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January 30, 2011Extreme WFNY Part 1: Is Cleveland America’s Current Worst Sports City?
January 30, 2011
It was frustrating and unexpected, but in the end, the Ohio State Buckeyes managed to remain undefeated with a narrow 58-57 victory over Northwestern Saturday. Two years removed from a shocking last-second loss to the Wildcats at this very same Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill., the Bucks faced a slow-paced style designed to limit possibilities of the country’s top team.
The box score from this game reads almost like just one half from an NBA game. Ohio State attempted only 37 field goals overall, tied for the fewest in Thad Matta’s head coaching tenure, as Northwestern focused upon utilizing nearly the entire shot clock in each of their offensive possessions. Without senior John Shurna, who averages over 19 points per game and was the hero of that 2009 upset, this was the only option for the Wildcats to remain competitive Saturday evening and it worked to near-perfection.
Ohio State led 51-39 with just 8:25 remaining in the contest, but in a near deja vu, the Wildcats made drastic rally to make it a nerve-wracking finish to a confusing college basketball contest. Northwestern converted five of six three pointers in the final few minutes, while the Buckeyes missed a total of four free throws, still enabling Drew Crawford to heave a failed desperation half-court shot for the win as time expired.
Freshman forward Jared Sullinger was huge in this game, yet again, finishing with 21 points and eight rebounds on 7-for-12 shooting from the field, also making all but three of his 10 free throw attempts. Besides that however, the Buckeyes offense was lifeless when given limited opportunities by Northwestern on the night. Freshman guard Aaron Craft collected 13 points for another productive performance off the bench, and junior guard William Buford had 11, but that was about it.
Northwestern is a talented team with a 13-8 record, sitting probably just below the conference demarcation line for making the NCAA Tournament. They have struggled more so of late, and Shurna’s injury certainly doesn’t help their cause, but this was not out of the ordinary in terms of the program’s development over the past several seasons.
OSU now holds a 22-0 record along with a 9-0 mark halfway through Big Ten Conference play. The monster blowout over Purdue is clearly the signature win, but this Northwestern victory has been similar to many of the other tight league contests over the past month.
Next up is a hopefully easy home date with Michigan on Thursday, Feb. 3. After that, the team has two pivotal road battles to begin a difficult stretch that will eventually include a rematch with the Boilermakers. The next two games after the Wolverines are in Minnesota on Sunday, Feb. 6, followed by a giant match against Wisconsin on Saturday, Feb. 12.
(Photo above via Frank Polich/Reuters)
