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Men's Basketball
Matta: He Will Play
By Brandon Castel
Jon Diebler
Photo by Jim DavidsonThe Buckeyes may have knocked off Purdue in West Lafayette behind a Herculean performance from Evan Turner, but it will take a group effort for them to take care of the fourth-ranked Boilermakers for a second time.
A valuable part of that group is Jon Diebler, and Ohio State Head Coach Thad Matta said Tuesday that his sharp-shooting junior will be on the court Wednesday at Value City Arena (6:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network) for yet another big conference showdown.
“He will play,” Matta said after initially posturing that Diebler might be a game-time decision.
The team’s top outside threat was back in practice Tuesday just two days after injuring his shooting wrist in a 72-53 blowout of Illinois in Champaign. He had the wrist taped, but Turner said he still shot the ball well and will be ready to go come game time.
“He’s good. We taped it up today but nothing major,” Matta said.
“He was mad that it was taped, but it was more of just another days’ rest. There was no break and he said it felt 10 times better than it did yesterday and Sunday.”
Diebler knocked down six three pointers in the Buckeyes’ convincing win over the Fighting Illini as he scored a game-high 18 points in OSU’s ninth straight Big Ten win. He was injured trying to take a charge from Illinois point guard Demetri McCamey late in the game, but said it wasn’t until he missed his free throw attempt that he recognized something was wrong.
“I saw him kind of holding his wrist. One of the coaches said Diebler may be hurt and then he missed the free throw. I said ‘Why’d you miss the free throw,’ and he said ‘My wrist hurts.’ At that point we got him out and that’s about all I knew,” Matta said.
The injury obviously did enough to impact Diebler’s shot during the game (he also missed his final two attempts from the field following the fall) but Matta doesn’t anticipate it having too much of an affect going forward.
“(It) did today because they had so much tape on it, but that was strictly a precautionary,” he said.
“Knowing Jon, he’ll be back in here this afternoon with the tape off.”
Diebler (.440) is second in the Big Ten and ninth in the country in three-point percentage this season, so having him on the floor against a team like Purdue will make a huge difference. Not just because of his ability to knock down big shots from behind the arc.
“He’s a shooter. He opens the floor up for us. He has experience, he’s long and he’s been through the battles before,” Turner said of his roommate.
“It’s what we’re used to right now. We know Jon will go and we know he’ll play to his potential and play as hard as he can.”
Buford OK Too
The Buckeyes are also expecting to have William Buford in the lineup Wednesday. The smooth-shooting sophomore also came out of the game Sunday with an injury, but it didn’t keep him off the practice court Tuesday.
“He hit legs with somebody, but he’s fine,” Matta said of his team’s second-leading scorer.
“They did something to him over there. They gave him medicine or a shot and then he got treatment Monday night and he went yesterday and today and he’s fine.
“He was great today.”
Matta admits that taking Diebler and Buford, two of his starters, out of the game with injuries Sunday gave him flashbacks to the unlucky ones suffered by Turner and David Lighty in the past two Decembers.
“That went through my mind,” Matta said shaking his head.
“When we walked out of there (Jon’s) hand was wrapped up and Will’s leg was messed up, we couldn’t put him back in the game.”
With both players expected back for the next game, the most painful injury of the day Tuesday may have happened to reserve Zisis Sarikopoulos. The seven-footer who has only played in a handful of games this season took a tooth from David Lighty during practice.
“We just had a collision in there between Dave and Z,” Matta said.
“Z’s down there getting stitched up right now and Lighty’s tooth’s loose.”
Asked whether he thought the injury might affect Lighty’s status for the game, Turner responded “It’s just a tooth man. It’s just a tooth.”
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