Men's Basketball
Buckeye Defensive Pressure Too Much for Eastern Kentucky
By John Porentas

No. 5 Ohio State (4-0) used a relentless press for 40 minutes to force 26 turnovers, 15 of them in the first half, to defeat Eastern Kentucky (2-1) going away by a score of 74-45. The Buckeyes turned those turnovers into 32 of their 74 points.

"Their pressure really just threw us out of sync," said EKU Head Coach Jeff Neubauer.

"If we're ever going to be successful we're going to have to turn it over a few less than 26. Usually in our program we do that, we value the ball very well. Tonight we didn't do that and a lot of the credit for that goes to Ohio State and their defense."

Eastern Kentucky was able to hang with the Buckeyes for about six minutes and led at 13-12 at the 13:29 mark, but the OSU pressure finally got to them leading to a rash of turnovers and a 23-4 Buckeye run that put the lead at 35-17 at the 3:37 mark.

The Buckeye defense was the story of the night, but they were also very efficient offensively. They shot 58.3 per cent in the game including a blistering 70.8 per cent in the first half against EKU's zone defense.

"We play a lot of 1-3-1 and some 1-1-3," said Neubauer.

"Some games it works very well and some games it looks like it did tonight. They really attacked it very well. They have great shooters. You have to guard their shooters so far away from the basket that it's hard to play any defense against them," Neubauer said.

"The biggest thing that will cause other teams problems is that Ohio State has so many good shooters who shoot it deep. It stretches your defense so much more when you have to guard a guy beyond the NBA line instead of just beyond the college line. It's incredibly different even if it's just three feet deeper. They don't have just one guy that shoots it that deep, they have a whole crew of guys who shoot it that deep."

The Buckeyes led by 20 at the half and led by as many as 29 in the second half.

"We just felt that the pressure we were applying was hopefully going to wear them down a little bit and hopefully not have to guard that offense that long. Offensively I thought we did a really good job tonight of taking care of the basketball and taking the shots we wanted," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.

OSU freshman guard Daequan Cook led all scorers, coming off the bench to net 22 points. Cook was a perfect seven of seven from the field in the first half when he scored 16 of his points on three three-point field goals and four two-pointers.

"I thought Daequan had a great pace to his game tonight and took great shots," said Matta.

"He moved well without the basketball. We felt like there were some areas where we could attack them. Obviously he was paying attention and he found them."

Mike Conley

Three Buckeyes reached double figures including freshman point guard Mike Conley who was a perfect six for six from the field. Conley finished with 13 points and three assists.

"He's such a heady player and he can use those bursts of speed. I think those are the kind of things that make our team go. I thought he was very active both offensively and defensively," said Matta of Cook.

Senior guard Ron Lewis also reached double figures with 11 points. Senior forward Ivan Harris was he leading rebounder in the game with seven, a fact that brought a smile to the face of Matta. Harris has always been a scorer, but his rebounding in this game was a real plus for the Buckeyes.

"I was happy to see that. We've talked to Ivan about continuing to add components t his game. If we can get to where we can count on him being a rebounder I think that makes us a heck of a lot better," said Matta.

The Buckeyes also added five blocked shots to go with their 26 forced turnovers.

"They're going to be very good when they have a post presence as well," said Neubauer when asked how good the Buckeyes could be when Greg Oden enters the lineup.

"If you put four NBA range shooters or four very deep shooters around a post player, now you're really talking about some offense."

Daequan Cook in the new gray uniform
Photo by Jim Davidson

The Buckeyes wore new gray uniforms in the game, a color that has been missing from the OSU game uniform assortment since the 1991-1992 season.

"They are sharp," said Matta.

"I told Coach Tressel that since they took the gray out of the sleeves of the football uniform, which has really hurt the team, that we just got we just got all the leftover material. He told me if I say that I'll kill you," laughed Matta.

"I like them in scarlet and gray."

"It was a surprise," said Conley.

"We wore white out there to warm up with and when we came back in they had the gray hanging up in our locker. We were real surprised. We thought they looked real good, too. We definitely played harder I think because we knew we had some new jerseys on. We had no idea," Conley said.

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