Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Shoot Down Flyers to Advance to NIT Final Four
By John PorentasThere's something weird going on with the OSU basketball program, and we don't mean just winning some games.
The Buckeyes did in fact win another game, this time defeating in-state rival Dayton by a final of 74-63 to advance to the NIT semi-finals in New York. It was the third-consecutive win for a team all of a sudden looks like a totally different squad than the one that struggled through the regular season. Along the way another transformation has taken place. All of a sudden the OSU basketball crowds are also totally different from the ones that attended OSU's regular-season games.
The Buckeyes are playing with the kind of consistency, tenacity and toughness that marked Thad Matta's last two teams, both championship squads. It's also the kind of consistency, tenacity and toughness that was missing for stretches of time during the season. Suddenly they have found it, and look like an entirely different team.
"Its funny. The maturity is not where I want it, but the growth that's on this basketball team, the growth this basketball team has made, I'm very proud of them," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.
Like the team they back, the OSU crowd is suddenly a different being as well. Long-considered sedate, for some reason the OSU crowd attending the last three games have been rabid. On Monday they made venerable old St. John Arena rock. Against Dayton at the Schottenstein Center they lit up the Value City Arena to swamp the 6,000 or so Dayton fans who also found their way t the Arena in support of their team.
"That was an electric feeling in there," said Matta.
"I was happy for our guys that the last couple of games we played I thought there was a tremendous atmosphere."
The Flyers played gritty basketball and slugged it out toe to toe with the Buckeyes for the entire first half. Dayton dominated on the glass but the Buckeyes managed to get off six more shots than UD. There were six ties and four lead changes and the half ended with Dayton holding a slim 31-30 lead. OSU Head Coach Thad Mata used the half time intermission to let his team know just what they were facing in the determined Flyers.
"I couldn't tell them before this game how important this game was going to be to Dayton. They can't handle that. We had to kind of get rocked a little bit early there, Dayton was much more physical," said Matta.
"At half time I said 'Now look. Here it is. This is a huge game for them. They kind of kicked your tails there for the first 16 minutes.' Once they saw it they were much-better equipped to go out in the second half and play," Matta said.
The Buckeyes took Matta's little speech to heart. He also did a little more than give them advice. He made a change in the OSU lineup that proved to be Dayton's undoing.
Matta started the second half with four guards and one big in the game. Jon Diebler replaced Othello Hunter in the lineup to get a fourth guard on the floor with Koufos the only big. The strategy turned out to be just what the Buckeyes needed.
"We made the change to play small with about three minutes to go in the first half because they were driving our bigs along the baseline. It definitely helped our offense in the second half because we were able to spread them out," said Matta of the move.
OSU's four-guard lineup spread out the Dayton defense and allowed the Buckeyes' shooters to get loose on the perimeter. It also made it tough for the Fliers to double Koufos, and Koufos simply wrecked them on the inside. Koufos ended his night with 9-11 shooting from the field and a game-high 21 pints that included one-for-one shooting from three and two-for-two shooting from the free throw line.
"Kosta played great tonight," said senior guard Jamar Butler.
"Once we get him going and a perimeter player in going it's hard to stop."
On the perimeter meanwhile, the Buckeyes got some help from some of the usual contributors and one welcome contribution from a source that has been missing lately.
Evan Turner found success getting to the basket off the bounce and Jamar Butler began knocking down threes, but it was the contribution from a player that has struggled to score this season that helped ignite the Buckeye offense. Jon Diebler has struggled with his shot all season, but hit a three pointer at the 15:16 mark of the second half to put OSU up four and start an avalanche of scoring for the Buckeyes. The shot started a 13-2 OSU run that put Dayton down 12 and suddenly the Buckeyes were in total control of the game.
"There was a tough eight-minute stretch in the second half; I really felt we lost the game in that stretch," said Dayton Head Coach Brian Gregory of the run.
The Flyers made a mini-run to cut OSU's lead to nine at 55-46, but the Buckeyes countered with another run of their own, this time going up 18 with just 3:27 left to play. From there on, the Buckeyes coasted home the win.
Butler scored 12 for OSU, Turner 11 and Diebler 10. Brian Roberts scored 20 to lead Dayton. Chris Wright added 12 and Charles Little 10.
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