Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Skin Wolverines to Sweep Regular-Season Series
By John PorentasOSU's zone defense stymied the Wolverines for a half and sophomore forward Evan Turner scored a game-high 24 points to enable Ohio State (14-5, 4-4 Big Ten) to thump visiting Michigan (14-7, 4-5 Big Ten) by a final score of 72-54 on a snowy day in Columbus.
Before the game started it didn't really feel like the near-blizzard storm the belted Columbus overnight had entered the Value City arena. To the contrary, it was quite cozy, but for a half the Wolverines played like it as frigid indoors as it was out. Their shooting was ice cold, particularly from three point range, and their ball handling looked like there was slippery stuff all over the basketball. The Wolverines were 0-11 from three and shot just 20 percent from the field. They also committed 11 first-half turnovers.
"It was just a bad day for us, a bad day handing the ball," said U of M Head Coach John Beilein. "It was like there was snow on it half the time."
The result was a 36-18 half time lead for the Buckeyes, a deficit the Wolverines simply could not overcome.
"That first half was a bit of a death sentence to us as far as winning the game," Beilein. said.
The Wolverines never led in the game as the Buckeyes jumped out to a 19-4 start just under eight minutes into the game.
"Ohio State came out very early and set a tremendous tone for how they were going to play. We had trouble with turnovers early. We're one of the leaders in the country for not turning the ball over," lamented Beilein.
"They play tremendous defense. We didn't get many good shots today and we turned the ball over," Beilein. said.
Just as the did in their win in Ann Arbor 10 days ago the Buckeyes were able to dominate down low with their superior size at both ends of the court. OSU centers Dallas Lauderdale and B. J. Mullens combined to score 16 points, grab 10 rebounds and block five shots. Turner added two more blocks as OSU's size bothered Michigan the entire game.
The Buckeyes made just one three point attempt in six attempts in the first half but still shot 59 percent from the field due largely to excellent shot selection and their ability to score in close with Turner, Lauderdale and Mullens. Turner's slashing was especially impressive as he put up 14 points in the first half.
"I thought he (Turner) was really aggressive tonight," said sophomore guard Jon Diebler.
"Not only did he make plays for himself but he got other guys open. I thought we moved the ball around pretty well. When we do we get good shots and we feel we're a pretty good shooting team. When we get open looks we knock them down."
Things went better for the Wolverines early in the second half as their long-range shooting began to bear fruit. After making no threes in the first half Michigan knocked down seven of 15 (46.7 percent) in the second half to make a little run at the Buckeyes. They eventually cut OSU's lead to just 8 at 67-46 on a layup by DeShawn Sims with 6:35 remaining, but that would be as close as they would come.
"The second half Michigan did what Michigan does," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.
"They knocked some threes down on us, kind of got hot.
"We knew they weren't going to go away.
"To our credit we made a couple of big plays down the stretch, got it back to double figures and knocked our free throws down."
The Buckeyes were able to methodically stretch their lead back out to eventually win by the same 18-point margin they had established at the half.
As the game wound down it was marred by an incident involving Michigan guard Zack Novak and OSU guard P. J. Hill. With just 1:25 remaining Turner went to the free throw line. After Turner's first free throw, Novak pushed Hill as the two jostled for rebounding position, but Turner made the shot to earn a second shot. On Turner's second shot Novak elbowed Hill in the head just as Turner's shot went up. Turner, who noticed the first incident, immediately came to the aid of Hill and confronted Novak after the second incident.
"When I shot my first free throw he was kind of flailing around with P. J. and P. J. told the ref. On the second one the kid just hit him," said Turner.
"I was just sticking up for my teammate.
"I saw it coming. I just thought it was kind of a cheap shot. I was just defending my friend and my teammate, that was it," Turner said.
"He got me good," said Hill.
"I thought I was going to get the rebound because I had a step on him be he gave me a step purposely so he could get me in the jaw.
"The first time he tried to get me, he grabbed me and I told my coach. He told me not to get involved with that. I told the ref 'Watch this,' so the ref was watching for it. That's why he called it so quick."
Novak was charged with a technical foul for the flagrant offense and ejected from the game.
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