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Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Have Unfinished Business in Tourney
By Brandon Castel

The last time David Lighty played in an NCAA Tournament game he was on the losing end of the 2007 championship game against Florida.

No one else on the team has won a single game in the dance, and that includes star Evan Turner who has won just about everything else during his three years at Ohio State.

As a freshman two years ago, Turner and his teammates captured the post-season NIT title. Since then, he has won a regular season Big Ten Championship and a conference tournament title. He was named Big Ten Player of the Year during the regular season and Most Outstanding Player in the tournament. He even won a bronze medal as a member of Team USA at the World University Games, but Turner has yet to win a game in March Madness.

“It seems kind of weird so we have to take care of that,” Turner after said shaking his head after the Big Ten Tournament title game.

The 6-foot-7 junior had a chance to add one of those coveted NCAA Tournament wins to his resume last season but couldn’t connect on a 15-foot jumper that would have forced triple overtime in Ohio State’s 74-72 loss to Siena.

“It pops into my head sometimes, but at the same time it happened and we have to move on,” Turner said of his game-tying shot attempt on a play that was very similar to the one that led to his game-winning 37-foot buzzer beater against Michigan in the first round of this year’s Big Ten Tournament.

It was a tough defeat for Turner, who went for 25 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in 50 minutes against the Saints. The Buckeyes led 41-30 in that game with 14:31 to play but coughed up the lead down the stretch and the rest was history.

Ronald Moore hit a game-tying three to send it into double-overtime and a game-winning three to sink the Buckeyes with 3.9 seconds left.

“The whole thing is just closing the game out,” said Turner said, who was 8-of-18 shooting that night.

“We were up by 14 in that game and just didn’t close it out.”

And therein lies the lesson.

The Buckeyes understood going into the game the concept that it’s all about surviving and advancing in March, but somewhere along the way they forgot the surviving part. With a double-digit lead they started turning the ball over and hoisting up unnecessary threes that led to a 9-0 run for the Saints to let them back in the game.

“Obviously we felt we were in position to win the game being up 10 or 14, but Siena is a good basketball team and every team is the tournament is good,” said junior Jon Diebler, who went 2-for-11 from behind the arc against Siena.

“Now we're a very experienced team, and coach always says act like you've been there, and we have been there, we haven't won a tournament game yet, but we know what to expect now and having that game under our belt and having tough games on the road this year, we know how to act.”

The addition of Lighty, who missed last year’s tournament with a broken foot, certainly makes them a more confident group heading into the tournament this time around. So does the fact they have everyone but B.J. Mullens back from an inexperienced team that did not deal well with the spotlight a year ago.

“I think going into last year being a year removed with the NIT before that, you just hope they have a little bit more of an appreciation and understanding of what all this entails,” said Matta, who starts four juniors and a sophomore.

“I think a couple guys last year may have been taken back by all the media, all the commitment that you have to do going into it. With that said, as we leave today and get up there, more of an understanding. Siena was really good last year, but hopefully our mindset is a little bit better. We had a 14-point lead in the second half and we couldn’t hang on to it.” 

Without question, that 14-point lead will be in the back of their heads Friday if they are able to mount a big lead against UC Santa Barbara in the final first-round game of the 2010 tournament.

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