Bobby Bradley could be the Indians’ Giancarlo Stanton, and other Baseball Prospectus 2016 musings
February 22, 2016Goodbye Anderson Varejao and Serial Season 2 – WFNY Podcast No. 461
February 22, 2016Ohio State is (finally) playing its best basketball of the season. With their second consecutive perfect week, the Bucks have now on four straight games. Sitting at fourth place in the Big Ten with a 10-5 conference record, and an 18-10 mark overall, Ohio State will have to finish strong to make the Big Dance. It won’t be easy, as they play the No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes once and the No. 8 Michigan State Spartans twice to close the season.
Buckeyes beat Mich-Again, 76-66
This game had plenty to look forward to, not only due to the rivalry but also because former Buckeye star Evan Turner got his No. 21 jersey retired at halftime. Ohio State lived up to the moment, playing well from the start and never letting up against That Team Up North.
The scarlet and gray held a 36-28 lead at halftime, helped by a Jae’Sean Tate three-point play with just seconds remaining. The Buckeyes scored the first five points of the game and went on two separate 7-0 mini-runs in the opening 20 minutes. Ohio State was able to keep the lead in the second half and went on to beat the Wolverines, 76-66.
The Bucks shot 54 percent from the field while holding the Wolverines to just 39 percent. Ohio State did well contesting Michigan’s shooters, as the Wolverines made just 21 percent of their shots from beyond the arc; Derrick Walton and Duncan Robinson shot just 2-of-12 combined. Ohio State moved the ball well, assisting on 14 of their 27 made field goals. The Bucks, who have struggled from the free throw line recently, made 17-of-23 freebies (74 percent) in the win.
The Buckeyes benefited from a balanced scoring attack, as five players scored in double figures: Marc Loving (13 points, 10 rebounds, five assists), Jae’Sean Tate (13 points, four rebounds), Trevor Thompson (12 points), JaQuan Lyle (12 points, two assists, two blocks), and Kam Williams (10 points, one block). Ohio State got 20 points off the bench, while Michigan reserves scored just nine points.
Ohio State outlasts Nebraska in overtime, 65-62
The game was ugly from the start, but the Buckeyes did what they had to do to beat the Cornhuskers in Lincoln Saturday night, 65-62, in overtime.
Nine minutes into the game, Ohio State had just two points while shooting 1-for-10 from the field. Luckily for them, Nebraska also couldn’t make a shot; the Huskers scored just eight points in that same time and weren’t able to take advantage of the Bucks’ poor shooting. Trailing 8-2 midway through the first half, the Bucks finally started to make some shots and went on an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the game.
JaQuan Lyle kept the Buckeyes afloat, at least in the second half. Lyle scored all 19 of his points in the second half and overtime, including a layup with 31 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Buckeyes a 64-62 lead. Lyle carried Ohio State to a big road victory, and was happy with the way his Buckeyes were able to rebound from such a slow start.
“A month ago we probably would have shut down and they would have won the game in regulation,” Lyle said. “We didn’t do that today. We kept fighting, got to overtime and pulled the game out for a big win.”
Although Nebraska has struggled this season — they are 14-14, including 6-9 in Big Ten play — head coach Thad Matta was proud of the way his team played to pull out a win in Lincoln.
“This is a heck of a place to play and Nebraska had a lot on the line,” said Matta. “From that perspective, we’re very excited about the win even though we might not have played as well as we could. But they had a lot to do with that.”
Ohio State shot just 39 percent from the field and 21 percent from behind the three-point line. Luckily for them, Nebraska was even worse, making just 27 percent of their shots from the field and 26 percent from beyond the arc. The Buckeyes had 17 turnovers and allowed the Cornhuskers to snag 19 offensive rebounds, two things that must change against better competition.
Just four Buckeyes scored in the win: JaQuan Lyle (19 points, seven rebounds, three assists), Keita Bates-Diop (16 points, four rebounds, two steals, one block, Jae’Sean Tate (15 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, one steal), and Marc Loving (15 points, four rebounds, one steal).
Coming up this week:
Tuesday vs. No. 8 Michigan State (22-5, 9-5), 9:00 p.m. ET
Sunday vs. No. 4 Iowa (20-6, 11-3), 4:00 p.m. ET
This will be the start of three consecutive games against top 25 teams to finish their regular season, having to travel to Michigan State in the final weekend. Obviously, these three games will play a key role on the Buckeyes chances to make the NCAA Tournament.
2 Comments
In a weird year, I would make sure I found a way to get the buckeyes in if I were on the selection committee. They have a chance to be a cinderella/upset team. That is what makes March Madness exciting and OSU has proved it can beat quality teams.
The Four Letter needs to forget about that courtside camera idea.
That was awful.