Men's Basketball
The Buckeye Watch
By Tony GerdemanThe Butler game wasn’t always pretty. Okay, it was rarely pretty, but the Buckeyes’ 54-51 win will look a lot better in March than it does in December.
And I’d much rather have an ugly win than an ugly loss.
And don’t worry, there is nothing in the RPI for “ugly wins”. They all count the same.
As long as the Buckeyes take something from the win, then they can get something out of it. The thing that I’m taking from the win is that Evan Turner struggled, as did nearly everybody, but they still got the win.
I’m going to chalk the performance up to the players having a week off and then tipping off at noon on a Saturday.
Oh, and also Butler is a pretty good team.
It’s okay to give the opponent credit.
(Even though the opponents have nothing to do with missed free throws and unforced turnovers…but I digress.)
(But seriously, knock it off!)
11:46 I’m watching the Big Ten Network’s pregame show. I wonder what mascot head Gene Keady is going to put on!
11:56 The Big Ten Network says there’s some late-breaking news that they’ll get to after the commercial break. The teaser from hell.
11:59 Phew. No biggie. The news is that John Beilein is home sick today and won’t be at Michigan’s game. Sounds like somebody needs a visit from a certain Barwis.
12:02 Our athleticism was too much for Notre Dame last week and Butler is like a poor man’s Notre Dame, so we should be able to do the same type of things against the Bulldogs that we did against the Irish. I hope.
12:07 The Buckeyes open up the game by going directly to Dallas Lauderdale and he hits his soon-to-be-patented hook shot. We may need a nickname for it, so just keep that in mind.
12:08 Butler answers with a three-pointer. They beat the press and found an open shot early in the possession before the defense could get settled. We can’t allow that to happen. The press is supposed to keep the opponent from getting into their offense too soon, not speed it up.
12:09 Jeremie Simmons answers the answer and nails a three-pointer with a hand in his face. Boy, if we could get any shooting from Simmons, that would be a great addition to this team.
12:11 The Buckeyes have about three turnovers now. And Butler is getting open looks. I hate noon starts.
12:12 David Lighty sinks the baseline three with no hesitation. And now the defensive pressure is starting to become effective against Butler in the backcourt.
12:17 Evan Turner isn’t looking for his shot yet and I like it. But David Lighty is, as he drives for another basket. The roles have been dangerously reversed.
12:19 The Buckeyes just committed their sixth turnover of the half. I’m guessing the second half will be much, much crisper.
12:20 Gordon Hayward gets a wide open look for three in the corner and it’s good. David Lighty never saw him. Butler may be the poor man’s Notre Dame, but they get open a lot better than the Irish do.
12:21 Turner has his shot blocked, but Lighty picks up the loose ball and lays it in. He’s always hanging around, and then -boom- he shows up. He sidles. He’s a sidler.
12:22 Hayward hits his third three of the game. Looks like this is the guy that we’ve never heard of before who suddenly becomes famous. Awesome.
12:27 Anthony Crater just got called for carrying the ball. That’s three straight possessions where the Buckeyes didn’t even get a shot off. It’s hard to win that way if you’re not playing the Hoosiers.
12:31 Butler has gone on a 9-2 run, but I missed their eighth and ninth points because the game was at commercial. I’m not assigning blame, but if you’re going to air the games, AIR THE FREAKING GAMES!
12:33 Butler hits another three, this one as the shot clock was expiring. The game is now tied at 17-17. They can’t keep hitting open shots all day long. (But we shouldn’t dare them too, either.)
12:34 William Buford misses his second forced three. That’s not really his game right now. The Buckeyes look content to take the first option, whereas Butler is looking for the best option. Ohio State needs to look harder for easier shots.
12:35 Dallas Lauderdale dribbles, then drop steps for two. It’s so fun to watch him and see what he can do, because I came into this season with zero expectations of him on offense. Every time he does something like that, you just want to clap and be supportive, like when a two-year old does something cute.
12:36 Hayward scores again. Take. Him. Out!
12:37 Simmons misses a three with a hand in his face. We are taking way too many contested three point shots today. Nobody feels the need to work for the open shot, apparently.
12:40 Evan Turner drives and pulls up for an easy two.
12:41 Turner now gets fouled posting up. Is it Evan Turner Time (ETT)?
12:43 There’s a steal by Diebler, but he gives the ball to B.J. Mullens 20 feet from the basket on the break and Mullens travels. I love Diebler’s passing, but you can’t give a post player the ball that far away from the basket on the break.
12:44 Now that’s smooth. Ohio State ran the play for Mullens and they got it down to him in the post, where he hit an easy, all-day jump hook. Do more of that and I bet you get similar results.
12:48 Oh! Mullens just swatted a shot in the lane out past mid-court! That’s one of those messages that leaves a welt on the shooter.
12:51 Here comes the final possession of the half for the Buckeyes. Wow! Great spin move by Mullen. He faked to the baseline, then spun back into the basket and dropped it in. Butler calls a timeout with 0.6 seconds remaining in the half. This has been a great finish by Mullens. He’s been effective at both ends and continues to look more and more comfortable by the outing.
12:52 The refs put 1.1 seconds on the clock, which gives Gordon Hayward enough time to throw the inbounds pass to himself 94 feet away--down into the corner--take a dribble to gather himself, and then hit the easy three-pointer while getting fouled. Ha! Hayward denied! The Buckeyes intercept the pass to end the half. The Buckeyes lead 29-23.
12:56 Is there a better center duo in the conference than Dallas Lauderdale and B.J. Mullens? And just wait until they get good.
12:58 I’m not really worried about Evan Turner’s lack of scoring. He was held scoreless in the first half of the Miami game, and we shouldn’t need 20 points from him every outing anyway.
1:01 Thad Matta will have his team focusing on defense in the second half and I’m expecting a lockdown effort. And if asked, my suggestion would be to take Hayward out. Be it chloroform or a bomb threat, or even the old, “Your grandma’s on the phone”, and then knock him out with a lamp trick.
1:03 And when you factor in the fact that this is the Buckeyes' first game in a week, a slow start is understandable. I’m expecting a better offensive effort in the second half.
1:09 There you go. Butler opens up the half with an unforced turnover. That’s just good coaching by Thad.
1:09:33 Jon Diebler runs around the baseline screen and sinks the three. That is pretty. And the ball never even thought about touching the rim.
1:10 Butler head coach Brad Stevens looks like he’s about 20 years old. It looks like he should be handing out Gatorade during timeouts, not drawing up plays.
1:13 Jeremie Simmons misses another three. I’d say that eventually those will start falling, but I assume I said the same thing with Diebler last year.
1:14 Evan Turner gets the ball down low and works for two points. We don’t have to worry about Turner, he’ll get his. The Buckeyes now lead by eleven, 36-25 with 18 minutes to play.
1:14:44 There goes stupid Hayward again for another stupid open three pointer. I thought yelling at the team at halftime would eliminate these mistakes. If yelling doesn’t work, then what else is there?
1:15 Ooh! Another Diebler three around the screen, and this one didn’t hit the rim either. I wonder why Diebler hates the rim?
1:16 Butler players are getting thrown around down low, but that’s going to happen when you keep trying to go for piggy-back rides on Dallas Lauderdale. Eventually somebody’s going to get hurt and then the tears will come and then everybody will get in trouble for horse play. I’ve seen it happen way too many times. And then the parents will be called and they’ll all have to come and pick up their kid because Mr. and Mrs. Lauderdale have had it with the noise and the rough housing. Sure, they wish it didn’t have to come to this, but they have tried to get the kids to settle down and nothing was working. What else were they supposed to do?
1:17 Evan Turner drives on Hayward and gets fouled. There you go, make that guy work on defense and then maybe he wouldn’t be getting so LUCKY on offense. Evan makes both free throws. The Buckeyes lead 41-30 with 16:30 to play. Wow. And now Turner is coming out of the game and getting a break for the first time in, what, two weeks? Maybe Thad thought he finally earned it.
1:18 B.J. Mullens comes in for Turner and we’ve got Lauderdale and Mullens together. Let’s see what we’ve got here. I think it’s the first time since the Samford game that they’ve been in together.
1:23 The Buckeyes got two points while we were at commercial. They were probably the best two points I would have ever seen. Since I didn’t get to see them, but still feel the need to relay what happened, I’m assuming David Lighty drove, spun, dropped it off to Dallas Lauderdale, who then laid down the sweetest crossover you’ve ever seen, but rather than dunk it on Gordon Hayward’s stupid head, he threw a smooth no-look pass to B.J. Mullens, who then dunked the ball on Gordon Hayward’s stupid head, but the ball then bounced off of Hayward’s stupid head and then back out through the basket; fortunately, Dallas Lauderdale then gathered the rebound and dunked it on Hayward’s reportedly stupid head for the basket.
1:23:11 Actually, I think it was just two free throws by Lauderdale. Sorry.
1:25 We haven’t seen much of Anthony Crater today. Has he even been back since his carry?
1:26 How about we find a shot for Jon Diebler. We just ran a play for Mullens and then for Simmons, both of which went through Diebler and neither of which netted us a point.
1:27 It seems like Thad wants to see what he has on this team when Evan Turner is on the bench, and how they function. I’m guessing he’s not going to give a glowing review.
1:29 Evan Turner is coming back in for Kyle Madsen. The Buckeyes lead 43-36 with 12:50 to play. Apparently, it’s Evan Turner Time.
1:30 Shelvin Mack hits another open three for Butler. If we could just get a hand in their face, we could say their hot shooting was due to luck, rather than lazy defense.
1:31 Dang. Diebler just missed the exact three pointer that he had made twice before. Looks like they waited too long to go back to him. Not that a shooter can’t make a shot after not getting a look for a while, but Diebler should have at least been given the option of a heat-check.
1:32 Oh! A bad blocking call on Diebler sends Hayward to the free throw line. But before he can take them, there is a television timeout to ice him. That’s why we have the Big Ten Network. The Buckeyes lead 45-39 with 10:30 to play.
1:33 It is going to be a long stretch here to finish the game. My fear is that Evan Turner will feel that he has to take the game over, forcing the action and then turning the ball over.
1:35 Hayward makes the free throw. Wait, they called Butler for a lane violation. You hilarious idiots! What a huge mistake by a team probably made up of nine or ten coach’s sons.
1:38 David Lighty is rebounding like a seasoned can collector. Every loose ball is his and he’s serious about it. If you get in his way, he’ll probably cut you.
1:39 Here comes Anthony Crater for the first time in a long time.
1:40 Uh oh, Evan Turner just picked up his fourth foul with 8:25 to play in the game. Now things are going to get interesting. William Buford comes in for him.
1:45 David Lighty just dribbled the ball off of his leg, but Butler then threw it away out of fairness. You gotta love sportsmanship.
1:46 Lauderdale gets it down low and fights for a shot and gets fouled. He’ll be shooting two. Awkwardly. The first one is in! Second one is no good, but there’s another Butler lane violation! Seriously? And he banks in the second three! Dallas off the…gallass? (It’s not quite “Bass off the glass”, I know.) The Buckeyes lead 50-43 with 6:40 remaining.
1:47 And Lauderdale blocks another three-point attempt for good measure. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody do that as much as he has already done it this season. You gotta love the zone when you’ve got Stretch Armstrong running the baseline. The crowd is giving him a well-earned standing ovation.
1:48 David Lighty gets fouled and misses the front end of a one and one. You can’t do that…or at least you shouldn’t.
1:50 Freaking Gordon Hayward hits an open three after Butler grabbed on offensive rebound. I hate that guy! That basket cuts the score to 50-46 with 5:16 to play.
1:50:38 Anthony Crater forces a long and unnecessary three and I think we’re seeing why the freshmen are usually on the bench in the final five minutes of Buckeye games this year.
1:51 And Hayward answers with an offensive rebound and put back to cut it to a two-point game. Thad calls a timeout and will undoubtedly get Evan Turner back in the game.
1:53 Now come on! Hayward just hit another three, this one to tie the game, and Jon Diebler was even in his face this time. Sometimes there‘s just nothing you can do when a random player is lucking everything in.
1:54 Jeremie Simmons turns it over, but blocks the lay up and then Evan Turner blocked the put back attempt, but they call Butler out of bounds. Okay. However, they should have called a push on Butler, because Diebler got sent into the crowd after Simmons blocked that lay up. The Buckeyes will get the ball back after the final television timeout.
1:56 Well, that was definitely a bad call, because the kid never stepped out of bounds, but there should have been a foul called on Butler anyway, so it all evens out in the end.
1:57 Turner gets the ball in the middle of the lane, pumps, gets fouled and makes the shot! And then he misses the free throw. That would have been nice to have. The Buckeyes now lead 53-51 with 3:02 to play. Our free throw shooting is punishing us.
1:57:28 Hayward misses!! Anything is possible!!!
1:58 Turner turns it over, Butler takes a three. Another miss! Can you believe it!? The Buckeyes get the rebound and calm down.
1:58:40 Butler decides to foul David Lighty and see what he can do at the line. The dreaded “Hack-a-Light” defense.
1:59 We need these two. The first one is up and is nearly airballed. Wow. That wasn’t even close. The second is up and also no good. There’s no excuse for being a 56% free throw shooter when you’re not a post player. And even then, I still don’t think there’s much of one. The Buckeyes lead 53-51 with 1:50 left to go.
2:00 Turner misses another jumper but Lauderdale gets the rebound and gets fouled. Dallas has made four straight free throws to this point. Make it five! He is the clutchest of the clutch. Oops, he just missed the second. I wonder if he was anticipating a lane violation? Buckeyes by three with 1:00 to play.
2:01 Hayward misses again! Do you believe in miracles? Yes!
2:02 Crud. Turner misses a jumper to seal the game and Butler is going to have one more shot with 9.7 seconds remaining. Don’t be surprised if they go to the basket and try to catch the Buckeyes off guard coming out of the timeout.
2:03 Here we go…Hayward gets a good look…he misses it! He nearly banked it in. And he probably got fouled, especially considering all of the crap they were calling earlier. Oh well, they can’t go to instant replay to see if it was actually a foul, so this game is over and the Buckeyes win 54-51! And I am thankful.
2:04 As much as the last two wins have boosted the demeanor and perception of this program, a loss to Butler would have undone the momentum and could have possibly had ramifications later on down the road. But as it stands now, the Buckeyes just got a good win and the resume just got a little puffier.
2:05 This was definitely a great learning experience for the Buckeyes. This is a young team and sometimes things don’t always come easy, but they held Butler off when the Bulldogs had all of the momentum. And they did it without having to rely on any one player. Instead, they relied on each other. And that’s exactly what teams do.
2:06 Or at least that’s what the good teams do.
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