Ohio State couldn't overcome cold shooting and a lack of composure as Michigan State used decisive runs in each half to runaway from the Buckeyes 58-48 this afternoon in the Schott. 

Jared Sullinger played arguably his worst game as a Buckeye posting a triple double that read 17 points on 5/15 from the floor with 16 boards along with a carer high 10 turnovers. He failed to control his emotions resulting in continuous frustrated lunges at the basket leading to numerous empty possessions triggering breakouts at the other end of the floor. Even with the 16 rips, Sully was far from effective at the defensive end as Adreian Payne went for 15 points on 6/6 from the field. 

Deshaun Thomas and William Buford were even worse. Thomas was abused by Draymond Green (12 pts, 9 reb), particularly in the 1st half, and scored just eight points himself as he hoisted an array of poor shots making just 2/12 on the night. Buford posted his own 2/12 shooting night (4 pts) with three turnovers in a dreadfully freshman-like 36 minutes of basketball. 

Aaron Craft was the only Buckeye to show up scoring 15 points propped by 8/8 from the stripe with just one turnover in 40 minutes though Keith Appling scored 14 for Sparty in the head to head matchup. 

The Buckeyes shot 26% from the field as the Big Three combined to miss 30 of 39 shots (23%). Sparty hit just 40% on the night but it was more than enough as they hit seven more FG's than OSU and punished them in the paint posting a 30-12 edge. 

The 26% shooting effort was Ohio State's worst at home in 15 seasons. 

In their biggest hole of the night at 41-29 with 15:42 to play, Ohio State went on an 11-3 run capped by back to back buckets from Sully including a pretty twine-tickling 16 foot fadeaway jumper with 6:01 to play.

Thoughts of a comeback were brief however as Sparty closed the game on a 14-8 run to provide the final margin.

Green is making his case for B1G POY honors.

#3 Ohio State 21-3, 9-2 Big Ten Roster | Schedule

February 11, 2012 6:00 PM ET - ESPN —— The Schott Columbus, OH

#12 Michigan State 19-5, 8-3 Big Ten Roster | Schedule

Tonight the eyes of the nation (and especially of Big Ten fans) will be focused on Columbus as Thad Matta's Buckeyes welcome the 12th ranked Spartans of Michigan State. The showdown of the 1st and 2nd place teams in the Big Ten has been much anticipated, including by the players involved. Both Ohio State and Michigan State appeared to be looking ahead to this game when they played lesser opponents earlier in the week. 

For the Buckeyes, the game is important because a win puts them two games up on their nearest competitor, and also because they have to go on the road for their next two games. Going out on a winning note will give the young team confidence as they face hostile environments in Minnesota and Michigan. Also, they have to play MSU again in the regular season finale in East Lansing, and it would be good to have a 2-game cushion before playing that game. 

For Michigan State, a win would propel them into first place in the conference before they head home to host Wisconsin. If they get past the Buckeyes and the Badgers, they would have the inside track on a regular season conference championship, which would give them a number 1 seed in the B1G tourney. It's not a must-win for MSU, but they would dearly love to steal a victory in Columbus before hosting the Buckeyes in the season finale.

Good morning, Buckeye Nation! You know what to expect by now, right? My craving of the moment (are you sick of this yet?)... City BBQ.

I won't even be picky, as long as there is pulled pork involved. Go crazy and come up with your own order. Since I don't have a City BBQ within driving distance, if you go... post a picture for me, please! 

And now, let's get started...

DIGG-ING FOR ANSWERS. I'm going to start this off by saying that I was quite possibly one of the biggest brats in the world when it came to making my college decision. Nobody cared about my 40 time, but I was legitimately torn up until the last minute, and ultimately let my parents know through a mass email. The people who gave me life, and just about everything else for 17 years, found out in an email (that their friends were copied on) that I wanted to move 2,500 miles away from them. What happened next is a story I won't bore you with, but it's always served as a reminder to me that even the most level-headed teenagers, are still just teenagers. 

I try to keep that story in mind, as we roll our eyes at some of the bizarre things we see in the wonderful world of recruiting. And, among those that follow that world, many were rolling their eyes at Stefon Diggs this week, as he seemingly taunted everyone with his apparent inability to decide where he's going.

The five-star WR Diggs, who has narrowed his choices down to Ohio State, Maryland, Florida and Auburn, seemed to be debating with himself on Twitter on where he should go to school. At one point, Stefon said, "Never been this nervous my whole life. Football games I've never once got nervous ... Footballs easy just about the work you put in .. But making a decision that'll impact your life for the next 40 to 50 years .. Like I'm actually nervous .."

Later, he tweeted some of the reasons he felt this was such a big decision. He followed that up by saying, "Floridas hot I love weather and people ...Umd hometown ... Ohio state great place.. auburn a family... Can't go wrong with my decision .." So, either this kid really doesn't know where he wants to go, or he loves teasing a bunch of grown adults with a questionable obsession with high school boys. Either way, the circus should finally end at some point today.

He was originally scheduled to announced his decision on Comcast SportsNet at 10pm tonight, but later it was announced that he's backed out of announcing with them. Following that announcement, it was reported that its been rescheduled for 6pm at a pub in College Park, MD. Shortly after the change in venue, various outlets started posting the strong possibility that he'll be committing to Maryland.

Those writers, however, were likely fast asleep when Stefon tweeted shortly after 2am EST, "Just had a dream I was in the swamp time to go back to sleep ." So, while you all ponder the benefits of a Friday Skull Session writer who lives in PST, I'll just keep repeating the words "mass email" to myself and wait for 6pm EST.

Morning boys and girls and welcome once again to your Thursday morning Skull Session with me, your humble host, Jeremy Birmingham. If I can be honest with ya, I've missed you. And You. I hope you've been thinking about me as much as I've been thinking about you. 

We have had our close shave of the week, our "Oh my gosh I can't wait until September" moment of the week, and our "if I paid more attention to girl's hoops that would be awesome" moment of the week. 

Oh yeah, we also had our "nana-nana-boo-boo, stick your head in doo-doo" moment of the week, and as usual, that moment refers to Bret Bielema. Overall, it's been a good week in a time when most of us are, admittedly, mourning the removal of football from our day-to-day thought process.

Today is February the 9th, and we have 205 days until Ohio State begins its 2012 football season, but who's counting? (570 days until kick-off on a season that counts for something, thanks NCAA)

BALLARD GOES HARD. I know that Sarah touched a bit yesterday on Jake Ballard and Jim Cordle's involvement in the NY Giants Super Bowl win, but I felt compelled to touch a bit more on Ballard's role for the Giants this year, and his lack of usage in his time at Ohio State.

Hypothetically speaking, if you had a torn PCL in your right knee, it should be easy to get yourself motivated to play in the Super Bowl, and of course Ballard was able to do that. The former OSU TE, who was criminally underutilized in Jim Bollman's hyper-complicated offense, tore the PCL in his right knee in week 15 of the regular season against the Washington Redskins. He fought off the injury and got back on the field for the NFC title game in San Francisco.

Michigan State, who takes on Penn State tonight at 6:30pm EST, heads to Columbus this Saturday in a showdown of the top two teams in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes, following an exciting victory over Purdue last night, look to extend their win streak to seven games. The Spartans, recovering from a few hiccups in conference play, hope to climb into the top ten and narrow the gap in the B1G standings, depending on how their game with Penn State goes.

It should be a great game. If, however, it proves to be a dud... you can always hop back on here and try to decide which of these four Tom Izzo pictures is your favorite. Or, perhaps you can check them out now, as I doubt it will come to that.

To help you get hyped, and know who to watch for, Pete Rossman of The Only Colors joins us to talk about the Spartans and the game on Saturday. 

What are three things you would tell someone who hasn't watched the Spartans this year, to give them an idea of this team so far?

Rebounding on both ends.  That should be no surprise given Izzo's leadership, but last year's soap opera of a team seemed to let so many boards slip away.

The second is the smoothness of the offense; it's leaps and bounds beyond where I thought it'd be this season.  Everyone knows that Draymond Green is a Swiss Army knife of a player, but Derrick Nix does a great job out of the post in not only finishing, but finding the open man on the perimeter. 

The third would be how quick some of the freshmen have picked up Izzo's style of man-to-man and help defense.  Branden Dawson looked lost for the first half of the B1G season, but has strung together 2-3 great games. Brandan Kearney only plays his 6-8 minutes a game, but it seems like he always has 2-3 smart decisions and/or hustle plays in that time.

Good day, fans of the Scarlet and gray! Today is February 8th, and twenty years ago, Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" hit #1 on the Billboard charts. Let us all take a moment and reflect on that particular shame.

With less than a week until Valentine's Day, I'm sure many of you are wondering what to get your significant other. Flowers, even of the collegiate kind, are pretty lame. Candy? It's been done. And not everyone can propose after winning the Super Bowl.

So, as a suggestion, how about donating in your special someone's name to 11W's efforts to hire a full-time beat writer who can personally ask Jared Sullinger, "how's it feel to get elbowed in the face and knocked to the ground without a foul being called?"

DEFENSE TAKES A HOLIDAY. Speaking of last night's win and people who do get to talk to the team, The Dispatch's Bob Baptist interviewed Matta and a couple players after the game. Sullinger, who did not return after DJ Brandon Paul Byrnes Byrd MMA'd him to the floor, claims, "We'll find out what happened. But I'll be good for Saturday." Considering it'll be both a matchup between first and second place in the conference, and the top two B1G Player of the Year candidates in Sully and Draymond Green, he'll be needed. 

Besides the welcome death of William Buford's slump¹, the game was potentially a good test for the Buckeyes, who are used to blowing out opponents at home. As Aaron Craft put it, "Every game in the Big Ten's a dogfight, and I think it's great to see we were still able to find a way to win even though they shot the ball the way they did."

Although Ohio State's defense looked anything but the nation's best last night, for once, when a shooter went unconscious against them, it did not doom them. And the schedule doesn't get any easier, with road trips to Minnesota and Michigan following Saturday's meeting with the Spartans.

Hummel fought hard in his last game against OSU.

It wasn't easy, and it was seldom pretty on defense, but it was a win and Thad Matta will take it. More importantly, Will Buford came out of his lengthy slump to lead the team with 29 points, many of them late, carrying Ohio State to an 87-84 win against a scrappy Purdue team. 

D.J. Byrd led Purdue with 24 points on 8/12 shooting, with 7/9 from distance. Kelsey Barlow contributed 14 for the Boilers, 12 of them in the 2nd half helping Purdue stay with OSU right to the end. Barlow made a rare start tonight along with freshman Anthony Johnson, as coach Matt Painter chose to sit senior guards Lewis Jackson and Ryne Smith to send a message to his team. 

Apparently, Painter was unhappy with his team's effort in a 17-point home loss to Indiana on Saturday night. He could not have been displeased tonight, as his team came out firing on all cylinders. The Boilermakers shot 51.9% from the field and 55% from 3-point range as they consistently riddled the OSU defense with high ball screens and jumpers from the wings. But their defense also allowed OSU to shoot 52% overall and 56.3% from distance. 

The Buckeyes looked a little shaky when Jared Sullinger was whistled for his 4th foul at the 6:42 mark. Aaron Craft had already left the game with his 4th, and now OSU was going to lose their main offensive threat in a tight game where every bucket would be crucial. After Travis Carroll made one of two free throws at the 4:42 mark, the game was knotted at 73 with Craft and Sullinger still on the bench.

That was when the senior Buford took over. First he canned a jumper for 2 from just right of the top of the key on a nice set play. Then after Sam Thompson emphatically blocked a Barlow shot attempt, Deshaun Thomas dribbled the ball down the court in transition. He gave up to Shannon Scott, and Scott threw a dangerous pass over to Buford on the left side where he hit another deuce from almost the same spot on the floor. This put OSU up 77-73 with 3:48 remaining and prompted a timeout by Painter.