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Men's Basketball
Buford, Bench Help Buckeyes Bury Hoosiers
By Brandon CastelWhen Thad Matta said he planned to use more of his bench Wednesday against fast-paced Indiana he never anticipated having to play backup point guard P.J. Hill after just three minutes.
He also never expected to be without star Evan Turner for more than 17 minutes in the first half and still go on to a 69-52 victory at Assembly Hall in Bloomington. It was the eighth-straight conference win for the Buckeyes who are now tied for first place in the Big Ten following Michigan State’s loss to Purdue Tuesday night.
Ohio State (19-6, 9-3 Big Ten) got out to a 9-0 start in the team’s second meeting with the Hoosiers (9-14, 3-8), but Turner quickly went to the bench after picking up his second foul attempting to get a rebound.
With the Big Ten’s leading scorer out of the game, the Hoosiers worked their way back into the game and trailed by only two points, but that was as close as they would get. The 13th-ranked Buckeyes answered with a 16-3 run and scored the final 12 points of the half to go to the locker rooms with a 34-20 lead.
"I thought our defense really stepped up. We were able to get some easy baskets off turnovers. That, to me, was the biggest difference right there and we were making our free throws," said Matta of his team's play during the half-ending run.
"The communication was going on and they'll hit you in transition and if they don't have it, then they're going to back it out. I think that was one of the biggest differences, because they got us in transition defense there to get it to 22-20 and that's what we were talking about in the timeout."
Though he sat Turner early, Matta considered putting Turner bacck into the game in the first half after OSU's lead shrunk to just two, but never got the chance.
"I actually sat down with him with six minutes to go, it was 22-20, I said look I'm going to put you back in there and all of a sudden we finished on a 12-0 run to end the half.
"Second half we were able to get out to good start. I thought we did a good job of moving the basketball. We were making shots and defensively I thought we were very active."
Turner returned in the second half but scored only 10 points in 21 minutes, his fewest total since the last meeting with Indiana. He nearly picked up his third foul early in the second half on a drive to the basket, but went to the free throw line on a blocking call instead.
He finished with seven rebounds, five assists and had only four field goal attempts, but the Buckeyes got 21 points from William Buford and 14 from Dallas Lauderdale who also added seven blocks and eight rebounds.
Hill and Jeremie Simmons saw their most playing time in weeks, but it was Kyle Madsen who made the largest contribution off the bench for Ohio State. The 6-9 senior scored a career-high 11 points playing in nine big minutes when Lauderdale was on the bench.
"We told those guys they had the possibility of having a big night tonight, from the standpoint of Indiana's got a lot of different defenses and we went in saying that we're not exactly sure which one we're going to see, but they have a tendency to help from those guys," said Matta.
"I thought Dallas did a nice job finishing and Kyle obviously knocked down some jumpers for us."
It was a game that proved the Buckeyes know how to win without their National Player of the Year candidate, who missed a month of the season with a lower back injury.
Jon Diebler scored only three points and David Lighty went 2-of-11 from the floor as the Buckeyes shot 2-of-10 from behind the arc, but Tom Crean had no answer for Buford, who also added seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.
After knocking down his jump shot early in the game, Buford attacked the basket and finished around the rim as he finished 9-of-17 from the floor. Lauderdale, who tied a career-high in scoring, was 7-of-9 shooting with a number of thunderous dunks, but his biggest impact on the game came at the other end of the floor.
The 6-8 junior recorded seven of OSU’s nine blocks as the Hoosiers shot just 37 percent from the floor. The Buckeyes forced Indiana into 13 turnovers while committing only six of their own in another efficient basketball game.
It was the fourth straight win for Ohio State in Assembly Hall, something the Buckeyes had not accomplished since 1968-70. Indiana has also lost five straight games overall. They were led by freshmen Christian Watford, who scored 15 points and Jordan Hulls, who had a season-high 13.
Up next for the Buckeyes they will travel to Illinois on Sunday to face a Fighting Illini that currently sits in a three-way tie with Ohio State Michigan State atop the Big Ten Standings.
"It feels great (being in first), but like I told the guys, in college athletics you can't feel good," said Matta.
"It's the next one coming down the pipe on Sunday, and like you said, there's a lot of basketball left yet to still be played for everybody in the league, not just us and keeping the focus on us and getting prepared for Sunday's game and getting ourselves healthy and ready to go is my big focus."
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