Ohio State Rebounds with Win Over Michigan State

The Ohio State men’s basketball team rebounded from its first loss of the season to defeat the Michigan State Spartans 71-61 last night at Value City Arena. 

It was the primetime game of the night in front of a sellout crowd, the third of the season, as Brent Musburger and Dick Vitale were in the house to call the game.  Coming off their first loss of the season and a subsequent fall from their number-one ranking, it was expected that the Buckeyes would respond at home with a victory over a Michigan State group that has been team turmoil in this entire season.

The preseason second-ranked Spartans had lost five of seven games coming into last night.  With a streak of embarrassing efforts against the bottom of the conference, it appeared that the train had gone completely off the tracks and they had given up on head coach Tom Izzo.  Korie Lucious was dismissed from the team midseason, the second such dismissal this year after Chris Allen was sent packing over the summer.  But MSU was coming off a win over Penn State and Izzo had stated before the game that he felt his team was back on the right path and expected a competitive effort against the elite of the conference.

It was a sluggish first ten minutes of the game with both teams struggling to find any rhythm on offense.  William Buford and David Lighty carried Ohio State throughout the first half.  They scored the first 15 points for OSU, with 11 coming from Buford.  A majority of their production came in the paint with successful penetration and conversion on their trademark floaters.

Buford finished with a game-high 23 points and went the full 40 for Thad Matta.  One sequence involved an NBA caliber fake and drive ending with an emphatic one handed dunk in traffic.  That was quickly followed by a three pointer on a subsequent possession.  The game was back-and-forth throughout the first half with the MSU bench outscoring the Bucks 21-1 (a constant glaring problem for OSU over the past 2 seasons).  Ohio State was in the bonus with over 7 minutes to play and free throws combined with the scoring of Buford and Lighty kept them in the game as they entered the locker room down two.

OSU needed the production because their MVP, Jared Sullinger, had his most quiet game of this conference season.  It was not necessarily a bad game (although perhaps we would call it that by his standards).  It was just quiet.  His first bucket came almost 11 minutes into the first half.  He did not get his hands on many loose balls or rebounds, finishing with only 2 boards.  He got into some foul trouble with a couple offensive fouls.  And he struggled more than usual on defense.

The MSU trio of bigs in Adreian Payne, Garrick Sherman, and Derrick Nix were much more effective than they ought to be against Sullinger and Dallas Lauderdale.  Both Nix and Payne converted on a couple of “and one” opportunities off of spin moves against Lauderdale.  They also continually got open layups off the high-low passing from Draymond Green.  MSU shot 63% in the first half on a lot of these open looks – completely out of character for OSU on the defensive end.

Kalin Lucas is starting to get back to form after the achilles injury and looked good last night hitting on his jump stop pull ups.  I really believe Aaron Craft, who has proven himself against the likes of Demetri McCamey and Talor Battle, is as good an on-the-ball defender as there is in the Big Ten.  Lucas did have some success getting into the lane though.  But with Durrell Summers in immediate foul trouble and a total non-factor, and with Delvon Roe injured, the Spartans just did not have enough fire power to hold off the best team in country on its home floor.

In addition to Buford and Lighty, the free throw line carried the Buckeyes on the offensive end.  As noted above, they were in the bonus nearly halfway through the first and finished with an amazing 29-6 free throw disparity.  They converted on 79% of those free throws.  Michigan State averages 19 threes a game but took only 5 last night.  The Spartans, however, continued to keep it close until an outstanding play by Aaron Craft.  The freshman came out of nowhere to chase down what was your basic backcourt violation throw away by Sherman, grabbed it before it crossed the opposite end baseline, and converted a three point play after MSU had initially given up on the ball.  The sellout crowd was in a frenzy, Vitale was shrieking, and the Spartans were done.

A couple timely threes by Ohio State combined with the free throw shooting to more than make up for the first half defensive mishaps and the quiet game from Sullinger.  The versatility and ability to win in a variety of ways is a another positive sign for Ohio State as March approaches.

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(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)