Men's Basketball
The-Ozone Note and Quotebook
By John Porentas

Hold That Fork: OSU's overtime win over Xavier was anything but easy. Things looked particularly bleak in the second half when a spate of three-point shooting put Xavier up big on the number-one seed Buckeyes. When Musketeer guard and Columbus native Drew Lavender hit a three-point field goal as the shot clock was expiring to put Xavier up by 11 points with 7:21 remaining in the game one reporter on press row actually drew a crude sketch of a fork in his notebook with an arrow pointing to his note of the play. The message was clear. The Buckeyes were done, so put a fork in them. It turns out that even OSU Head Coach Thad Matta was having some doubts at that point as well.

The-Ozone court side reporter's notebook

"Xavier went on the blitz there at the start of the second half. They were making shots. (Xavier Head Coach) Sean (Miller) did a phenomenal job of moving us around and really toyed with the matchups.

"When Lavender hit that three as the shot clock went off I thought 'Uh-oh, this isn't good,"' Matta said after the game.

Luckily for the Buckeyes, the people who mattered weren't sitting on press row or on the OSU bench, they were on the floor playing, and they believed.

"To these guys credit, they kept battling. That's what I love about this team," said Matta.

"They give you as a coach a lot of confidence. I kept telling them to keep their confidence and make plays, and they did."

"I could not be prouder of what these guys did, keeping their composure."

According to Plan: The game with Xavier was close, but for the most part the
Buckeyes got done exactly what they wanted to get done. It was close simply because the Musketeers executed well.

"We knew when the brackets came out that Xavier was going to be a really, really tough matchup for us and the reasons why are exactly what you saw today," said Matta of Xavier's shooting, particularly in the second half.

"Our big thing with our guys coming into this game was to keep them off the foul line and to not give them threes and we wanted to get them on the boards. Fortunately for us we got all three of them today," Matta said.

The last thing, of course, was to get the win, which the Buckeyes ultimately did.

"I told the guys we were coming to Lexington to play 80 minutes and we want to get to San Antonio. Unfortunately we had to play 85, but we're there," said Matta.

Matta did not see the close game as some sort of shortcoming on his team's part.

"This team has won 19-straight basketball games," said Matta.

"Every team goes through peaks and valleys. For us, we haven't lost since January 9 so there have been some valleys with the way we've played but we've got to keep the focus. Do you know how hard it is to do what they've done? Now it's on to the next thing. Hopefully this opens our eyes and says we were that close to going home and we've got to play 40-solid minutes"

According to game hero Ron Lewis, Xavier played well, but the Buckeyes played well when it counted most.

"Those last three minutes we buckled down and got the stops we needed. In the overtime we played the way we normally play.

"I think we were more aggressive in the last three minutes and in the overtime. That's what we should have been doing the whole game. It was just great that we did the things we needed to do to win the game.

Eye of the Beholder: Some people are trying to make an issue of the hard foul committed by Greg Oden with under 10 seconds on the game clock in regulation. Some are saying it should have been called an intentional foul, which would have given Xavier two free throws and possession of the basketball. Instead, it was simply called a regular foul. Oden said after the game he thought the call was correct.

"I was just going for the ball. It just happened that I was really aggressive with it," said Oden.

OSU Head Coach Thad Matta was somewhat confused by the controversy. He thought the whistle was for a foul by Xavier on David Lighty's stickback attempt on his rebound of Jamar Butler's three point attempt.

"I thought we got fouled on the putback. That's what I thought the whistle was," said Matta.

"I was like 'We're shooting free throws, this is great.' But I think it was more afterwards. It was one of those plays. Greg's aggressive and I want him to be aggressive."

Lighty agreed with Matta on the non-call on his stickback attempt.

"I just grabbed the rebound and tried to put it up as quick as possible because it was a little crowded in there," said Lighty

"I just tried to draw the foul and they didn't call it. Referees don't call it in that situation.

"It was real crowded. I thought I did (get fouled). It hit me across my arms when I was going up for the shot."

What a Shot: There are big moments, and there a big plays, but Ron Lewis' shot to send the game into overtime is going to be remembered for a long, long time. You can argue that Matt Sylvester's buzzer-beating three-point shot to beat number-one ranked and previously unbeaten Illinois was a big one, but that game did not have the late-game comeback aspect that the Xavier game had. Sconnie Penn's blocked shot in Madison Square Garden preserved a Buckeyes win over St. John's that did have that aspect, but neither of those plays really compare, because neither of them were actually do-or-die, season-preserving shots in the NCAA tournament that made the difference between playing on and ending the season. Lewis' shot was definitely unique. Lewis said that his mind was a blank when he made the shot, and that the significance of it has yet to sink for him, but that he felt the emotion of the OSU crowd at the game after the shot went in.

"I got the rush from everybody else in the crowd when they stood up. It was just a glorious moment," said Lewis.

Lewis also made a game-winning shot against Tennessee earlier this season. According to Matta, the two shots even looked similar.

"That shot looked very much like the Tennessee shot, the extension on his legs, the height that he was, it was a huge shot," said Matta.

One of the great ironies of Lewis' heroics is that Lewis came to Matta and OSU as almost an unknown.

"When we went to Ohio State we signed three guys and Ron was one of them," said Matta.

"The other two guys are gone, they've transferred. He's the only standby from the first class we brought in and quite honestly he showed up on our doorstep. I didn't know anything about Ron. The fax came in that he had transferred and we started asking around and they said he was a pretty good player.

"Thank goodness he showed up because I think he's played himself into position and we've told him all year long that we think he's one of the better guards in the country and the leadership that he has provided, especially down the stretch, I can't explain it to you.

"During the Big Ten tournament last weekend in timeouts and in the locker room I had never seen him as consistent. He'd do it at times but it was just off the charts. Even today coaching in the timeouts, telling guys they're picking here, they're doing this, we're switching this. I couldn't be happier for him. And he graduates tomorrow. That's the other thing that I love," Matta said.

Greg a Bit Glum: OSU freshman center Greg Oden had what most people would call a decent game against Xavier, but Oden's standard is a bit above "decent". Oden admitted after the game that he was unhappy with his performance, but his head coach is not worried that a trend is developing.

"Greg's a winner. I know when we get to San Antonio he'll be ready to go again," said Matta.

Mike Conley, who played with Oden in high school and now with the Buckeyes, agrees with Matta.

"He gets real down when he doesn't play good. He gets on himself. He feels he let the team down or something like that. He has a great group of guys around him and we're not going to let him hang his head too long," said Conley.

"Probably right after this media I'll go over there and talk to him and he'll be fine. The next game he'll come out with that much more fire and passion to play and he'll be ready to go," Conley said.

Different Method, Same Outcome: Greg Oden fouled out with nine seconds left in regulation. When the game went into overtime, the Buckeyes simply went to plan B, their plan when Oden isn't available.

"When Greg gets in foul trouble and everybody is yelling for him to go out of the game and they're all happy. We're just like 'Oh well.' We're about to go out and be just as good of a team as when he was in even though he's out," said Conley.

"When Greg fouls out we don't have a low presence. It tends for the other players to get aggressive and that's what I did down the stretch," Conley who scored 11 of his 21 points in overtime said.

"We lose a big inside presence when he goes out of the game but we've played seven games without him this year. As a team we've learned to play without him sometime. He gets in foul trouble a lot in the year. I think our team did a great job of adjusting and adjusting to their roles of those last nine seconds and in overtime. I think we did a good job of that," said Conley.

"People weren't even playing the spots they were used to playing," added David Lighty.

"I was out there playing the five sometimes, playing the four sometimes, Daequan was also. We stepped up and helped each other the best we could," Lighty said of the OSU overtime.

"We felt that we had all the momentum in the world," said Conley of the overtime.

"We weren't not going to stop now. Keep going, keep pushing, be aggressive, and I think we did that the first couple of minutes of overtime and kind of knocked them back on their heels."

Oden was grateful for Conley's effort while he sat on the bench in overtime.

"He must have a date in San Antonio or something," Oden quipped. "He just stepped up. He really wanted to make it there."

David Lighty knew after the game he had been part of something special.

"I'm probably going to remember it for the rest of my life. You dream to be in big games like that. Now I'm a part of one."

Game Story - Common Names Fuel Uncommon Victory for Buckeyes

Box Score

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