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Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Trounce UNC Wilmington, 81-41
By John Porentas with contributions from Tony GerdemanThe worriers out there can relax tonight.
The Buckeyes (3-0) did a very nice job of taking apart a good Florida team this week, but the worries coming out of that game were two-fold.
First, the Buckeyes played just seven players against the Gators, leading to worries about depth. Second, there were worries that the OSU might have a letdown after an emotional, high-profile win.
Worry one got put to bed against North Carolina Wilmington (2-2) when Thad Matta used the game to get his bench some playing game time. Eleven players saw action, all of them logging double-digit minutes. Everyone who got on the floor scored. Freshmen Deshaun Thomas and Jordan Sibert both reached double figures.
"The other night in that environment in Gainesville, I don't know if that's quite it (a time to get younger players experience), but the more we can get those guys out there in game situations (the better)," Matta said.
As to the letdown, it was pretty clear that didn't happen. OSU hammered UNCW early and bolted out to a 48-16 lead at the half.
"We challenged our guys to start the game with great intensity at a high level, and I thought our guys did a very good job coming out of the gates, especially on the defensive end," said Matta.
"We started talking about it immediately after the game tuesday night. That was the big challenge for these guys, to come out and have the focus and the mind set they needed to play tonight."
OSU dominated both inside and out and we never threatened in the game, though late in the contest UNCW found enough success to play relatively evenly with the Buckeyes in the second half.
"The second half we probably left our guard down late in the game. It's something we talked about after the game, of seeing things all the way through," said Matta.
The Buckeye scoring was led by Thomas who registered a game-high 17 points in 24 minutes of play. His night was in stark contrast to his outing in Gainesville when the talented freshman appeared to be overwhelmed by the environment and did not perform particularly well in very limited floor time.
Four other OSU players reached double digits. Freshman center Jared Sullinger had 11, junior wing William Buford 12, senior wing David Lighty 10, and freshman guard Jordan Sibert, who did not play at all in the game vs. Florida, had 11. Sullinger added eight rebounds, but sat out a good portion of the second half. As a result he failed to reach a double-double for the first time in his young Buckeye career.
"Jared has been banged up with an ankle," said Matta explaining Sullinger's limited second half playing time.
"The first half Dallas had two fouls so we kept him out there, but he's been battling an ankle injury from Tuesday night," Matta said.
Buford was OSU's assist leader with five and did not have any turnovers.
UNCW was guilty of a whopping 20 turnover and registered just seven assists. Head Coach Buzz Peterson was impressed with the job OSU did on his team.
"I like Ohio State's team," he said.
"The have the makeup to do a lot of good things both inside and outside.
"I don't see why as the season goes on they can't improve and get better and better.
"This can be a good season for them.
"I don't want to jinx them and say anything else, but I've seen a lot of good basketball teams and they've got a good one."
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