Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Hoping to Close Out Season on One Last Up-tick
By John Porentas

The Buckeyes have one game left on their basketball schedule. They will play UMass in the NIT championship game at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. The game is set for 7:00 PM and will be televised by ESPN.

The game will complete what has been a late-coming but welcome run by the Buckeyes. After a season of sometimes frustrating play they seem to have come together and are playing well down the stretch.

"I like the way that we're playing right now. There's a good blend of physical play and finesse play. I think we're playing more aggressive than we have throughout the course of the season," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.

OSU's improvement came too late for them to make much noise in the Big Ten regular-season conference race or in the Big Ten tournament. It also came too late for them to earn entry into the NCAA tournament. But rather than dwell on what didn't happen, Matta is looking at the late-season success as a time when his team can continue to improve, continue to find and identity, and continue to build for the future.

"Unfortunately it took us probably a little bit longer than we would have liked to really find ourselves. We're doing that and that's what's exciting," Matta said.

"I think that the gains that this basketball team has made in the last three weeks have been tremendous.

"We've seen guys throughout the course of practice and in the games that we've played grow tremendously, from skill level getting better to decision making getting better, so without a doubt in my mind this has been very advantageous for our program to be in this situation.

"This is our 118th practice of this season. Last year we only practiced 111 times."

The extended season has given his team to shine. It has also given some individual players extra time to develop and step forward. Matta singled out freshman Dallas Lauderdale as a player who has really benefited from the extra practice time.

"We found Dallas Lauderdale last week at practice. He destroyed David Lighty in practice. It was city vs. suburb and Dallas got the better of it," said Matta.

"I think Kosta (Koufos) continues to grow, I think Evan's (Turner's) play last night (is a sign of growth), you look at David (Lighty) over the course of the last month and how well he's played on a consistent basis. I think it's been great for our program."

Scouting UMass

OSU's last chance to show their stuff comes against UMass of the A-10 conference. The Minutemen have an overall record of 25-10 and have had three common opponents with the Buckeyes. UMass defeated Syracuse at Syracuse 107-100, defeated Dayton at Dayton 82-71 and defeated Florida 78-66 in the NIT at Madison Square Garden last night. OSU defeated Syracuse 79-65 in the preseason NIT in New York, defeated Florida 62-49 at Value City Arena and defeated Dayton 74-63, also at Value City Arena in the NIT.

The Minutemen are a veteran ball club that play nine players, and they like to play the game fast.

"They're very aggressive defensively," said Matta.

"They're going to try to force your hand and they use their speed and quickness to their advantage with the full court stuff, the running and jumping and aggressive nature."

The Minutemen will try to maximize the effectiveness of their long bench by pushing the tempo and playing very aggressively defensively. Matta says that while he respects their aggressive defense, it's nothing the Buckeyes haven't seen before.

"North Carolina is about as aggressive as anyone," said Matta. "I'd say Tennessee and Purdue with the way they pressure you in the half court, as well as Michigan State, are all teams that we've faced that put a lot of pressure on you defensively."

While the Minutemen will use nine players, they really rely on five of them at the offensive end of the court, and any one of the five can beat you on a given night. Senior forward Etienne Brower has turned in a 26-point performance this season and is averaging 12.5 points per game. Sophomore guard Ricky Harris has a 30-point game to his credit and averages 18.0 points per game. Junior guard Chris Lowe has a season-high of 23 points and averages 11.9 points per game. Senior forward Gary Forbes has a high game of 29 points and averages a team-high 19.5 points per game. Senior forward Dante Milligan has gone off for 24 points in a game and averages 8.9 points per contest.

With nine players in their rotation, the Buckeyes will be at a disadvantage in an uptempo game. The Minutemen not only have a lot of players, but they have size and skill as well.

Brower and Forbes are baseline players that both go 6-7, though Forbes is athletic enough to spend some time at guard and could matchup well with OSU's length at guard in Turner and Lighty. Brower has attempted 182 three pointers and has knocked down 43.4 percent of them to make him a devastating outside threat as well.

At 6-2, Harris has the green light at the shooting guard position and has put up 266 three point attempts this season, one more than OSU's Jamar Butler. He's made 97 of them for a 36.5 percent shooting average from three point range, just below Butler's 38.1 percent.

Lowe is a 6-0 guard that is the top assist man for UMass. He has 204 assists this year, just eight less that Butler. At 6-7, Forbes is not only the team's leading scorer but also their leading rebounder at 7.5 rebounds per game.

When the Minutemen want to go big they call on 7-1 junior center Luke Bonner.

The Strategies and Matchups

UMass will try to get the game into an up and down mode to try to take advantage of their depth, speed and athleticism. In the half court they will let Brower and Harris shoot from the perimeter while their baseline players will try to slash to the basket.

OSU will try to control tempo somewhat and has a chance to do some damage on the glass. UMass has been outrebounded on the season and if Hunter and Koufos can get on the offensive glass they can do some damage. Both should have a size advantage down low. Additionally, if Dallas Lauderdale can continue to improve and give OSU some quality minutes the Buckeyes could really out-physical the Minutemen on the baseline.

Out front the Minutemen are capable but have had some tendency to turn the ball over this year. Forbes has 110 turnovers, Lowe 96. If OSU's full court pressure can be productive, it will be a plus for the Buckeyes.

The Minutemen have been averaging 81.4 points per game this season, but have also been giving up 75.2. By contrast, OSU is scoring 68.3 and giving up just 61.5. If OSU's pressure zone is as effective as it has been of late, the Minutemen will have trouble hitting their average, particularly if they can slow down Brower and Harris from the three point line.

UMass likes to run, particularly off missed shots. Transition defense may be the key for the Buckeyes and could very well decide the outcome of the game. If OSU can limit UMass in fast break opportunities, the Minutemen could have a tough time scoring against the OSU matchup zone. If UMass can run on OSU, it could be a long night for the Buckeyes. The key to stopping the UMass running game may actually be Kosta Koufos. If UMass has to double Koufos when the Buckeyes are on offense they will have one less player they commit to leak out and run, and that could slow their efforts to fast break against OSU. If they have to double Koufos and elect to do so with a bigger player, Hunter could have a big night on the offensive glass, and it's tough to run when the opposition is getting offensive boards.

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