Josh Cribbs’ Future With the Browns
December 13, 201112 Days of a Cleveland Christmas: Day 4
December 13, 2011The Buckeyes traveled to Lawrence, Kansas on Saturday afternoon and one of the best atmospheres in college basketball. They did so with Jared Sullinger sitting in street clothes. Thad Matta decided that it was more important to ensure Sully had some additional rest for his back spasms that kept him out of last Saturday’s game too. The Buckeyes fell 78-67 in a game that was a couple possession game until the final moments. The loss was the second-ranked Bucks’ first of the season, but in it, the short-handed squad learned quite a bit about their makeup and exposed some flaws that they will need to improve on with or without Sullinger.
1. Let me start by saying that I’m completely fine with Matta holding Sullinger out of this one. There are so many more conference and tournament games down the road that this one paled by comparison. The Buckeyes have already proved they can run with top 10 competition with their homecourt wins against Florida and Duke. There’s no need to let pride into this when it comes to pushing the envelope on an injury. Because of Matta’s comment about his star big man likely playing “if it was a tournament game”, some questioned whether Sullinger should have given it a go. While the Kansas win would’ve been a big win for the program, this team’s not going deep into the tournament without a healthy Sullinger, so getting him back to 100 percent should be top priority.
2.The first thing Sullinger’s absence did was show just how important of a cog he is to Ohio State’s offense. It’s so much more than the direct post feeds and back to the basket scoring he provides. It’s his offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding and outlet passes that start fastbreaks, and leadership to want the ball in his hands. He is a vehicle by which the Ohio State offense becomes fluid. Notice how smoothly a pick-and-roll with Craft is with Jared compared to when Ravenel or Thomas or Williams runs the same set. Sullinger’s basketball IQ is incredibly high. He knows exactly where to cut in the lane to split defenders and create a driving lane for Craft, and you don’t realize how far his reach on this team stretches until you’re without him.
3. Deshaun Thomas and William Buford needed to step up in Sullinger’s absence. In the first half, Thomas played possibly his best 20 minutes of Buckeye basketball, pouring in 15 points and helping hold Kansas forward Thomas Robinson to 7 points. Deshaun is very much a rhythm shooter, and he found his stroke from beyond the arc three times in that first half. Thomas is also a good free throw shooter who has touch on the block, and he put in a couple buckets from inside as well. Most importantly, Thomas’s size, range, and skill make him a tough player to guard. The Jayhawks had no answer for him in the first half, but they found one late in the first half in reserve forward Kevin Young, a big reason they won the game. Thomas faded in the second half, finishing with 19 points, but this was a good game for him. He’s now shown flashes of what he’s capable of, and when this team is full strength, there’s no reason he can’t average 15 points per game.
4. Then there’s Buford, who was just 1-for-9 with 4 points for the first 26 minutes of the game. He was passive in every sense of the word, and when he did shoot the ball, it was a poor shot. In a game without their leading scorer, their senior and second leading scorer should have stepped up. Buford failed miserably in the first half. But, to his credit, Buford turned it on midway through the second half, focusing on mid-range jumpers off the screen and curl, a staple for him. William finished the game with 21 points on 8-of-23 shooting. It’s why you can never give up on William Buford the scorer. You fight through the 2-for-16 performances against Kentucky because of the big games he is capable of (21 vs. Florida and 20 vs. Duke). He gave the Bucks a little bit of both on Saturday, but they need him to be a more consistent perimeter threat.
5. Because of Sully’s absence and Ravenel’s foul trouble, Amir Williams got 15 meaningful minutes in this one. As I wrote last week, I think Matta needs to use his bench more. Today, he had no choice. While Williams didn’t put up much in the boxscore (2 points, 3 rebounds) and in fact hurt OSU on a couple of key plays, he did show the potential to influence the game on the defensive end. He spent time covering Robinson in the second half, and he deflected several passes when denying in the post. The blocked shots will come with Williams too as he learns to improve his helpside defense. At times, you could see Amir glued to his man, unwilling to traverse the paint and help on the other side. Because of Thad’s decision to not play his freshmen big minutes, learning on the job 5 or 10 minutes at a time is going to be a slow process.
6. The biggest weakness for Ohio State exposed against the Jayhawks was their three-point defense. Lenzelle Smith Jr., Jordan Sibert, and even Aaron Craft struggled mightily at latching onto the Kansas guards. Guard Elijah Johnson hit five of KU’s nine three pointers, Kansas hit 9-of-17 attempts, and they shot 58% from the floor overall. The Buckeyes have been a dominant defensive team this season, but on Saturday, they were perpetually a step late on rotations. There were some positives on defense, too, as Evan Ravenel, Thomas, and Williams all defended the post well, keeping Robinson in check for most of the game until late. Coming out of Saturday’s game, though, I guarantee Matta is not satisfied with where his team is at defensively.
The still second-ranked Bucks take on South Carolina Upstate on Wednesday evening in The Schott before taking it on the road for another non-conference test against the South Carolina Gamecocks Saturday afternoon.
(Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
5 Comments
Still upset he doesn’t go into his bench. In the 1st half Buford and Smith were giving us nothing. Just giving a bench guy a couple minutes could inject some life into the team, or wake up the Starters who aren’t giving us anything.
Buford needs to realize that he can score at anytime. He just floats around until a play is called for him to come off a screen. I’d love to see him post up smaller guards b/c he is deadly on the block.
Also, Kirk, what are your thoughts on OSU pressing? With the outstanding on the ball D of Craft and the other athletes on the floor, I feel like we could force about 5 more turnovers a game by pressing at key moments.
i agree with Lyon on pressing. maybe we are saving this for conference play?
i don’t mind the short-bench. it means less in the tourney to have a deep bench (other than some foul trouble). i wish we would have a deeper bench now just to make sure guys are ready if needed, but it’s a minor quibble to me.
i love that he held out sullinger. even if he was 90%, it’s great experience for the team to try to win a game without him. OOC regular season games are nearly meaningless in college bball anyway so might as well get some great experience for the team.
In regards to pressing, I’d be in favor of it as a surprise weapon for a couple minutes each game. Again though, I would not feel comfortable without Scott, Thompson, Ross, etc. being worked in to lessen fatigue.
yeah i agree, if we’re pressing we need more bodies.
And I’m not suggesting for the whole game. We’re a good enough team to not have to resort to that. But I think at times like Saturday when they had little going right for them, a few turnovers would’ve helped turn the tide.
Either way, I hope the youngsters learn from this game and when Sully comes back they’re even better than before.
OSU has deficiencies all over, inability to score creatively off the dribble, depth is a big issue, missing the three point shooters on last years team as well as Matta’s inability to rally his team game-day and make adjustment as the game progresses, when is the last time you actually saw Matta get in a players face?
This team has nothing to stop two 7 footers from North Carolina and has difficulty matching Kentucky’s athleticism and height as evident in last year’s tournament. The bench will have to be developed quickly or the Buckeye’s will fold earlier within a more competitive Big Ten this year.