Men's Basketball
Roundball Recap: Buckeyes Drop First Two Big Ten Games on Road
By Brandon CastelAfter closing out the preseason non-conference schedule with a 10-2 record, Ohio State took to the road for the first two games of their Big Ten schedule.
The results were catastrophic.
Playing without star point forward Evan Turner, who could return for Wednesday night’s game against Indiana, the Buckeyes struggled tremendously to score points on their trips to Wisconsin and Michigan as they opened conference play with back-to-back losses on the road.
Without Turner, who has been sidelined since early December with an injured back, Ohio State managed only 97 points combined in the last two games as they fell 65-43 at Wisconsin and 73-64 at Michigan.
Since scoring 111 points in Turner’s last game against Eastern Michigan, the Buckeyes have yet to manage 80 points in a game without him. They have scored 70 points only twice and have now dropped out of the top 25 after starting the year ranked No. 16 in the country.
In other words, Turner’s return cannot come soon enough.
Badgers Maul Offense-less Buckeyes
After going 3-1 without him during the non-conference (their only loss coming at Butler), the Buckeyes looked completely lost at the offensive end in Madison as they were mauled by the hot outside shooting of the Badgers in a 65-43 loss.
Wisconsin quickly got out to a 28-12 lead at the Kohl Center, where they beat Duke earlier this season in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, thanks to a 14-0 run fueled by the hot outside shooting of Trevon Hughes, who finished with 16 points and seven rebounds.
With Jon Diebler and David Lighty, the team’s two highest scorers without Turner, struggling offensively, the Buckeyes went nearly five minutes without scoring in the first half as they shot just 8-of-21 from the floor.
They managed to rally behind sophomore William Buford for an 8-2 run to close out the first half down just nine points, 34-25, at the break.
The momentum would be short-lived, however, as Wisconsin came barreling out of the gates on a 16-5 run to open the second half. Forward Jon Leuer scored 11 points in eight minutes and the Badgers never looked back as they went on to outscore the Buckeyes 31-18 in the second half on their way to a 22-point victory.
Buford finished the game with a team-high 14 points on 7-of-16 shooting, but he was all alone as Diebler and Lighty combined to shoot just 4-of-14 from the field and 2-of-8 from behind the arc. As a team, the Buckeyes shot 32 percent from the field and 30 percent from three-point land, including a 1-for-8 second half, while the Badgers connected on 10 of their 21 tries from behind the arc.
Wolverines Take Another Bite out of Bucks
Game No. 2 of the Big Ten schedule went a little better than the first, which is only to say that the Buckeyes were still in the game in the final five minutes.
Despite 17 points from Jon Diebler to go with 16 from William Buford and 13 from David Lighty, Ohio State still managed to shoot just 37 percent as a team and 31 percent from behind the arc.
With Diebler and Buford leading the way, the Buckeyes trailed only 34-32 at the half in Ann Arbor, but they had no answer for the dynamic duo of DeShawn Sims and Manny Harris, who combined for 52 points and 16 rebounds in a 73-64 win over the Bucks.
Harris also dished out five assists as the Wolverines shot 55 percent from the floor, including 65 percent in the second half as they outscored Ohio State 39-32 thanks in big part to a late 11-0 run that was all Sims and Harris.
Getting Back on Track
The Buckeyes are now 10-4 on the season and 0-2 in Big Ten play.
They catch a bit of a break in the schedule Wednesday as they host 7-6 Indiana (8:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network) in their Big Ten home-opener at Value City Arena.
The good news is the Hoosiers have only seven wins on the season and have already lost games to Ole Miss, Boston University and Loyola (Md.). The bad news is they already beat Michigan 71-65 in their Big Ten opener in Bloomington.
According to The Columbus Dispatch, the Buckeyes could receive a tremendous boost in the return of Evan Turner, who had an X-ray Monday on his injured lower back. Turner has missed six games since falling hard to the wood floor on Dec. 5 th, but the Buckeyes desperately need him back if they are going to get back in the hunt for a Big Ten title or a shot at the NCAA Tournament.
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