Men's Basketball
Perfect Storm Helps Buckeyes Eliminate Spartans
By John PorentasEven the most optimistic OSU fan has to admit No. 5-seed Ohio State (22-9) needed a lot to go its way for the Buckeyes to defeat No. 1-seed Michigan State (26-6) in the Big Ten tournament semi-finals. Just about everything the Buckeyes could have asked for happened allowing OSU to claim a startling 82-70 win and send the Spartans packing while the Buckeyes advance to the tournament final tomorrow against No. 3-seed Purdue.
The Spartans had swept the two-game regular-season series with OSU, relying on domination on the glass and solid defense to beat the Buckeyes 67-58 in East Lansing on January 6 and then 78-67 in Columbus on January 17. The Spartans finished the Big Ten regular season with a final record 11-3, a full four games ahead of the league's second place finisher and five games ahead of the Buckeyes. The Spartans led the league in both scoring and rebounding and had the league MVP in Kalin Lucas. In short, they were the dominant team in the conference.
"What Michigan State did in the 18 games of the Big Ten season is incredible," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.
For the Buckeyes to beat MSU required OSU to play about as well as they could both offensively and defensively and to get a little help from the Spartans. They got all three.
OSU got offensive contributions from its entire starting lineup, a rebounding effort that was just short of heroic, and solid contributions from its bench in a game when it was really needed. They also caught the Spartans in a game when they had a miserable night shooting, both from the field and the free throw line. It was the perfect storm for a stunning upset.
The Spartan defensive game plan centered on stopping OSU leading scorer Evan Turner, and for a half it worked perfectly. Turner was held to zero points in the first half, and under most circumstances that would spell disaster for OSU, but on this night the Buckeyes held a solid five point lead at the half despite the goose-egg in the scoring column for Turner.
"They were switching every single time and they were shadowing so every time I caught the ball I was seeing three or four jerseys," said Turner.
Every time Turner came around a screen, three Spartans went with him. It made it tough for him to score, but left teammates open. Once the Buckeyes caught on they were able to use Turner to get his teammates open and get the ball to them. They in turn responded. OSU got double-digit scoring from B. J. Mullens with 12, Jon Diebler with 17, William Buford with 17, and solid scoring from Dallas Lauderdale with seven and Jeremie Simmons with eight.
"Once we got Evan to understand if they are going to put three up there just swing it (pass the basketball) and good things would happen," said Matta.
Turner did just that, and it played havoc with the Spartans despite the fact that they were blanking Turner.
"I think he started to create more, he started to pass the ball, create for other people," said MSU's Travis Walton.
The Buckeyes got scoring from every every other position on the floor while Turner went scoreless, and perhaps more importantly, got a tremendous rebounding effort across the board. The halftime stats showed the rebounding dead even at 14, but most importantly, the Buckeyes had given up just four offensive boards while collecting three themselves. The Spartans got up 27 first half shots, one more than the Buckeyes, but made one less field goal. The Buckeyes shot 50 percent from the field, the Spartans 44. Each team made four field goals, but the Buckeyes went four of nine from three while the Spartans were an abysmal one of six.
The Buckeyes edged their lead out to seven early in the second half when Mullens made a play that impacted the remainder of the second half. Mullens scored down low, in the process drawing a foul on MSU's Goron Suton. Mullens made the free throw to extend OSU's lead to double-digits for the first time at 51-41 with 12:21 remaining to play. It also made MSU decide to change their defense.
"I think when they got up 10 we started extending (their defense), which is right up Evan Turner's alley," said MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo.
It was like the lightning portion of the perfect storm had finally arrived. With the Spartans trying to guard tighter Turner was finally able to shake loose, taking advantage of the tighter defense to get past his defender without the aid of a screen. That meant he wasn't double or triple teamed, and he began to score. Turner scored a game-high 18 points, all of them after the play by Mullens, and almost all of them a result of putting the ball on the floor. He tallied four field goals on seven attempts, but also got to the free throw line 11 times as he slashed to the basket. He took full advantage, making 10 of his free throw attempts.
With Turner finally scoring the Buckeyes extended their lead to as many as 17 at 65-48 with 5:41 remaining.
The Spartans made a run at the Buckeyes with a 10-3 blitz that took just over one minute. MSU's full court press produced turnovers and mistakes by OSU and Korie Lucious got hot from the field, but the Buckeyes were able to weather the storm. MSU got to within 10 at 68-58, but the Buckeyes were able to regain the momentum to hold off the MSU charge. Matta said he thought the minutes he got from Walter Offut early in the game in relief of Turner and Kyle Madsen on the baseline allowed his first-line players to be fresher at crunch time and deflect the Spartan charge.
"Yeah, I did," said Matta.
"Even giving Evan a three minute cushion there in the first half, you hope it helps him. The more rest you can get guys the better," Matta said.
The Buckeyes put together two very effective halves. The Spartans, meanwhile, went from mediocre shooting in the first half to outright poor shooing in the second. They made just 34 percent of their shots from the field (15-44) and 14.3 percent of their three point attempts (3-21). They also misfired on five of 14 free throw attempts. For the game, the Spartans shot an uncharacteristic 38 percent from the field.
"I thought in the first half we had a lot of good shots," said Izzo, "not so many in the second half.
"We missed a lot of free throws, missed a lot of shots. They made a lot of shots.
"We were 27-for-71, 38 percent, I think that kind of says it all.
"They made a lot of shots. The better team won today," Izzo concluded.
The loss not only eliminated the Spartans, but may have also cost them a number one seed in the NCAA tournament. For the Buckeyes, it gave them a chance to win a championship this season should they prevail over Purdue in the conference championship game.
"People are doubting us on ESPN, they're talking about Michigan State could potentially get a one seed. We just had in the back of our heads, 'Not on our watch, not on our watch,'" said point guard P. J. Hill.
"This is really big for us.
"We know this is our last chance to get a ring other than the NCAA tournament.
"We're going put all our focus and efforts into this and make it happen, everybody of one accord, all chips in," Hill said.
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