Men's Basketball
Slow Start Dooms Buckeyes Despite Determined Rally
By John Porentas

The Buckeyes (12-5, 3-2 Big Ten) found themselves at a crossroads early in the game against No. 11 Michigan State (15-2, 3-1 Big Ten) .

OSU made just one of their first 10 field goal attempts and two of their first 14. The result was what you might expect, a big Spartan lead.

MSU lead by 21 in the first half before OSU could find anything resembling a shooting rhythm, and it was gut-check time for the Buckeyes. It was either go in the tank and get blown out, or grit your teeth and fight to get back in it. OSU did the latter, but still came up a little short finally falling by a final of 66-60 in East Lansing. It was a loss, but the OSU determined rally after being down so far made it a loss that was just a bit easier to take.

"In an environment like this you think 'Are our guys going to quit?'" said OSU senior point guard Jamar Butler.

"I'm proud of our guys. They had a spark coming off the bench and kept battling and we got back in the game. Michigan State just played great and they came out with the win."

OSU's rally started with a 10-2 run over the last 3:54 of the first half that cut the MSU lead to 13 at 34-21. Butler then opened the second half with a three-pointer, and suddenly it was a ten point game with nearly a whole half to play.

OSU continued to gain ground and eventually cut the MSU lead to just three at 37-34 with 15:38 still remaining to play. It was OSU's press and a strategic move by Matta that fueled OSU's rally. Matta went with a smaller lineup, at one juncture playing point guard P. J. Hill with Butler, in order to get a faster, more athletic, pressing team on the floor.

"P. J. Hill came in and it seemed like he electrified us. He just got us going in the press and tried to turn them over a little bit, made them take some tough shots, and we converted on offense," said Butler.

"I thought P. J. did a very good job," agreed OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.

"I think every day he takes the court he gets better. He's earning the right to play. I thought he gave us a heck of a boost there."

The smaller lineup favored OSU in the open court, but killed them in the half court. MSU is one of the best rebounding teams in the conference, and when OSU went small, that advantage was magnified. The Spartans were able to collect a whopping 20 offensive rebounds to outscore OSU 23-5 in second-chance points.

"We've got to get more tenacity on the boards, more toughness," said Matta.

"We're a team that all five guys have got to be down there cleaning it out. When only four go there's an opening and Michigan State does a great job of getting in there. Beside our start that was probably one of the biggest keys to the game," Matta said.

Despite the rebounding disadvantage, Matta felt compelled to stick with the smaller, quicker lineup because of the circumstances of the game.

"I thought at that point that all bets were of of playing 'traditional' basketball. We got ourselves in such a hole there," said Matta.

"We just had more energy about us. It was more of lets just chip away, chip away at the lead and try to get it to position at the end where we could be in it to have a shot to win."

The Spartans were also able defensively to neutralize Kosta Koufos and for that matter almost all the other Buckeyes with the exception of Butler. Butler was the lone Buckeye to reach double figures with 21 points. OSU's next leading scorers were David Light, Othello Hunter and Matt Terwilliger, all with eight points.

""I just love Jamar Butler because he's tough," said an admiring MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo.

"I can't tell you how much we put into him, how we stepped up on him, and he still finds a way to get 21 points, and I thought our bigs did a great job on him. Butler is very good."

There are no good losses, but the Buckeyes were able to hold their heads high despite coming out on the short end.

"At Purdue I felt like guys pretty much gave up. With a little bit of time left they just stopped playing, they didn't play hard the whole game. After Michigan State went on that big run our guys came in and showed a lot of pride and battled back," said Butler.

"That's what coach told us," added senior forward Matt Terwilliger.

"We could have taken this one of two ways, we could have done what we did or we could have made it like Texas A&M and just let it snowball. He said we showed some confidence and some toughness to bring it back to a competitive game," Terwilliger said.

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo was impressed with the Buckeyes.

"This is a good Ohio State team. I said to my team that this is one of the top two or three teams we've played before the game and I don't feel any different after.

"I think we got a big win over a very quality team," Izzo said.

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