Indiana Preview
March has arrived. Two huge tournaments loom for the Buckeyes as the Madness draws near. Indiana poses a major challenge for the Buckeyes today, and will be a preview of what to expect come Tourney time. Ohio State needs to step up to the challenge in order to gain ground in the conference standings, but also to boost confidence heading into the last game of the regular season.
Tonight’s 9 p.m. matchup is the second-last regular season contest for each of the two contenders before the Big Ten Tournament begins on March 14. Both teams could use some momentum heading into the postseason, especially the Buckeyes. #2 Indiana (25-4, 13-3 Big Ten) needs a win to assert its dominance and prove that the Hoosiers are the top dog of the league. Following an upset loss on the road to Illinois on February 26, Indiana looked a bit vulnerable. Though the Hoosiers easily handled Iowa a few days later, Indiana would love to have some positive energy heading into the team’s season finale with Michigan and then the Big Ten Tourney. Still, #14 Ohio State needs the “W†even more.
The Buckeyes (21-7, 11-5 Big Ten) have won their last three matches, snagging victories over tough opponents Minnesota, Michigan State and Northwestern. But the Bucks lack a significant, defining road win this season. Against ranked opponents on the road, OSU owns an unappealing 0-5 record. The most recent road game against a ranked opponent resulted in an embarrassing 71-49 loss to Wisconsin on February 17. For OSU, picking up its first big victory away from the Schottenstein Center will not be a simple task. Assembly Hall is not an easy venue to play in as the road team. As OSU’s Deshaun Thomas told The Lantern, “It’s one of the loudest places I’ve been at, besides Kansas.†Head coach Thad Matta agreed: “It’s proven over time it’s one of the toughest places to play in.†Indiana boasts a 17-1 record on its home court this season, with the lone loss coming against Wisconsin in mid-January.
But if Ohio State wants to claw its way to the top of the pack past Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin, all tied with OSU for the second spot, the Bucks need to find a way to win tonight. The key to doing so is defending Indiana’s top scorers better than last time and coming up with secondary scoring. The last time the squads paired off on February 10, the Hoosiers trounced Ohio State, 81-68. Indiana playmakers Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo ran rampant. OSU’s defense could not stop the dangerous pair, as Zeller finished with 24 points and eight rebounds, while Oladipo collected a career-high 26 points and eight boards.
Ohio State has improved since it suffered a beating to Indiana. The Buckeyes have drawn more fouls and seen more scoring from Lenzelle Smith Jr. The junior guard led the team in scoring in OSU’s last game on February 28, putting up 24 in a 63-53 triumph over Northwestern. The defense has also looked stellar as of late, limiting opponents to 60 or fewer points in four of the past five games. Indiana head coach Tom Crean agrees that this is a much-improved OSU team. “They’re better from when we played them the last time, because they are getting fouled a lot more,†Crean said. “In the last five games, they’ve made more free throws than their opponents have taken. Deshaun Thomas is way up in his free throw shooting; Lenzelle Smith is shooting the ball at a high rate. They are rebounding the ball well, they’re getting fouled, they’re winning games and they’re really good. There’s no doubt in our mind that it’s going to be an incredible battle.â€
For it to be an “incredible battle,†Ohio State has to keep the score low. The Buckeyes excel in low-scoring affairs but often falter when games require the winner to score more than 70 points. Four of the team’s five conference losses occurred when opponents posted over 70 points. The Bucks have simply lacked the secondary scoring needed to keep up with high-flying offenses. Aaron Craft and DeShaun Thomas can only carry the team so far. Though Smith, Sam Thompson and Evan Ravenal often provide some support, it is not enough to consistently score 70 points a night in the Big Ten. Thus OSU has to rely on its defense to help carry the team.
Against Indiana, that starts with defending a National Player of the Year candidate in Oladipo and an ever-dangerous playmaker in Zeller. But stopping Christian Watford must also be a focus for Ohio State. The senior forward hurt the Bucks for 20 points in the last meeting, connecting on four of five shots from behind the arc. You can’t forget Jordan Hulls either, as the senior averages 10.7 points per game and likes to shoot from deep. Overall, Indiana averages a whopping 81.9 points per night. Facing the Hoosiers offense compares to Luke Fickell’s defense taking on AJ McCarron, Eddie Lacy and the Alabama offense of last year. Thad Matta’s defense will have a tough time tonight. His team is known for playing stout D, but Indiana’s offense is a whole different beast. The Buckeyes need to turn up the knob another notch if this game is going to be close.
On offense, Thomas obviously needs to have a big night. The junior forward (19.9 ppg) is the heart of the offense, and without him to lead it, the unit sputters. Craft also plays a critical role, as he is the quarterback of the offense and the soul of the team. The junior point guard must show his well-known tenacity and aggressiveness if the rest of the team is to follow suit. Smith, Ravenal, Thompson and others must also put up significant figures. Coming off the bench, look closely at LaQuinton Ross, Shannon Scott and Amir Williams. If one or more of these three men can step up and give the team quality minutes, as well as some points off the bench, the Bucks will be in much better position.
As a whole, the OSU offense needs more explosiveness than it has shown in the past five games, when the team has shot just 41.9 percent. The Buckeyes need to shoot the ball better than that tonight. Defense will only take you so far against the Hoosiers. Defense may keep the game close, but to put away the troublesome Hoosiers, you need to have the hot hand down the stretch.
Indiana is no easy foe to face on the road, especially on an emotional Senior Night for three Hoosiers. There is a reason Ohio State has not taken down a ranked Indiana team in Assembly Hall since 2000. But the Bucks do have a chance to topple the giants of the Big Ten. Though the odds are stacked against OSU, with a combination of stellar defense and secondary scoring, the Buckeyes can capture a crucial road victory heading into Tournament season.
Buckeyes Outlast Northwestern, 63-53
At least one Big Ten team can take care of its business against lesser opponents. It certainly wasn’t pretty, but against Northwestern, it hardly ever is.
The first half was the Lenzelle Smith Show early, with him hitting a barrage of threes (that’s the technical term for 4 three pointers in a half) and solid play otherwise (we’ll all agree to pretend that break-away non-dunk didn’t happen). But the pesky Wildcats would not go away and the strength of some nifty three-point shooting themselves kept them close in the first half.
Ohio State took a 29-22 lead into the locker room.
Northwestern came out hot, hitting 75% of their shots early while Deshaun Thomas’ shooting woes continued and Northwestern pulled to within two points early in the second half.
It looked like Ohio State might be able to pull away as the defense tightened up and Deshaun Thomas had an easy layup followed by a steal and fast break by Shannon Scott. Up by six, it looked like they would wrest control from the Wildcats and cruise to an easy victory. Then a couple scores by Northwestern followed by a prayer with no time on the shot clock by Abrahamson put Northwestern up by one.
It was back and forth after that, according to script again as Ohio State couldn’t put away the Wildcats until late. But put away them they did, outscoring Northwestern 15-7 down the stretch to win 63-53.
Deshaun continues to be an enigma. He’s had a stretch now of nine or ten games where he has not been efficient in any way. Sure, he’s a “volume shooter” and okay, sure, he has a short memory but he just doesn’t look confident. Craft picked up the slack on Sunday and Smith picked up that slack tonight but this team is going to go as far as Thomas takes them this March.
Northwestern Preview
For a team that normally struggles to even think about making it to the Big Dance in March, Northwestern has been a thorn in the Buckeyes side for a while now. Last year, it was the 75-73 nail-biter. Early this season, Northwestern practically limped into Columbus and almost ran away with the improbable upset. A late run prevented an embarrassment of epic proportions.
So Bill Carmody brings his healthier Wildcats against Ohio State this evening, (7 PM, ESPN2) looking to finally get the B1G upset is so deserves.
Northwestern does a lot of things that give Ohio State trouble: long, patient, drawn-out offensive possessions that chew up clock and wait for the defese to make a mistake, allowing for easy baskets off of back-cuts and screens. It happened time and again in the last meeting and a deeper team this time should be able to execute their offense and frustrate Ohio State defense.
Ohio State, for its part, needs to turn this into a track meet. Northwestern isn’t build for transition defense and Ohio State is at its best when it’s running the floor, looking for easy baskets on fast breaks and steals by the solid back court play of Scott and Craft.
This should also be a good chance to Deshaun to “right the ship”. He’s clearly been feeling the pressure to be the man and it’s showing in some of his shot selection and his tendency to shoot the ball early in the shot clock or while double-teamed. Craft proved on Sunday that he is able to bear the mantle of the “second option” for whatever that means. He can certainly get to the rim against Northwestern and should be able to continue his contributions on the scoreboard.
Last time I previewed the Northwestern game, I chuckled to think it was going to be anything but a blowout. Now having seen another top B1G team go down in horrible, horrible flames, I’m not making that mistake twice. I still think the Buckeyes should win (and win easily), I would not be surprised to see this turn into another 51-54 slugfest that comes down to the end.
(One more time for Google Juice: Epic Failure)
In Case You Missed It
In case you missed it is Men of the Scarlet and Gray’s semi-weekly look at items that would interest the casual and hard-core Ohio State fan, be they news items, interesting blog posts or funny memes you probably saw on Reddit last week. It’s all here and it’s all for you. Have a tip that should be included in the next ICYMI? Send it our way!
Yikes. The blogging slump was more prolonged than I thought. Let’s get to this before it goes any further:
THIS SHOULD BE ONE OF MANY. If you’ve been on Twitter in the last forty-eight hours, you’ve already seen this linked a million places, but if not, Braxton Miller is on the cover of the March 4, 2013 issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, part of SI’s Spring Football Preview.
JIM BOLLMAN, MAN OF MYSTERY. Jim Bollman continues his foray across the country, this time showing up in East Lansing, posing as the offensive coordinator of Mark Dantonio’s Michigan State football team. Sometimes I think this is all a huge joke, that Bollman is just throwing job offers against the wall and seeing which one sticks.
JOHN SIMON, OHIO BORN AND BRED. WFNY links to an article that the Cleveland Browns (among other NFL teams) have met with and interviewed the real Johnny Football, John Simon, and that the meetings were “positive”. The Browns are prepping to install a 3-4 defense which may not be the best fit for Simon, but his drive and determination have to give NFL scouts reason to at least consider him a possible draft target. As a Browns fan, I’ve longed for the days that the Brownies would give some Buckeyes a chance to prove their mettle. Hopefully Simon fits that bill and is on the Browns sideline this coming season.
THEY HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY, BUT DO THEY HAVE THE SPEED? The SEC and other conferences will be chipping football players this upcoming season to monitor things like speed and direction of movement of football players, all in the name of… maybe it could lead to safety?
They obviously won’t be using these in the B1G because the speed is slow and the direction is forward. Nothing to see here, move along. (Actually, it would be great to see this track Braxton Miller’s movements. How many yards did he really gain on the five-yard scramble?)
THINK UCONN HAD IT TOUGH? The obvious parallels of UConn’s magical 2011 run and if the Buckeyes can make it out of the B1G Tourney as champions should give us at least a glimmer of hope that there still could be some magic up Coach Matta’s sleeve.
EXTRA POINTS: Consider the Johnny Loophole closed. (And with it, another blog post the sportsMonkey and I don’t get to write) Joke about fans of Michigan football being ashamed of themselves and the shame it brings on their families goes here… Got some time to kill? Watch this tour of the Ohio State Football weight room, it’s like an episode of Cribs for really committed football fans.
Buckeyes Take Out Frustrations on Minnesota, Win 71-45
Minnesota came into Columbus struggling just as much as the Buckeyes had been recently. Out of sheer necessity, one of these teams had to win. The game started as a whistle-fest (both teams were in the bonus with more than 14 minutes in the first half) with neither team playing particularly fluid.
Ohio State played tough defense during the first half, but looked a little out of synch at times. Defensive switching was sluggish and discombobulated. But things came together during the last six minutes and they played strong team defense, getting good defensive minutes from Shannon Scott.
Thomas struggled all first half until the final couple minutes when he hit a jumper, drawing a foul (leading to a three-point play) and a putback. Finally, Ohio State finished the half with a last second three-pointer by Craft put the Buckeyes up by six.
Thomas started the second half better than the first, hitting a couple open threes early as the Buckeyes built an early nine-point lead.
Ohio State had multiple opportunities in the middle of the second half to open up a sizable lead but couldn’t take advantage of bad offensive sets from Minnesota. Eventually, Ohio State’s defense became too much to handle for Minnesota, who suffered a drought of baskets while Ohio State started to pull away. Ohio State went on a run with a couple buckets from Thomas and was punctuated by a steal and a coast-to-coast slam by Evan Ravenel.
After that, it was all Buckeyes as Minnesota seemed at wits end and wanted nothing to do with the rest of the game. They played with little motivation and got lazy as the Buckeyes’ defense clamped down and swarmed the ball and frustrated the Gophers into mistake after mistake.
With the game out of hand, Amadeo Della Valle came in of the bench and brought everyone to their feet at the end, hitting a couple threes and playing like a man possessed. He’s going to be fun to watch.
This game was definitely what the doctor ordered. The Buckeyes didn’t look great all the way through, but they were able to get their defense straightened out and got some great play from Shannon Scott and Deshaun Thomas. They should be able to go into this Sunday’s game against Michigan State with a little more confidence.
In Case You Missed It
In case you missed it is Men of the Scarlet and Gray’s semi-weekly look at items that would interest the casual and hard-core Ohio State fan, be they news items, interesting blog posts or funny memes you probably saw on Reddit last week. It’s all here and it’s all for you. Have a tip that should be included in the next ICYMI? Send it our way!
I fell into a funk this past week, so I must atone for this lapse in activity by bringing you one of the best ICYMIs of all time. I hope I can do it.
A CALL FOR HELP: I received an email recently from Kiya Sabet and they asked if I could reach out to you, our smart and attractive readers to see if you could help. Here is what they sent me (and yes, I’m leaving that butt-kissing first line in there):
I am writing you today to express first what an excellent site you have and second to let you know that myself and a couple of partners are in the process of developing a documentary commemorating the 2002 season and National championship of OSU. What we are looking for and hope to work with, is we need non-standard footage OSU figures particularly Clarett and Tressel. By non-standard I mean anything shot from fan perspective, coach’s box, in and around Columbus of players and anything you feel would be fitting to this sort of project including still photos. Thank you for your time and I hope to hear back from you. If you have any questions I can be reached at kdsabet@gmail.com or 813-995-3467.
If you have anything that could support these guys in their endeavors, please contact them directly.
UNC TO THE BIG sixTEeN? Retweeted by pretty much everyone yesterday, Jeff Ermann of InsideMDSports tweeted:
MotSaG’s own Kade has been emailing me for months saying this is going to happen, with me usually replying that I only want UNC if they bring Georgia Tech and the triple option with them. I don’t know if this will happen and I don’t even know if I care at this point, but it’s clear that Jim Delany is out there, manipulating the rest of the college sports world into doing his bidding.
THE CUPCAKES SERVED THEIR PURPOSE. I think for most Ohio State fans in general, this was a long time coming:
“The nonconference schedule in our league is ridiculous,” Alvarez said during his monthly radio show on Madison’s WIBA-AM. “It’s not very appealing …
“So we’ve made an agreement that our future games will all be Division I schools. It will not be FCS schools.”
WOODY HAYES. The Woody Hayes statue has been reverently erected outside the Woody Hayes Athletic center, proud of what he sees.
Speaking of Woody Hayes, here’s the Woody Show after beating Michigan in 1975. Amazing.
And more Woody Hayes.
THE LONG ROAD BACK.They posted this last week, but Chris Holloway’s interview with Quinn Pitcock over at the Buckeye Empire is worth a read
BASKETBALL RECRUITING. Brandon Castel over at the O-Zone has a round-up of how Thad Matta’s 2014 class is shaping up and it has the potential to be a strong one, something Matta definitely needs.
HE’S OURS. ALL OURS. Tom Herman was named the Big Ten’s best recruiter by Rivals.com:
The job that Herman, Ohio State’s offensive coordinator, did by going to Texas and grabbing three of the state’s top 20-ranked prospects, including five-star linebacker Mike Mitchell — Texas’ No. 1 ranked prospect — gets the nod as this year’s most impressive feat.
ETC: Ryan DAMN Shazier… UGH even when he’s describing The Rivalry, he calls us “Ohio”. That’s Dirty Pool, Denard.
Basketball Week Preview
The Buckeyes enter this week with two important games at home. Let’s hope the blow out loss at Wisconsin is a distant memory.
The loss at Wisconsin is a microcosm of the entire season. Teams have stuck to the formula of allowing Thomas to get his 20-25 points (which he has had to work for) and making the “supporting cast†beat them. The problem is the “supporting cast†has been wildly inconsistent offensively. We have been asking for weeks who is going to step up and be the consistent 2nd and 3rd scorers. I believe we have our answer for this year, no one, consistently. Sunday’s game at Wisconsin was the first time I really questioned the team’s future (specifically next year). It will basically be the same team minus Thomas. I am not one to have a doomsday outlook or focus on the negative, but there are questions that will abound about next year’s team. In my opinion, it is too late in the season to get those questions answered this year, but hopefully I will be proven wrong.
The questions about next season will have to wait for another post for another day. The Buckeyes still have a chance to capitalize on a good seed in this year’s NCAA tournament. In order for that to happen, we need some W’s starting with the two games this week.
2/20/2013 @ 7 PM (BTN) Minnesota (6-7 Big Ten) vs Ohio State (8-5 Big Ten)
As with many teams in conference this year, the Gopher’s season has been up and down. They beat Wisconsin and got blown out by Iowa last week. That being said, no game should be taken lightly this year in conference. This is the only meeting between the Buckeyes and Gophers this regular season. I look for Minnesota to be hungry after getting embarrassed by Iowa. The Buckeyes will need to need to match the intensity, which by all accounts has been questionable over the last few weeks. The main question I want answered in this game is where is the fire and passion. Will the buckeyes be ready to play? I anticipate Matta will have the team ready after the debacle in Madison. I see the Buckeyes winning by 10.
2/24/2013 @ 4 PM (CBS) Michigan State (11-3 Big Ten) vs Ohio State (8-5 Big Ten)
The Buckeyes will be facing another strong test on Sunday. The Buckeyes are 2-4 against the top 4 teams in conference. The Spartans will enter the game coming off an emotional tight loss to Indiana. This seems to be happening over and over where the Buckeyes are facing a hungry team coming off a loss. Provided that the effort is there, I think the Buckeyes can edge out a very close win against the Spartans. A second win this week will go a long way in boosting the confidence of this team.
Ohio State Something Something Wisconsin Basketball Something Something
Ooof.
(More later if I can bust out of this blogging slump)
