Men's Basketball
OSU's Third Consecutive Loss Leaves Buckeyes Thinking Better Days are
Ahead
By John Porentas

Ohio State's 74-69 loss to No. 6 Tennessee left OSU Head Coach Thad Matta walking a fine line.

The loss was OSU's third straight, but was also the second straight in which his team fought a top-10 team tooth and nail on their home court, was in it at the end of the game, and showed great effort and heart. Against Tennessee two players, Evan Turner and Othello Hunter, both elevated their games to new levels. So is the loss to Tennessee and the three-game losing streak a positive or a negative? After the game Matta put it this way his team.

"He said we don't lose three game in a row at Ohio State," said freshman guard Evan Turner who scored a career-high 21 points and added a career-high 10 rebounds for a double-double against the Vols.

"He gave us props about playing really hard, but he said that's the standard from now on how yard we played.

"He's glad we played that hard rebounding and fought to stay in it.

"(He said) If we play that hard from now on we won't have to worry about three losses in a row or any losses at all."

Tennessee (16-1) entered the game still smarting from two losses to the Buckeyes (12-6) last season, one in Columbus and one in the NCAA tournament. The Vols would have liked nothing better than to administer a total beat down to the Buckeyes. Instead they ended up in a dog fight against a team that just wouldn't quit and just wouldn't go away.

The pattern for the game was established early. Tennessee took an early 10 point lead at 16-6, but the Buckeyes stopped the bleeding and cut the lead to just one at 27-26 mostly on the strength of outstanding play by Turner and Othello Hunter. Turner had 10 points and eight rebounds at the half, Hunter eight points, six rebounds and three blocked shots. Jamar Butler and David Lighty were the only other Buckeyes to score in the first half. Each had five points.

OSU was 0-7 from three point range in the first half and ended the game a miserable 2-20. The Buckeyes kept themselves in the game by getting to the free throw line. OSU converted on 17-22 free throws to outscore Tennessee by 11 from the stripe. Every time the Vols looked like they would put OSU away, the Buckeyes found a way to answer.

OSU took their first lead in the game in the second half when an 11-0 OSU run turned a four point Tennessee lead into a seven point OSU lead. The Vols then answered with a run of their that was a 25-6 blitz that erased a six point OSU lead at 49-43 and put the Vols up 68-55 with 5:04 remaining.

For all the world it looked the Vols had all the momentum and the game was over, but the Buckeyes closed to within three again at 72-69 with 1:57 left to play.

It was game on over that last 1:57, but the Vols had just a little too much down the stretch for the Buckeyes. OSU made a strong defensive stand to force a missed shot at the end of the shot clock and just over a minute on the game clock, but the long rebound went to Tennessee to rest the shot clock. It was a critical rebound that put OSU, which was out of time outs, into the position of having to foul to stop the clock.

"I thought the big rebound was the one with one second on the shot clock with just over a minute to go. That one got us a little bit. It was just a long rebound and we didn't pursue it," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta of the play.

Tyler Smith missed a free throw for Tennessee with 57 seconds remaining, but the Buckeyes couldn't capitalize at the other end when Kosta Koufos missed a three point attempt as the shot clock wound down. Smith then closed out the scoring in the game when he converted two free throws with 13 seconds to go. OSU's Jon Diebler got off two three point attempts in the final 13 seconds, but neither of them went.

"Quite honestly I was fine with the looks we got (at the end of the game)," said Matta.

"I thought we had a couple of pretty good shots. They weren't going to give us a three."

It was close against a good team. It was also still a loss, and that's how the Buckeyes felt about it.

"It hurts. We lost three in a row. This game we played hard, we played hard 40 minutes. The ball doesn't bounce your way sometime to let you get the rebound you need," said Turner.

Though he was not happy with the loss, like Matta, Turner said the Buckeyes could take something from the loss that can help them the rest of the season.

"We're upset. None of us like to lose," said Turner.

"Hats off to Tennessee. They made shots to counter our mistakes. It doesn't feel good to lose like this and play extremely hard. That's the standard that we're going to have here the rest of the season," Turner said.

"We can be a very good team if we play that hard all the time. Some of our losses in the past wouldn't have came if we had played as hard as we did today. I think we'll be fine."

"This team is growing," added Hunter.

"It's not the same team the played Texas A$M. I think in the games we lose we're that close to winning."

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