Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Return to St. John Arena to Take on Cal in Second Round of NIT
By John Porentas

The Buckeyes resume play in the NIT tournament against California tonight in the second round of the tournament. OSU defeated North Carolina Ashland in the opening round by a score of 84-66 while the Golden Bears defeated New Mexico 68-66 in their first round matchup.

Tonight's game will be played in St. John Arena due to a scheduling conflict with a concert at the Jerome Schottenstein Center. A Bruce Springsteen concert has long-been booked for the date making the move to St. John necessary. OSU Head Coach Thad Matta says the move is not an altogether bad thing.

"I remember playing Chattanooga in here (St. John) my first year. I think we made 17 threes in that game. Maybe there were 10,000 and this place was loud. I'm excited for that. It's kind of unique that we're playing over here this late in the season," said Matta.

The Buckeyes played VMI in St. John earlier this season, but the game was played before a sparse crowd. Matta is hoping for a larger, livelier crowd this time around.

"I thought the fans that were here were for the first round of the NIT were awesome even though there were only 7,000 of them. I hope they come back and bring some of their friends," Matta said.

Cal was 17-15 this season but just 6-12 in PAC-10 play. Cal did not win enought to make the NCAA tournament but that has nothing to do with their ability to score. They have averaged 77 points per game this season, 10 more than OSU who averaged 67.6. They are led by 6-10 sophomore forward Ryan Anderson who led the PAC-10 in scoring with a 21.4 point per game scoring average.

"He (Anderson) is a tremendous player," said Matta.

"He does so many things. He can shoot the three, he has great post moves, he gets to the foul line, he's really a very impressive player."

Matta is looking forward to an up tempo game with the high-scoring Golden Bears, but knows his team will have to do more than play offense in order to win.

"I don't want to try to outscore Cal. At some point we have to lock down and guard," said Matta.

"I was disappointed in our defensive effort the other night. We put a huge premium on it this week in practice. I didn't think we defended. I think with Cal you have to do a really good job of not giving them easy baskets in transition. They're really good at it."

Cal has two other double-figure scorers in 6-5 sophomore guard Patrick Christopher and 5-10 guard Jerome Randall. Christopher is averaging 15.5 points per game, Randall 11.6. Randall is also Cal's assist leader. He amassed 112 helpers this season.

The last time the Buckeyes defeated Cal was in 1960 in the NCAA tournament national championship game. This time around the teams will meet in what some would say is the sideshow, not the big show, but the Buckeyes say they are just happy to still be playing basketball even if it isn't in the NCAA tournament.

"Yes, but at the same time we're still playing which I'm still thankful for that," said freshman center Kosta Koufos when asked if he missed being in the NCAA tournament.

"What we have to think about now is winning the NIT. We're still playing and trying to win as many games as possible."

"We're looking at it as a chance to prove something," said sophomore guard David Lighty.

"We're still playing basketball and that's what we love to do."

Senior guard Jamar Butler is excited about the NIT, but admits to watching the NCAA tournament with somewhat of a jaundiced eye.

"I just think I see a lot of teams playing that I think we should have had that spot," said Butler.

Despite that, Butler is excited to be playing and to be playing in St. John Arena.

"I love this place. It's loud in here. It's a great basketball environment," said Butler.

"It's a very good shooters arena. It feels like everything is packed down on you and it has the dark look. A lot of shooters, that's what we like. We like the dark background and everything right on top of us."

At half time of the Cal game Ohio State will honor several athletes and programs who have won national titles recently. That includes the OSU fencing team, the OSU pistol team, several OSU women divers and OSU wrestlers Mike Pucillo and J Jaggers.

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