Please patronize our advertisers to help
keep theOzone.net free for everyone.
 |
|
||||||
Men's Basketball
No Time for Mourning as Bucks Travel to Michigan State
By Brandon CastelOhio State suffered its first home loss of the season Wednesday against fourth-ranked Purdue.
Like an emotional punch to the guy, the ninth-ranked Buckeyes (20-7, 10-4 Big Ten) watched their nine-game Big Ten winning streak come to a screeching halt at the hands of the Boilermakers as they dropped a game out of first place in the conference race.
Watching Jon Diebler’s game-tying three fall harmlessly to the court was a tough pill to swallow for Thad Matta and his team, but if there’s one thing OSU’s sixth-year head coach has learned in his 25 years of college basketball it’s that you can’t stop what’s coming; no matter what has happened in the past.
“You can sit around and feel bad that you lost the game, but we have to have a quick turnaround,” Matta said in his press conference Friday as the Buckeyes prepare for a trip to East Lansing Sunday.
“We have three games in six days coming up here, two of which are on the road. We have shown we can play some really good basketball, but it is about trying to find the level we are capable of playing at.”
One of the more efficient teams in the country offensively, Ohio State shot just 42 percent against Purdue while going 4-of-15 from behind the arc. They turned the ball over 14 times while dishing out only six assists in a game that certainly was not indicative of what this team is capable of doing.
“We can't control what happened in the past," said junior captain David Lighty, was went 1-for-6 from the floor against the Boilermakers.
“We let one go I guess you could say and we are still in the race. We need to worry about the future and take it one game at a time.”
It doesn’t get any easier for the Buckeyes in the immediate future as they turn around to see first-place Michigan State waiting for them Sunday (noon ET, CBS). The 11th-ranked Spartans are 21-6 on the season and 11-3 in the conference. They feature the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year in point guard Kalin Lucas, and the Buckeyes are anxious for another chance to show what they can do against one of the better teams in the country.
“You want to get back out as soon as possible to show that you can play. Hopefully that was just a fluke and we can play better basketball,” said Lighty, whose team crushed Illinois 72-53 in Champaign just three days before the loss to Purdue.
“It is going to be another test for us to go up there and get another big win.”
The Spartans are coming off back-to-back wins on the road against Big Ten bottom-feeders Penn State and Indiana. Prior to that, they had dropped three tough ones in a row after starting the year with eight-straight wins to open conference play.
They get three of their last four in the safety and comfort of the Breslin Center, but they must travel to West Lafayette to face No. 4 Purdue next Sunday after hosting the ninth-ranked Buckeyes this week.
At 74.3 points a night, the Spartans are the top scoring team in the Big Ten. They are shooting 48.2 percent from the field, second in the conference to Ohio State’s 49.6 percent. They don’t shoot the ball exceptionally well from the outside (33.6 percent; tied for seventh in the conference) or from the free throw line (68.7 percent; second last in the Big Ten). Where they make up for it, however, is on the boards, where they are outrebounding opponents by nearly nine a night.
Coach Tom Izzo’s team is averaging 38.9 rebounds per game this season compared to 32.8 for the Buckeyes, who rank sixth in the conference in the conference in rebounding margin at +1.4 rebounds a night.
The last time these two foes met in East Lansing was Jan. 6, 2009. The Spartans used a 12-0 run late in the first half to get out to a 31-20 lead as they outlasted Ohio State for a 67-58 victory. The Buckeyes exacted revenge three months later when they bounced Michigan State from the 2009 Big Ten Tournament with an 82-70 win in Indianapolis.
After going scoreless in the first half, Evan Turner dropped 18 points on the Spartans in the second half as OSU shot 53 percent from the floor. He also grabbed 10 rebounds while Diebler chipped in 17 points.
Sunday’s game could go a long way in deciding not only the regular season Big Ten championship, but also seeding for the conference tournament.
“We all know what's at stake," Turner said as the Buckeyes close out the regular season on the road against MSU and Penn State before playing the last two at home against Michigan and Illinois.
“We have four more games and four more opportunities to make a good resume and get better as a team. You can only control the stuff you can control, and we are definitely going to try and control our effort. You can't sit there and pout.”
Michigan State Projected Starting Lineup:
C 50 Derrick Nix (6-8, Fr., Detroit)
F 2 Raymar Morgan (6-8, Sr., Canton)
F 10 Delvon Roe (6-8, So., Euclid)
G 3 Chris Allen (6-4, Jr., Lawrenceville, Ga.)
G 1 Kalin Lucas (6-0, Jr., Detroit)
Donate by Check :
Ozone Communications
1380 King Avenue
Columbus, OhioHelp us bring you more Buckeye coverage. Donate to the-Ozone.
Click here to email this the-Ozone feature to a friend...or even a foe.
(c) 2010 The O-Zone, O-Zone Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, rebroadcast,rewritten, or redistributed.
|
|
||||||