Still Time For Browns to Define This Season
November 16, 2011Browns’ Uniforms Lacking Brown This Season
November 16, 2011It wasn’t a polished performance, there were defensive lapses, offensive holes, and there wasn’t uninterrupted viewing on ESPN2, but what the third ranked Buckeyes did do last night was survive their first true early season test. The Bucks rallied after falling behind by 8 early in the first half to take a 18-point lead in the second half, led by William Buford’s shooting and closed out by Aaron Craft’s toughness, as Ohio State topped #8 Florida 81-74 to move to 2-0 on the season.
Things did not go OSU’s way at the outset. Gator junior forward Erik Murphy drilled three early three pointers and behind that effort, Florida led 14-6 six minutes in. The Bucks gave up 6 first half trey balls in all as their bigger lineup with either starter Deshaun Thomas or reserve Evan Ravenel had trouble closing out on shooters, allowing open looks.
On offense, the Buckeyes looked impatient and flustered. Ironically, no one played that part more at the outset than the lone senior Buford. At the same time, Buford both kept Ohio State in the game with his made jumpers and held them back from generating a true offensive flow to pull away from Florida. In my view, there’s almost no excuse for Sullinger not to touch the ball on every possession. When Buford gets it on the wing, he rarely find an open man and has the shoot-first mentality. However, Buford was the catalyst of the Buckeye run in the second half, scoring 9 points in less than four minutes and helping to extend the lead to its largest margin (18). William finished as the leading scorer with 21 points on 7-of-15 from the field, adding 6 boards and 3 assists. Ravenel added five straight points in that 27-14 run as well.
Early, when the game could have easily slipped away from Ohio State, their leader got to work in the paint and at the line. Jared Sullinger turned in a workman effort, posting 16 points and 6 rebounds, while virtually being ignored on the offensive end in the second half. The sophomore big converted all eight of his foul shots and was in good position on defense until picking up his third foul caused him to lapse a bit underneath the hoop. Sully faced an almost constant double team, which visibly affected his ability to get to the block and punish the opponent. Jared still got to the charity stripe by going up strong and fighting for what position he could get. As he did last year, Sullinger realized that his passing out of the double was vital, and the big guy chipped in three assists. The best one of these came on a beautiful cut to the basket by guard Lenzelle Smith Jr.
Meanwhile, Coach Billy Donovan in addition to doubling Sully made the decision to set picks on Aaron Craft at the top of the key on nearly every play. With the pick and roll action and subsequent pick and rolls from the wing that often involved either Thomas or Ravenel, Florida hoped to keep Craft fighting through screens and unable to play helpside defense and force turnovers. It worked very well for most of the first half, but eventually, the tenacity of Craft broke through and the sophomore point from Findlay turned up the intensity down the stretch. Craft finished the game strong offensively, taking the ball almost exclusively in his hands, converting 5 of 8 free throws and handing out 7 assists to go with his 13 points and 3 steals. Craft’s defense in part held Florida senior point guard Erving Walker to just 4 points, making his first basket of the game with 4:38 to go.
Deshaun Thomas is always an interesting study in shot selection and binge scoring. Deshaun missed his first three shots, then made 4 of his next 7 shots as he went to work on the offensive glass and in the post. The sophomore hit one three, but he converted all six of his free throws and got better at defending the pick and roll as the game progressed. If Matta can get the sometimes aloof Thomas to buy in on the defensive end, the sky is the limit for both Thomas and the Bucks.
We all know Thad Matta likes to go with a short bench, and despite the fact that players 6-11 on his roster are very close in talent level, he made a decision to go primarily with sophomore guard Jordan Sibert and junior transfer forward/center Evan Ravenel off the bench. Freshman point Shannon Scott also saw limited action, but this was only after Aaron Craft quickly picked up two personal fouls with less than three minutes before halftime. Sophomore J.D. Weatherspoon and freshman Amir Williams did not see the floor. I expect the rotation to be fluid throughout the year because of Ohio State’s depth, and in time, I anticipate Matta extending to a 8-9 man rotation.
Ohio State shot 47% for the game, but made their living at the foul line with 27-of-34 makes (79%). Florida kept it close with a whopping 11 three pointers, though three of those came in the final minute with the score out of reach. OSU was just 4-of-15 from three point range, and they were out-rebounded 34-25. Florida turned the ball over an eye-popping 16 times compared to 7 TOs for the Bucks.
The Buckeyes’ next game is against Jackson State at home on Friday night.
(Photo: Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
11 Comments
Do you think Weatherspoon’s injury had any bearing on his lack of playing time, or do you think he will be out of the rotation against tougher opponents?
Rick, I think it was his injury. he showed enough energy and D in his limited minutes Friday to garner a shot at playing IMO.
I almost had a heart attack when they showed that Kseysysesky handshake/hugfest. What makes you think I want to watch that so bad you have to cancel what i’m watching? How about this, I switch to that channel. I wish all OSU games were on BTN, atleast they wouldnt pull that shady move.
Buford has turned into Thomas in regards to shot selection. He seems to be pressing to improve draft stock. When he settled down & let the game come to him, he was perfect. But when he forces shots in the lane, he just looks bad.
I’ve got to say that I am impressed yet again with Aaron Craft. He might be more important to this season and this team than even Jared Sullinger. The way he defeats back court pressure in crunch time is impossibly valuable. So many college games get decided down the stretch with the full court press.
Also the Buckeyes remained very very calm as the Gators were draining threes. Loved seeing that.
My guess it was the injury – or something else undisclosed. However, How awesome did Smith look last night?
Our perimeter defense is going to be our downfall this year if not fixed.
And say what you want about the free throw shooting…but when the closing out a game, the ball will be in the hands of Craft and Buford…and those two guys can be money from the line.
Ravenel looks like a poor-man’s Dallas Lauderdale.
@ Lyon – awesome comment about Coach K – I was saying the exact same thing last night.
@ Craig – dead on – I love how Craft remains so calm on the floor, even after the Gators doubled him and stole the ball late in the second half – he got the ball immediately again and drew a foul. His move of beating his man, and then purposely running right in front of them is outstanding and will draw many fouls. Plus, the best thing about him? He will not leave early – our PG is settled for this year, plus the next two years. Gotta love that.
This makes 3 in a row against Florida right?
Dee, I actually think he’s an offensive version of Dallas. He showed he could hit a J last night. Not as good at protecting the rim, but you’re also not playing 4 on 5 like we did last year.
And Craig has it right. Craft is unbelievable. I dread to think what would happen in crunch time without him breaking the press. And his D has got to be best in the country. So many strips on layups last night.
I’m not saying that he didn’t – but I would have loved to see Coach chew Buford’s butt out more in the timeout huddle after he took that stupid three while we were trying to close out the game.
@ Lyon – good call, plus he actually made a free-throw last night…Dallas is still looking for his first.
I think Matta expressed that in his own way. Matta won’t chew out his players, not his style. But you better believe his point got across anyways.
and Dee, our perimeter D will get better in 2 ways.
1. more consistent playing time for the young guys (thomas & smith) will lead to more confidence. you can tell Thomas isn’t used to being outside on D, but he’ll grow into it and get better (i hope)
2. Williams will see more time as he gets accostumed to the college game @ practice. He CAN protect the rim and will be vital during the B1G conf season. thus will allow the perimeter players to put more pressure on and stop the easy layups. Sully can’t really block shots & you don’t want him getting dumb fouls either.
Totally agree about the ESPN garbage. They pulled that last year during OSU-Fla IIRC when UConn’s women were on the verge of losing (they didn’t) on ESPN.
If I want to watch it then I will watch it by turning it on. It’s not like they were patching it in from Raycom or something, it was one channel down.
Yet another example of ESPN’s oversaturation of everything. Although I was disappointed they didn’t cut into the Bucks game with ESPN8’s coverage of the Dodgeball finals. That Average Joe’s team has some grit.
I’d even take the Craft thing one step further and say that if they have hopes of winning a title he needs to be the unquestioned leader of this team. That means having the stones to bark at Buford and Thomas when they start chucking, and make sure they are feeding Sully, and on top of that he has to be comfortable getting his own shots in the flow. I think this team could be like the UConn team with Emeka and Ben Gordon, but its up to Craft. Last even with the body make over I’d hope somebody gives Sullinger a Moses Malone box set and explains; “This is the Yoda of talented basketball guys with great feet but no athleticism, and a wrecking ball where their butt should be, learn from him.”