In only the second game of the 2011/2012 Mens basketball season the 3rd ranked Buckeyes hosted a fellow top 10 team. The Florida Gators ranked 8th in the nation came into a seemingly revitalized VCA where the students are grouped together and actually on the first level where they can make a lot of noise and disrupt the opposing team. The Buckeyes are extremely young with 11 freshman or sophomores on the team. OSU started 4 Soph. in Smith, Craft, Sully, and Thomas along with senior William Bufurd. The gators have a bevy of upperclassmen that they mix in with some younger players.
Early on the youth of OSU showed as Florida seemed to have their way driving the ball down the court and dishing it off to wide open shooters behind the line. The Gators hit 4 of 5 behind the arc before the 16 min TV timeout and had a sizable lead. Coach Matta quickly subbed in some other guys to give him a chance to calm the guys down and remind them to play better defense. It seemed to work well as OSU closed out the first half by going on a run and taking 35-32 halftime lead.
In the second half of the game the Buckeyes controlled the pace and played well on defense while hitting some big shots. OSU had gotten the lead up to 15 points late in the second half before OSU again showed their youth and inexperience by letting the Gators climb back into the game although it proved too little too late as OSU won the game 81-74.
OSU was led in the game by William Bufurds 21 pts and 6 rbs. OSU had 4 players score in double figures led By Buford with 21 and Jared Sullingers 16 pts and 6 rbds and DeShaun Thomas 15 and 6 and Aaron Crafts 13 pts and 7 assts. Coach Matta stayed true to his typical self not playing many bench players in big games. Evan Ravenel and Jordan Siebert got most of the bench minutes with 14 each. They gave the starters time to rest and played great defense and even a little offense.
It was a good win early in the year against a really good opponent. The Gators were an elite 8 team last year and are solidly a top 10 team this year. OSU will have plenty of time to get better before their next big game when DUKE comes to town on November 29th with 4 cupcake games. They will need to get these bench players more playing time and experience before then and rest the starters for tougher games. All in all OSU is off to a 2-0 start and the skies the limit this year.
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