Men's Basketball
Buckeyes to Take on Cyclones
By John Porentas

No. 3 Ohio State (9-1) will take to the court again on Tuesday with a home game against Big 12 opponent Iowa State.

The Cyclones are 7-4 this season but have yet to win against anyone of note. Their signature win thus far this season is a 68-63 road win over Minnesota, a team that is currently 5-7 overall and struggling. Their four losses include a 77-59 defeat at the hands of 5-6 Iowa. The Cyclone's other three losses have been against Drake, Northern Iowa and Bradley.

The Buckeyes are fresh off a one-sided win over Cincinnati in the Wooden Tradition and hope to remain in their winning ways. Despite their lack of a signature win this season, OSU Head Coach Thad Matta sees the Cyclones as a legitimate challenge for his team.

"We've had this week kind of circled, because you're in a Big Ten stretch here with Cincinnati, Iowa State and Florida, all three teams could compete in the Big Ten, so make no mistake, coming into this week we were hoping we were at a certain level because of that. We wanted to see how we did," said Matta.

The Cyclones are led in scoring by 6-2 guard Mike Taylor who averages 15.0 points per game. Taylor is shooting just 36.4 per cent from the field this season but has connected on 40 per cent of his three point attempts.

Taylor gives Iowa State and outside threat. The inside punch is supplied by 6-7 freshman forward Wesley Johnson. Johnson is the Cyclone's second-leading scorer at 12.6 points per game and is also their second-leading rebounder averaging just under eight per game. Wesley also has a team-high 15 blocked shots in 11 games. Freshman Rashon Clark (6-6) is Iowa State's leading rebounder with almost nine boards per game. Clark also averages 9.4 points per game.

Iowa State's defense is producing 14.1 turnovers per game, but the Cyclones are turning the ball over 14.7 times per game. Where the Cyclones have excelled is in going to the glass. They have outrebounded the opposition by a 419-367 count this season. They have also garnered 150 offensive rebounds through 11 games.

"They rebound the ball." said OSU senior guard Ron Lewis.

"I think they're averaging about 14 offensive rebounds, and they have great shooting guard who puts the ball up a lot. We know we have to key in on him and key in on our rebounding," Lewis said.

Iowa State has been without the services of 6-10 sophomore center Ross Marsden who has missed the last six games with mono. Marsden is listed as day-to-day going into the OSU game. In his absence, 6-11 Jiri Hubalek has gotten more minutes. Whether it is Marsden or Hubalek, either will have their hands full as Greg Oden sees action in his fourth game as a Buckeye despite the fact that Oden is still far-from back to full strength in his recovery from a wrist injury.

"If you asked me what per cent Greg is today, I honesty don't know the answer," said Matta.

"I do look forward to the day where we know across the board that he is 100 per cent. I think that the things that he's been able to do to help us defensively have been tremendous but I think his offense is going to keep getting a little bit better every day and hopefully that's going to make our team a little bit better every day."

Hoop Notes:

Oden Says He's Not One-and-Done: It has been pretty much a foregone conclusion by the out-of-town media that Oden will be one-and-done at Ohio State, that the lure of NBA money will take him out of Columbus at the end of this season. Oden has never said that that was the case, and yesterday said quite straightforwardly that his stay at OSU could be much longer than many think.

"There's a very big chance I will be here four years," said Oden.

"I've got to finish college. That's what my mom told me," Oden said.

Oden seems to be genuinely enjoying his time at Ohio State and his time with OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.

"You just have good people around you to keep you grounded. My coaches and my family and Ohio State, I mean, it's fun here." said Oden.

"Just being here, you're thinking about this, the basketball team and school, and not other things," Oden said.

"He's (Matta) the funniest man I've ever known.

"Today he was saying 'Guys, we've got to hit shots. Greg hit 17 shots in a row and he missed one, and I took him out of the game.' Literally, when I walked out of the game, he said 'Greg, if you're going to miss shots I'm not going to play you.'" Oden said with a wide grin.

Oden says he pays no attention at all to the speculation about his future.

"In my case, I just tune that stuff out. I don't listen to stuff like that. I just try to think about now. Right now I'm in school, we're playing a game, and I'm having fun in college and trying to be the best basketball player that I can possibly be," he said.

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