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Men's Basketball
Buckeye Watch - Indiana
By Tony Gerdeman
Beating Indiana in basketball never gets old, even though by now it should have.But the Buckeyes kept the game interesting if for no other reason than the way in which they won.
Jared Sullinger only played 13 minutes and didn't make a single field goal. Jon Diebler was just 2-8 from three-point land. And Eddie Days went 0-2 from the field in his lone minute of action.
It was not a great day for a few Buckeyes.
But none of it mattered, because it was a great day for one Buckeye.
Freshman Deshaun Thomas came into the game in the first half and scored 14 straight points for the Buckeyes, turning a 16-10 game into a 30-13 blowout.
In 24 minutes of play, he scored 22 points, and did it on just nine field goal attempts. He finished 6-7 from the free throw line and was around the basket so much, you'd have thought he was one of the sweat moppers.
But the only mopping up he did today was of the Hoosiers.
(Generally, however, you have to put down sawdust to clean up after Hoosiers.)
3:56 As if it wasn't bad enough with this Pittsburgh-Louisville game still having 2:22 to play, now they're having clock issues. I hate stuff that spites me.
4:02 This stupid Big East game is still being played for some reason. One of the teams is up by two with 30 seconds to play. I think we all know where this is heading.
4:08 Still stuck with this miserable Big East game between two miserably-ranked teams, and we're now going to overtime. But CBS is switching me. Thank you, CBS. Now let's kill us some Hoosiers.
4:12 David Lighty opens the game by missing two free throws. Fortunately, that tells us nothing about how David is going to play today.
4:13 Jared Sullinger gets double-teamed, and he kicks it out to William Buford who kicks it over to Jon Diebler for a wide open three. That's not how you play defense against this team.
4:14 Indiana has opened with a 6-3 lead over Jon Diebler. Five on one is not a good matchup for the senior.
4:15 Ooh. Lighty backed his man down and he double-clutched with a lefty banker. That's exciting and new. Come aboard, David's expecting you... The Lighty Boat...soon he'll be making another run... And so forth.
4:25 Tom Crean thinks the Buckeyes are fatigued? I guess if the Hoosiers keep it close or win it, he'll chalk it up to fatigue and not give his team the credit they would deserve.
4:26 Jared Sullinger is out with two fouls and nearly 14 minutes left in the half. Buckeyes up 10-8. Gonna be interesting to see where the offense works itself through now.
4:34 It's so much fun playing the Hoosiers when the refs aren't intimidated by their boarish coach. And yes, that's the proper usage of the term, and it is NOT misspelled.
4:35 Nice alley-oop to Dallas Lauderdale for the dunk. Seems like they should be able to get three or four of those per game if they wanted to.
4:36 Jon Diebler is 1-3 from the free throw line. He just shot a technical foul that was called on the Indiana bench. I would have loved to see that back when Bob Knight was there, but refs are cowards sometimes.
4:37 It's weird seeing these little white dudes bricking three-pointers for Indiana. Haven't they seen every game ever played between these two teams?
4:40 Nice and easy open three from the wing finds the bottom of the net for Deshaun Thomas. That first one means seven more are coming. And there's the second, from the opposite side, and it's good! Indiana calls timeout with the Buckeyes leading 24-10. Thad Matta gets in Thomas' ear and immediately tells him that he just took a bad shot, but he doesn't want him to lose his aggressiveness, and instead needs to find a happy middle. Or something to that effect. Actually, it looks like he told him to take a breath. That's good coaching right there. You never want one of your players to pass out from holding their breath, especially in conference play.
4:43 David Lighty picks up his second foul. Everybody has two fouls in this game. The refs must not work tomorrow and they want to make sure they get enough whistles in for tomorrow as well.
4:46 With Sullinger and Lighty out, Deshaun Thomas is going to get a bunch of minutes this half. He just put a shorty in and got fouled. Great hands and strength. He took it from the floor to the rim in one motion while getting fouled. He misses the free throw, but the Buckeyes lead 26-12 with 5:36 to play.
4:48 Another layup by Thomas, followed by a steal from Craft. Deshaun Thomas is taking his home state school—there's another layup by the way—behind the wood shed and beating them with the actual wood shed. He's got Ohio State's last 14 points I believe. Indiana has 13 points for the entire game. Buckeyes lead it 30-13 with 3:51 remaining.
4:50 Thomas is on a 14-3 run against the Hoosiers right now. Who needs Jared Sullinger?
4:57 Wow, Thomas again. He just snagged an errant pass around the basket and laid it in. He's like Cris Carter and Jerry Lucas all rolled into one left-handed shot-loving monster.
4:58 Diebler with a three. Stealing thunder from He Who Deserves It Most.
4:59 Jordan Sibert is getting some good time in the first half. Though for him, any time is good time.
5:00 Oh! Sibert misses a reverse layup and then Diebler gets a steal and misses a three to end the half. A disappointing finish to an impressive half. Ohio State leads it 38-23. (It actually wasn't that disappointing.)
5:17 My advice for the second half would be more of the same. Step on the throat until sole meets wood. Is that too graphic?
5:19 Buckeyes open the second half with a William Buford three. Not a bad way to anger Tom Crean, which is the sole purpose of this game after all.
5:20 Two more for Buford on a nice cut and layup. Apparently he thinks he's Deshaun Thomas. Silly Buford.
5:25 Great look from Sullinger to Craft for the three-pointer. They had the stat a few weeks ago about who feeds Sullinger the most, but I think on the other hand, Sullinger may feed Craft the most. Half of his threes have to come from a Sullinger kick out.
5:31 Diebler misses another three. His shot is very flat today. Actually has been for a while. That's usually a sign of tired legs. He gets a rest.
5:36 The last 13:27 of this game is going to take an hour. Tom Crean figures that if he's going to have to suffer through this, then everybody should have to suffer.
5:37 David Lighty hits a three. Always love seeing that. Buckeyes lead it 57-34.
5:38 Aaron Craft just knocked Victor Oladipo out going after a loose ball! I have yet to see Craft lose a collision.
5:41 The Buckeyes break the press with an alley-oop from Lighty to Buford. Ho hum.
5:42 Steal from Craft. Yawn. I've seen this way too much today. Show me something different.
5:49 There are still nine minutes to play. We need a TV music-montage in order to move things along.
5:54 Jared Sullinger doesn't have a field goal yet today. Not that it mattered. However, his National Player of the Year resume has been lacking for a couple of weeks now.
5:55 Deshaun Thomas has 20 points. It's the third time he's scored at least 20 points this season. Buckeyes up by like 20 or something.
6:01 Dallas Lauderdale has had a couple of dunks since we last talked. Buckeyes lead it 78-53.
6:02 Only 3:20 remaining! This is like a dream come true!
6:11 Game over. Buckeyes win it 82-61. Thad Matta and Tom Crean have a nice conversation. Probably about how Matta is now 6-0 against Crean. Tom thanked Thad for the lesson, per usual. Thad said the first six were free, but the next six are gonna cost him. Literally.
6:15 Crean hasn't ever even lost by less than double-digits to the Buckeyes. It's amazing how Kelvin Sampson destroyed this program. I'm not complaining though.
6:16 Now it's time to forget about this "game" and move on to Tuesday night at Penn State. There will be nothing easy about it, and Talor Battle is probably already on fire. Here's hoping Aaron Craft can beat the Battle AND win the war. (That's right, I went there.)Game Story
Box Score
Game Play by Play
Season Stats Year to Date
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