Please patronize our advertisers to help
keep theOzone.net free for everyone.
 |
|
||||||
Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Bludgeon Walsh 102-56 In Exhibition
By Brandon CastelCOLUMBUS, Ohio — The visiting team wore Cavaliers across the chest, but that didn’t draw them any sympathy from Ohio State as the fourth-ranked Buckeyes overpowered Walsh 102-56 in an exhibition game.
Head Coach Thad Matta and the Buckeyes won’t officially begin play until the regular-season opener against North Carolina A&T this Friday, but he has to feel good about what he saw in Sunday’s blowout at Value City Arena.
“Overall I was pretty pleased,” Matta said after watching his team shoot 60 percent from the floor and 40 percent from behind the arc.
“I thought we did a good job offensively (with) shot selection, taking decent shots. I thought we moved the ball well.”
Playing in his first (unofficial) game as a Buckeye, freshman Jared Sullinger posted a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes of action.
“I thought he had a pretty good command about him,” Matta said of the 6-foot-9 power forward.
“We did a decent job of finding him down low and he showed he can also pass the basketball. We’ve got to continue to build him. That’s his first ‘college game’ he’s every played in and I was pretty pleased with him today.”
The younger brother of former Buckeye J.J. Sullinger was the only freshman in the starting lineup, where he joined veterans Dallas Lauderdale, David Lighty, Jon Diebler and William Buford. All of them but Diebler scored in double-figures, with Lighty tallying 19 and Buford 16. Buford also had eight rebounds despite the fact he opened the game as the point guard, replacing National Player of the Year Evan Turner.
“I thought, with the exception of the advanced pass into Jon’s back, he was pretty good,” Matta said.
“He’s done a pretty good job. His game has gotten a lot better and I think his ball-handling all-around his much, much better.”
Ohio State’s offense seemed to click better, however, when Buford was off the ball and freshman Aaron Craft was running the point. The Buckeyes led just 14-10 when Matta brought Craft off the bench at the 14:37 mark of the first half.
The decision was defense-based, but Craft quickly jump-started the offense with his gritty play.
“What you saw today with Aaron is how he’s been throughout the course of practice,” Matta said.
“When he checked in at the 15-minute mark, we had given up 10 points and I thought that he did a pretty good job of picking up.”
On his first possession in the game, Craft assisted on a three by Diebler to make it 17-10. He quickly followed that by picking Walsh guard Lamar Skeeter for a breakaway layup that made it 19-10. A minute later he buried a there from the top of the arc and followed that with a defensive rebound and three assists to give the Buckeyes a 33-17 lead at the 8:42 mark in the first half.
“He’s got a great feel for offensively where the ball needs to be and you can tell he’s shot a ton of shots,” Matta said of Craft, who finished with 12 points, eight assists and two steals without committing a single turnover.
Led by Craft’s outburst and 14 points from Buford, the Buckeyes took a 55-30 lead into halftime, where they focused on shoring up things at the other end of the floor.
“Defensively I was a little bit nervous there at halftime. We weren’t as active off the ball and our rotations were a little bit slow,” Matta said.
“They shot 46 percent in the first half and 26 percent in the second, and that was something we had talked about.”
Despite mixing and matching rotations in the second half, including a look where Lighty ran the point with four freshmen on the floor, the Buckeyes held Walsh to just 26 points after halftime on 8-of-30 shooting. They went 1-for-10 from behind the arc in the second half and were outrebounded 45-22 by Ohio State.
Sullinger led all players with his 10 boards, including six on the offensive end. Lauderdale added 12 points (5-of-5 shooting) and seven rebounds, and freshman Deshaun Thomas score eight points and grabbed six rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench.
The Buckeyes will begin their 2010-11 season Friday against North Carolina A&T (7 p.m. ET) followed by a trip to Gainesville next Tuesday for a showdown with Florida.
Donate by Check :
Ozone Communications
1380 King Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43212Help us bring you more Buckeye coverage. Donate to the-Ozone.
Click here to email this the-Ozone feature to a friend...or even a foe.
(c) 2010 The O-Zone, O-Zone Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, rebroadcast,rewritten, or redistributed.
|
|
||||||