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Men's basketball
Diebler: I Feel Good Now
By Brandon CastelIt turns out there are two-sport bugs.
During football season this past fall, a number of Ohio State’s players missed action because of a flu bug that hit the team in the middle of the year.
Jon Diebler has spent more time throwing up and less time throwing passes this week.
Photo by Jim DavidsonTuesday OSU basketball player Jon Diebler was absent from practice because of a bug that had him vomiting so loud the night before that it woke his roommate, who also happens to run point for the Buckeyes on the hardwood.
“It wasn't too exciting. My older brother was staying and around 9 (p.m.) I started puking, and (Evan Turner) was sleeping and he thought it was my older brother,” Diebler said Wednesday during interviews.
The 6-foot-5 junior wasn’t the only one to miss practice Tuesday for Coach Thad Matta and the fifth-ranked Buckeyes as they prepare to face UC Santa Barbara Friday (9:35 p.m. ET, CBS) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Walk-on Danny Peters was also held out of action yesterday by a stomach flu (not to be confused with influenza) that has hit a number of the Buckeyes following their Big Ten Tournament title run in Indianapolis over the weekend.
“I think seven guys have been involved in it,” Matta said Wednesday.
“It has been tough with the battle with the flu bug, finals going on, the three games in three days, but hopefully we will feel good going into it.”
The first to come down with something was senior Kyle Madsen, who puked prior to Ohio State’s return bus ride to Columbus Sunday just hours after they pounded Minnesota 90-61 in the tournament finale.
The Buckeyes knocked off Michigan on a last second buzzer-beater and Illinois in double-overtime before turning a three-point halftime lead into a 29-point victory against the Golden Gophers.
“I think the thing was we were playing three teams all fighting for tournament berth, we were getting their best shot, they were playing to stay alive,” Diebler said.
“I think being able to handle team's best shot lie we did, we didn't play as good as we could have, we showed at times we could but we never played a full 40 minutes, so we won games but we didn't play our best and now it’s a one-game season, you lose you're done and I know a lot of us aren't ready to be done.”
Listening to Diebler struggling just down the hall, Turner may have thought his teammate and friend was about done for Friday’s game.
“I was like ‘Keep it down,’” Turner said.
“It sounded like he was throwing up his lungs. It was pretty bad.”
Instead, the school’s all-time leader in made three-pointers was back to feeling like his old self Wednesday, or at least close to it, just three days after dropping 19 points on the Gophers in the tournament title game.
“I feel good now,” Diebler said.
While there is no way to know for sure that the worst is behind them, the No. 2-seeded Buckeyes expect to have Diebler and the rest of his teammates ready for action Friday as they look to win the school’s first NCAA Tournament game since David Lighty and co. knocked off Georgetown 67-60 in the 2007 Final Four.
“There is no pill for it, I have asked,” Matta said of curing the flu bug.
“I think everyone is back and ready to go. It is just more of getting some guys rest. We will have no (impact) on the game on Friday.”
Only time will tell as the Buckeyes look to continue their streaking ways against the Gauchos. They have won seven games in a row and 16 of their last 18 overall as they enter tournament play for the second-consecutive year after missing out on the Big Dance two years ago.
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