Men's Basketball
Gophers Get Signature Win, Buckeyes get Signature Loss
By John Porentas

“I think we were all thinking this [could be a signature win.] I had in the back of my head: ‘We can’t lose this. We can’t let them come back; we have to hold on.’ We did a good job with everyone contributing, and we’re glad that we were able to come out on top.” -------Minnesota guard Lawrence Westbrooks.

The Gopher did much better than just hold on in their game with Ohio State. They won it going away by a final of 71-57 for what they see as their signature win.

For the Buckeyes, it's a different story.

It was a signature loss.

In a season of frustration Ohio State (17-12, 8-8 Big Ten) may have established a new low in the loss to the Minnesota (18-10, 8-8). Sure, the Buckeyes were on the road, but this is the same Minnesota team they defeated 76-60 earlier this season. Clearly, the Gophers are going one direction, the Buckeyes the other, and that has OSU Head Coach Thad Matta shaking his head.

“We emptied out the book today and tried to get guys to make plays. I think we are (at) that stage of letting someone else do it," said Matta.

Matta did that in the closing moments of the game, playing with Kyle Madsen, P. J. Hill, Dallas Lauderdale and Eric Wallace on the floor.

Matta's frustration showed early. Just under two minutes into the game he called a timeout and had a very "animated" discussion with his team after they failed to score on their first three possessions then allowed Minnesota to score on a second-chance basket. Matta's fiery talk got his team going defensively, but as has been the case all season, the Buckeyes once again simply got crushed on the glass giving up a boatload of offensive rebounds. OSU held Minnesota to just 30 percent shooting in the half, but just could not find anything in the way of offensive flow to capitalize on their defensive effort. The Gophers were able to take a one point lead after a mind-numbingly dull half, 24-23, mostly on the strength of their board work.

"I thought defensively in the first half we played about as well as we could play, with the exception of rebounding the ball; they had nine offensive rebounds in the first half and that's too many," said Matta.

In the second half, however, the Gophers found their offense and the Buckeyes didn't. The results were disastrous for OSU.

"Games like this; at times you’re going to have to make things happen. We just couldn’t get that done and to Minnesota’s credit, they were able to get it done," said Matta.

The Gophers shot 56 percent in the second half led by Lawrence McKenzie who scored all 20 of his points after the intermission. With McKenzie knocking down shots, the OSU offense struggling, and the Gophers still owning the glass, the Buckeyes got pummeled.

"“You’re going to be successful when you get second-shot opportunities and we did that with 14 offensive rebounds," said first year Minnesota Head Coach Tubby Smith.

"It was good to see Lawrence McKenzie come out of the mini-slump he had in the first half. He started making some shots and he really got us going. He was energized and certainly it gets our players energized when he’s making shots. Everyone seemed to pick it up."

The Buckeyes not only had no answer for McKenzie, but just as damagingly had no counterpart to him. McKenzie was lighting it up and the Buckeyes had no one answering, including Jamar Butler who after scoring 27 points in the first meeting between the two teams finished with 13 this time around.

“Those guys were making the plays we were unable to make and we just didn’t have the toughness to get the stops, get the rebounds," said Matta.

The loss leaves Ohio State in a tie with Minnesota. for fifth in the Big Ten standings. The fifth place finisher gets a bye in the Big Ten tournament, the sixth place finisher must play an extra game.

The loss also is very damaging to OSU's chances of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The Buckeyes must probably win out in their remaining regular-season games, home games with league-leading Purdue and with Michigan State, and then must win at least two games in the Big Ten tournament to have hopes of an NCAA bid.

Box Score

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