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Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Earn Hard-Fought Victory in East Lansing
By Brandon CastelEAST LANSING, Mich. – Ohio State coach Thad Matta could barely get through his post-game press conference Sunday without hacking up a lung on the table at the Breslin Center.
And he didn’t have to play 40 minutes.
Evan Turner was under the weather but William Buford (44) helped pick up the slack with a double-double against MSU. Buford finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Photo by Jim DavidsonDespite missing practice Friday with the flu and sleeping through the team’s shoot around Saturday, Evan Turner was four assists shy of a triple-double Sunday in Ohio State’s 74-67 win at No. 11 Michigan State.
“I thought he did a tremendous job of battling through it and you give him credit for how he played,” said Matta, who admitted he wasn’t sure Turner would be able to go against the Spartans.
“He was a little bit off there at the beginning, he had some great looks but there were no legs.”
Turner missed seven of his nine shots in the first half, mostly jumpers, but finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while playing all 40 minutes as the ninth-ranked Buckeyes (21-7, 11-4 Big Ten) toppled the Spartans (21-7, 11-4) in a tough-fought battle.
“I haven’t shot in a couple days so all I was thinking was just trying to get my rhythm back,” said Turner, who scored 12 of his 20 points over the final eight minutes of the game.
“I was just trying to pace myself to make sure I could last 40 minutes and help my team win.”
After scoring 29 points in a 60-57 loss to No. 4 Purdue Wednesday, Turner came down with some type of illness Thursday and barely slept the remainder of the weekend as he battled a head cold and flu-like symptoms.
“I’ve been feeling like crap,” Turner said after the game.
“I haven’t been able to get any sleep the last few days. Today was my first real day of touching the ball.”
He was so exhausted Saturday that Matta found him sleeping in the locker room and allowed him to lie in the stands during the team’s shoot-around.
“Afterward he went to his room and he slept. We didn’t see him again till this morning when he came down and loaded up a plate of food and never touched a bite of it. I was like ‘this is not good,’” Matta recollected.
With the sickness clearly throwing him off his game, Turner scored only four points in the first half, but his team held a 39-26 lead on the road thanks to the hot shooting of Jon Diebler and William Buford.
“Tonight we came out and people maybe thought we were going to be flat after a tough home loss, but we kept our composure,” said Diebler, who went 3-of-6 behind the arc in the first half and finished with 12 points.
“After they made the first run, we settled down and made a run ourselves.”
The Spartans got out to a 10-4 lead in the early going of the game thanks in large part to a 6-1 edge on the glass, but the Buckeyes rattled off an impressive 19-2 run to take a 23-12 lead at the 8:15 mark on a triple from Diebler.
“We didn’t get off to a great start, but I thought the defense from the 14 minute mark down, they really stepped up the energy and did a good job of seeing what they needed to see,” Matta said after his team held Michigan State to 33 percent shooting in the first half while forcing nine turnovers.
The Buckeyes extended their lead to 12 points on a layup by Buford, who quietly finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. The Spartans cut the lead back to nine twice in the final two minutes before the half, but Diebler knocked down a pair of clutch threes and Kyle Madsen buried his patented baseline jumper with seven seconds left to give OSU a 39-26 halftime lead.
“I’m beside myself on why we didn’t play like the game plan was. I don’t know why we didn’t push the ball early, we did the second half and had some success,” a disgruntled Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo said after the game.
With the crowd buzzing, waiting to explode, the Spartans cut Ohio State’s lead down to five points in the first 10 minutes of the second half thanks to some easy layups and free throws. They cut it to three on a triple from Durrell Summers and then Turner bounced the ball of his foot and off that of Kalin Lucas, who found Summers for the easy dunk to make it a one point game at 61-60 with 5:08 to play.
“I told the guys at halftime, ‘you’re playing one of the best teams in the country and they’re going to make a run on you.’ Sure enough they did,” Matta said.
“I think the play where they took the lead it ricocheted off all five of our guys and they pick it up and at that point I’m like ‘I don’t know if this is a good sign.’”
But the Buckeyes responded with seven straight points, including a huge three by Diebler off a kickout from Turner that made it a six-point game with less than two minutes to play.
“That was huge. We needed that, especially on the road,” Turner said.
“They were calling fouls down the stretch going their way and we needed everything we could get.”
Turner hit four of his five free throws down the stretch while David Lighty added a pair at the line as the Buckeyes held off a late comeback bid to move back into a tie with the Spartans for second place in the Big Ten, a half game back of idle Purdue.
“This was an important game for us mentally to see how we bounce back from a tough home loss,” said Diebler, who missed the game-tying shot Wednesday against Purdue.
“Nothing against Michigan State, obviously they went to the final four last year, (they're) a top 10 team this year, but we have confidence that we can go in and win a road game like this. Our growth and our maturity came through. Guys with a lot of experience, playing here and playing a lot of tough places on the road; just being able to sustain their run.”
Up next the Buckeyes will play their final road game of the season when they travel to Penn State Wednesday (6:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network) for a showdown with the last-place Nittany Lions.
Game Notes:
* The Buckeyes out-rebounded Michigan State 41-38. Evan Turner and William Buford totaled 10 rebounds apiece. David Lighty had nine and Dallas Lauderdale grabbed eight in 24 minutes.
* The Buckeyes are now tied for second in the Big Ten with Michigan State (11-4), a half-game behind Purdue (11-3).
* Michigan State leads the all-time series with Ohio State 58-50 and is 36-16 in East Lansing vs. the Buckeyes.
* After starting 0-for-4 from the field, Turner finished with 20 points, including 16 in the second half. He now has 1,314 points for his career, passing Jamar Butler for No. 23 all-time (1,313).
* With Turner's 10 rebounds, he now has 602 for his career. He passed Michael Redd and Larry Huston on the career rebounds list (tied with 593) to take over the No. 17 spot all-time.
* With the 20 points and 10 rebounds, he earned his 23rd career double-double.
*Buford, too, finished the day with a double-double, his third of the season (and career). He had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
* Diebler has made 227 career 3-pointers to rank No. 2 all-time at Ohio State behind Jamar Butler's 242 career makes.
* Lauderdale finished the day with 8 points, including six of the Buckeyes' first 10 over the opening 4:32.
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