Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Toughen Up to Avenge Early-Season Loss to Gophers
By John PorentasWith 13:20 remaining in the second half No. 19 Minnesota's Blake Hoffbarber had not scored a single point in the Gopher's game with Ohio State (17-5, 7-4 Big Ten) and the Buckeyes were enjoying a a 7 point lead at 38-31. Over the next nine minutes and 34 seconds Hoffarber knocked down six threes and a free throw to score all of his 19 points over that stretch and keep the Gophers (18-5, 6-5 Big Ten) in the game, but a balanced scoring attack coupled with a new-found hard nosed attitude allowed OSU to come away with their fourth-straight win, also their second-straight over a ranked team.
On a night when their shots weren't dropping the Buckeyes gutted one out with tough defense and clutch free throw shooting to take the win over the Gophers. After shooting over 60 percent from the field in their last two outings OSU cooled off to just over 40 percent against Minnesota, but stayed tough on defense to force 17 turnovers, 11 of them on steals, and hit 14 of 21 free throws to outscore Minnesota 14-7 at the line.
Buckeye leading scorer Evan Turner made just four of his 14 attempts from the field but knocked down 10 of 12 free throw attempts to lead OSU's scoring with 18. Turner also registered 10 rebounds and four assists, both team highs, for a double-double.
The Buckeyes were able to get open looks at the basket against Minnesota's 2-3 zone, particularly early in the game, but the ball would simply not stay in the basket for them. The Gophers were able to capitalize on OSU's cold shooting to establish a six point lead at 13-7.
"I thought we got good looks early in the game were pretty good, they just weren't going down," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.
The Buckeyes erased the Gopher lead when Jon Diebler hit a three and freshman William Buford got it going to lead OSU on an 18-4 run and put the Buckeyes up 25-17 with 4:04 remaining in the opening half. The Gophers then went on a 9-2 run to close to within one with 29 seconds remaining. Turner canned a jumper to close out the first half scoring and put OSU on top 29-26 at the intermission.
It looked like the Buckeyes would put the Gophers away midway through the second half when they opened a 10 point lead at 46-36 with 8:50 remaining in the game, but sparked by the shooting of Hoffbarber Minnesota closed to within 3 at 55-52 with 3:46 left to play.
Hoffbarber was on fire and shredding OSU's 3-2 zone, but following a time out at 3:05 the Buckeyes switched to a diamond and one defense with Diebler guarding Hoffbarber and the rest of the Buckeyes playing a diamond zone. The strategy worked as Diebler shut out Hoffbarber the rest of the way and Turner made crucial free throws down the stretch to seal the OSU win.
"He got hot in the end. Coach just told me not to let him catch it, so all I did was chase him around," said Diebler.
"He's a great shooter. When great shooters get hot and they get in a zone it's hard to stop them, so you just try not to let them catch it," Diebler said.
"They did a good job, went to the box and one and really kind of took him out of the game, shut him down there," said Minnesota Head Coach Tubby Smith.
With Diebler controlling Hoffbarber the Buckeyes were able to limit Minnesota to just two points over the last 3:46 of the game. OSU scored eight, six of them on free throws by Turner, to gut out the win.
"We knew it was winning time," said Turner.
"With 2 minutes and 30 seconds left we knew the tougher team was going to win.
"All we had to do was get stops. We knew offensively we would be all right, but being tough enough to settle down and stop them from scoring and get the rebounds we needed (was the key)," Turner said.
The stretch run to victory was in stark contrast to the way OSU's game with Minnesota played out in Minneapolis in early January. The Gophers were able to intimidate the Buckeyes and held them to under 35 percent shooting from the field. Minnesota also dominated on the glass and was led by guard Lawrence Westbrooks who scored 15 in Minnesota's 68-59 win. This time around, however, the Buckeyes let it be known early that they would not be intimidated. Early the game Westbrooks and Turner had a minor confrontation with Turner staring down Westbrooks. According to Turner, he was just trying to send a message that things were not going to be the same this time around.
"We were looking at the film this past week. They did certain stuff that they kind of out-toughed us. We knew what we had to do," said Turner.
"We just knew we had to draw a line and put our foot down to let them know it was going to be an all out war tonight," Turner said.
"I don't like to associate myself with that stuff. I was just trying to help the team and set a tone."
Smith understood the significance of the confrontation.
"That's part of establishing the way the game is going to be played and you have to respond the right way," said Smith.
"I thought our kids responded and played with some heart and some toughness too."
OSU's balanced attack included 11 points from both Diebler and Buford and 10 points each from Jeremie Simmons and B. J. Mullens. The only Gopher to reach double figures beside Hoffbarber was forward Damian Johnson with 12. Point guard Al Nolen had a tough game with just two points and five turnovers to go with his three assists.
OSU has a midweek bye and will next be in action on the road at Wisconsin next Saturday. The Buckeyes are currently in third place in the Big Ten standings behind Michigan State (9-2 Big Ten) and Purdue (6-3 Big Ten). Illinois and Penn State are at 6-4 just behind OSU and Minnesota falls to 6-5 with the loss to the Buckeyes.
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