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Men's Basketball
Diebler Shoots Buckeyes to Big Ten Title
By Brandon CastelCOLUMBUS – Jon Diebler picked the right time to snap out of his shooting slump and the Buckeyes will go home as Big Ten Champions for the third time in five seasons.
Jon Diebler lines up a three against Illinois.
Photo by Jim DavidsonAfter struggling enormously from behind the arc in his last two games, Diebler knocked down seven threes as the sixth-ranked Buckeyes (24-7, 14-4 Big Ten) defeated Illinois (18-12, 10-6) 73-57 Tuesday night to capture at least a share of the 2009-10 regular season Big Ten Championship.
“To be at this university and to see that six years ago we had a 50 percent winning average in the Big Ten and to do the things we’ve done, I couldn’t be prouder,” OSU Head Coach Thad Matta said after winning his sixth conference title in 10 seasons as a head coach.
“This is a product of the work they put in the offseason. I told them, ‘you weren’t supposed to be in this position.’ To start out 1-3, that’s a tribute to the guys in the locker room.”
With Evan Turner struggling to find his groove in Ohio State’s final game of the regular season – and possibly Turner’s last at Value City Arena – it was Diebler to the rescue. After going 3-for-17 from behind the arc in the last two games, Diebler poured in seven of his 14 attempts from long range against the Fighting Illini.
“He knows I never lose faith in Jon Diebler,” Matta said of the junior from Upper Sandusky.
“I told Jon this morning there are going to be 19 thousand fans and 20 something players in that arena tonight and not one of them has made as many shots as you. Take ‘em and make ‘em.”
He did, going 5-of-8 from behind the arc in the first half as the Buckeyes built a 37-33 lead in the first 20 minutes.
“It felt good that my teammates had confidence in me to make the shots tonight,” Diebler said.
“They were really collapsing inside on Dave (Lighty) and ET, so it left me with a lot of open opportunities. I was fortunate enough to be able to knock them down.”
From there, the Buckeyes would typically turn things over to Evan Turner in the second half and watch him go to work as one of the best closers in all of college basketball. But Turner didn’t quite look his usual dominant self against D.J. Richardson and the Illini appeared desperate to make any one but Turner beat them down the stretch.
“They sold out on him (saying) ‘we’re not going to let Evan Turner beat us,’” Matta said.
“Every time he put the ball on the floor, there were guys coming at him.”
David Lighty delivers a thunder dunk against the Illini.
Photo by Dan HarkerTurner tried to force it against multiple defenders a few times and it led to easy baskets at the other end for Illinois as they closed the gap to 48-45 with 13:43 to play in the second half. That’s when Matta dialed up some plays for David Lighty, who took control of the game by getting to the basket for dunks and layups.
“In game one they weren’t really guarding him,” Matta said of the fourth-year junior.
“They were helping off him and we wanted to make them pay for it.”
Lighty made them pay by scoring 10 of his 15 points in the second half while helping to foul Illinois center Mike Tisdale out of the game.
“The coaches just told me to keep driving and be aggressive. Their big men were getting into a lot of foul trouble, especially (Mike) Davis, so it worked out for the best,” said Lighty, who went 4-of-7 from the floor.
Despite having an off night in which he shot 7-of-16 from the floor, Turner still managed to finish the game with 16 points, 12 rebounds and five assists in 39 minutes.
“That just shows you why he’s probably the best player in college basketball, hands down,” Matta said of his star junior.
After the game, Turner hugged the Big Ten Championship trophy like a newborn baby. He carried it through a sea of Ohio State fans who had rushed the court and even brought it proudly into the post-game interview room, setting it on the counter like it was Lord Stanley’s Cup or the Lombardi Trophy.
“These are the moments they tell you about when you are being recruited, so it was really cool. We always see fans rushing the court to celebrate with their team, and we wanted to give our fans a reason to do the same. I’m glad we made it happen,” Turner said with a smile so big they could see it back in his hometown of Chicago.
“This feels great, amazing. It’s so great to see all of our hard work pay off. We persevered through some tough times, so this is just a great accomplishment. We still have more to do.”
As Turner cut down the nets at the Schottenstein Center for the first time in his Ohio State career, fans chanted “one more year” at the National Player of the Year candidate, who is being projected as a top five pick in the NBA Draft should he elect to make the jump.
“I definitely haven’t thought about any of that stuff yet. I’m trying to just live in the moment right now with my team,” he said.
“We still have a couple more trophies to win.”
Game Notes:
* Ohio State has clinched a share of the Big Ten conference title, the
third regular season championship under Thad Matta. All three titles
have been clinched in Value City Arena.* It is the 18th Big Ten title in OSU program history.
* Ohio State is the first Big Ten school since 1957 (Wisconsin) to
overcome a 1-3 start in the conference and win the title. The Buckeyes
closed the conference schedule winning 13 of 14 games.* Because of their win at Michigan State Feb.21, Ohio State holds all
tiebreakers and has clinched the No.1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament
next week. They will face the winner of the No. 8 seed and No. 9 seed
Friday, March 12 at Noon eastern on ESPN.* Ohio State has won conference championships in football and men’s and
women’s basketball the same year in three of the past five years. They
are the only Big Ten school to accomplish this feat even once.* The Illinois game was the final home game for seniors Kyle Madsen,
Jeremie Simmons, P.J. Hill, Mark Titus and Danny Peters.* The Buckeyes improved to 22-0 when leading with five minutes
remaining in regulation.* Evan Turner had 16 points and 12 rebounds, the 25th double-double of
his career and 14th of the season.* Turner passed Brent Darby on the OSU career points list and is now
21st (1,374). He passed Jim Jackson and Brian Brown on the career
assists chart and is now No. 8 all-time (375).* William Buford had 17 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Buford tied a
career high, sinking nine free throws.
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