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Buckeyes In The News

Jody Victor: Here’s some great Buckeye basketball news from osu.edu and OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

Sullinger, Buford Closing on 600 Rebounds
Jared Sullinger and William Buford each are within 11 rebounds of reaching 600 for their respective careers. Sullinger, in 60 games played, has 590 boards for an average of 9.8 a game. Buford has played 131 games and has 589 rebounds (4.5 rpg). A total of 17 Ohio State players have recorded 600 or more rebounds in their careers. Jerry Lucas owns the Ohio State record with 1,411 career rebounds over three seasons (1960-62). The last player to reach 600 as a Buckeye was Evan Turner with 683 from 2008-10.

USBWA Names Sullinger to Watch List
The United States Basketball Writers Association named Jared Sullinger to a list of 20 student-athletes in consideration for the 2012 Oscar Robertson Trophy, given annually to the organization’s national player of the year honoree. The award will be presented March 30 in New Orleans. The USBWA selected Sullinger as its Wayman Tisdale Award winner in 2011. The award recognizes the national freshman of the year.

Sullinger Paces Buckeyes at Home
Sophomore Jared Sullinger averages a double-double in games played this season in Columbus. He contributes a team-leading 17.4 points and 10.2 rebounds a game on Ohio State’s home court. He also is leading the regulars by scoring on 55 percent of his shots from the field (103-186). Senior William Buford averages 15.6 points and has made 88 percent of his foul shots on familiar turf (44-50). Sophomore Deshaun Thomas is the third Buckeyes averaging double figures at home with 13.4 points per game. Ohio State is outscoring opponents by 23.3 points per game with an 8.2 rebounds per game advantage in Columbus.

Academics and Athletic Awards for Craft
Sophomore Aaron Craft was selected to the Academic All-District 5 First Team Feb. 2. He now advances to the Capital One Academic All-America Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team Academic All-America honorees will be selected later this month. Craft is majoring in excercise science (pre-med) with a GPA of 3.89. Craft also is among 11 remaining candidates for the Bob Cousy Award after the list was trimmed from an initial pool of 60 candidates. The annual honor, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic Bob Cousy, recognizes the top point guards in college basketball. This current list of candidates will be narrowed down to the final five by March 1. Craft currently leads the Buckeyes in assists (116) and steals (54).

Matta Earns Another 20-Win Season
For each of the last 12 seasons, all as a head coach, Thad Matta has guided teams to at least 20 victories. Only Mark Few, among active coaches, has more consecutive 20-win seasons to start a career (13). Matta set the Ohio State record for consecutive 20-win campaigns in 2008-09 with a 22-11 record and extended it this year (21-4), the eighth-consecutive Ohio State season with 20+ victories. The previous record was four held by the 1960-63 teams under legendary head coach Fred Taylor. The Buckeyes also own the second-longest streak of 20-win seasons (8) in Big Ten history. Illinois owns the record with nine from (1983-1991). Matta also has won at least 10 Big Ten regular-season games in each of the last six seasons. That effort eclipsed Taylor’s mark of 10+ league wins in each of the seasons from 1960-64. Those were during 14-game regular-season slates. The Big Ten played a 16-game schedule in Matta’s first three seasons (8, 12, 15 league wins) and an 18-game schedule the last five (10, 10, 14, 16, 9). Ohio State is the two-time defending Big Ten regular-season champion. The last time the Buckeyes won three or more consecutive titles was from 1960-64, a string of five-consecutive conference crowns.

BUFORD AMONG FINALISTS FOR LOWE’S SENIOR CLASS AWARD
Ten NCAA men’s basketball student-athletes who excel both on and off the court were selected as finalists for the 2011-12 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. The winner of the fan vote will be announced at the 2012 Final Four in New Orleans. To vote for Buford visit go.osu.edu/Vote4Buford.
Buford Reaches 100 Wins as a Buckeye
Senior William Buford reached career win No. 100 as a Buckeye at Iowa Jan. 7. David Lighty (2007-11) holds the Ohio State record for wins with 129. Walk-ons Mark Titus and Danny Peters were part of Ohio State’s program for 110 victories over their careers (2007-10). The four-year record for victories by scholarship players was originally set by Jamar Butler and Matt Terwilliger from 2005-08 with 105. The 2009 team had 107 wins from 2006-09 but there were no four-year seniors on that squad.
Wins    Seniors    Yr.-by-Yr.
129    David Lighty (2007-2011)    35,24,7,29,34
110    Danny Peters, Mark Titus (2007-10)    35,24,22,29
109    Jon Diebler, Dallas Lauderdale (2008-11)    24,22,29,34
107    None (2006-09)    26,35,24,22
106    William Buford (2009-12)    22,29,34,21    105    Jamar Butler, Matt Terwilliger (2005-08)    20,26,35,24

Go Bucks!!!

Jody Victor

Ohio State Begins Road Stretch at Minnesota Tonight

Jody Victor®: Here’s some great Buckeye basketball news from osu.edu and OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes (21-4, 9-3) at Minnesota Golden Gophers (17-8, 5-7)
Date: Feb. 14, 2012
Site: Williams Arena (14,625)
Game Time: 9 p.m. ET
Television: ESPN
Talent: Mike Tirico (play-by-play), Dan Dakich (expert analysis), Samantha Steele (Sideline)
Radio: OSU-IMG Sports Network (56 stations)
Satellite Radio: Sirius-91, XM-91        
Local Radio: WBNS FM-97.1 AM-1460
Radio Talent: Paul Keels (play-by-play), Ron Stokes (expert analysis)

Ohio State VS. Minnesota
Ohio State owns a 78-55 advantage in games played in the Minnesota series and is 29-37 in Minneapolis. When Ohio State is ranked in the Associated Press poll, the Buckeyes are 24-3 vs. the Golden Gophers. Ohio State has won 11 of the last 12 and each of the last four games when ranked vs. Minnesota. Overall, Ohio State has won five of the last six games and four consecutive meetings vs. Minnesota. William Buford averages 13.9 points in seven career meetings vs. Minnesota. Jared Sullinger scored 33 points (16.5 ppg.) and grabbed 25 rebounds (12.5 rpg.) in two games last year in the Minnesota series.

 
The Buckeyes in the Big Ten
The Buckeyes rank No. 2 in both scoring offense (75.8 ppg.) and scoring defense (56.7 ppg.) after a 21-4 overall start. Ohio State’s scoring margin of 19.1 ppg. leads the league while the .482 field goal shooting pct. rates in the No. 2 spot. Led by Jared Sullinger, Ohio State is among the Top 2 teams in rebounding offense (36.7 rpg., No. 2) and defense (29.6 rpg., No. 2). Overall, the Buckeyes are No. 2 in rebound margin (+7.1 rpg.). Behind Aaron Craft, Ohio State is No. 1 in turnover margin (+5.4).

Ohio State vs. the Big Ten
Ohio State is 733-665 vs. current members of the Big Ten Conference. The Buckeyes are playing their 100th season of Big Ten Basketball this season.

Go Bucks!!!

Jody Victor®

Boilermakers Battle Buckeyes in Lone Meeting Tonight

Jody Victor: Here’s some great Buckeye basketball news from osu.edu and OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes (20-3, 8-2) vs. the Purdue Boilermakers (15-8, 5-5)
Date: Feb. 7, 2012
Site: Value City Arena (18,809)
Game Time: 9 p.m. ET
Television: ESPN
Talent: Mike Tirico (play-by-play); Dan Dakich (expert analysis); Samantha Steele (Sideline)
Radio: OSU-IMG Sports Network (56 stations)
Satellite Radio: Sirius-91 , XM-91        
Local Radio: WBNS FM-97.1 AM-1460

The Buckeyes vs. The Ranked
Ohio State leads the nation in wins vs. opponents ranked among the Top 25 with five victories in seven tries this season. The Buckeyes own wins vs. No. 7 Florida, No. 3 Duke, No. 7 Indiana,  No. 20 Michigan and No. 19 Wisconsin. Losses have come to No. 13 Kansas and No. 13 Indiana, both on the road. The Buckeyes have five players, all starters, averaging in double figures in games vs. ranked opponents. Jared Sullinger leads with 17.5 ppg. He is joined by William Buford (15.0 ppg.), Deshaun Thomas (13.7 ppg.), Aaron Craft (10.9 ppg.) and Lenzelle Smith Jr. (10.3 ppg.). Sullinger (7.8 rebounds per game) and Smith Jr. (5.9 rpg.) lead the team on the glass. The Buckeyes outscore ranked foes by 7.4 points per game and own the edge on the boards by 3.0 rpg. Notre Dame also has five wins vs. Top 25 teams this season.

The Buckeyes in the Big Ten
The Buckeyes rank No. 2 in both scoring offense (76.5 ppg.) and scoring defense (55.4 ppg.) after a 20-3 overall start. Ohio State’s scoring margin of 21.0 ppg. leads the league while the .489 field goal shooting pct. rates in the No. 2 spot. Led by Jared Sullinger, Ohio State is among the Top 2 teams in rebounding offense (37.0 rpg., No. 2) and defense (29.6 rpg., No. 2). Overall, the Buckeyes are No. 2 in rebound margin (+7.5 rpg.). Behind Aaron Craft, Ohio State is No. 2 in assists (16.0 apg.), No. 1 in turnover margin (+6.0) and No. 2 in steals (8.0 spg.) on the year among Big Ten teams.

Ohio State vs. Purdue
Purdue is 83-76 all-time in games vs. Ohio State, but the Buckeyes own the edge in Columbus 51-28. When Ohio State is ranked nationally in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, the Buckeyes are 22-4 against the Boilermakers. Ohio State enters the game today ranked No. 3 nationally. Purdue is unranked. The last time Ohio State lost to an unranked Purdue squad was March 6, 1991, a 72-67 setback for the then-No. 2 Buckeyes. The teams have split the last eight overall meetings, 4-all. William Buford, Ohio State’s lone senior, averages 14.1 points a game in seven career meetings with the Boilermakers. He has scored 99 points and grabbed 33 rebounds (4.7 rpg.) in the series. He has scored on 55 percent from the field (36-66) and 58 percent from long range (12-21) while knocking down 15 of 17 foul shots (.882). Jared Sullinger averaged 21.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in two games vs. the Boilermakers last season. He made 16 of 26 shots from the field (.615) and 9 of 12 foul shots (.750). Purdue is 1-7 vs. Ohio State at Value City Arena. Ohio State is 67-18 vs. Big Ten foes at VCA.               

100 Years in Big Ten
Ohio State celebrates 100 years as a member of the Big Ten Conference in men’s basketball in 2012. The Buckeyes finished in the No. 6 spot in the 1913 conference standings, the first season of league play. Over the 99 previous seasons, Ohio State has earned 19 Big Ten regular-season titles with 23 NCAA tournament appearances, one national championship (1960) and nine trips to the Final Four. Eight former coaches and players are members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame while nearly 50 student-athletes have been drafted by National Basketball Association teams, including 22 in the first round.

Go Bucks!!!

Jody Victor

No. 4 Buckeyes Win Sixth Consecutive vs. Michigan 64-49

Jody Victor: Here’s some great Buckeye basketball news from osu.edu  and OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Lenzelle Smith Jr. scored 17 points and had a career-high 12 rebounds as No. 4 Ohio State flexed its muscle inside to beat No. 20 Michigan 64-49 on Sunday, keeping the Buckeyes in a first-place tie in the Big Ten.

Jared Sullinger added 13 points and William Bufford and Deshaun Thomas both had 12 for Ohio State (19-3, 7-2), which ran its winning streak over its archrival to six straight and eight of nine.

Tim Hardaway Jr. had 15 points for the Wolverines (16-6, 6-3). Trey Burke, the conference’s top freshman point guard, returned to his hometown to play for the first time against Sullinger, his former high school teammate, and finished with 13 points.

Michigan fell to 1-5 on opponents’ home courts this season.

The Buckeyes extended their homecourt winning streak to 38, the second-longest in the program’s 100 years.

Leading by three points at halftime, the Buckeyes pulled away with a 14-2 run midway through the second half. Bookended by 3-pointers by Burke, most of the points came as a result of backdoor cuts or drives. It didn’t include a 3.

Buford, who was quiet throughout the first half, got it started with a driving layup. Later in the spurt he stepped in front of Burke’s crosscourt pass and streaked the length of the court for a dunk.

Smith, who had more offensive rebounds than Michigan almost all game, scored twice – a layup on an assist from Buford and a short baseline jumper. Aaron Craft, Thomas and Sullinger, who sat out portions of the game due to foul trouble, all contributed two points to make it 48-35.

The Wolverines drew as close as 50-43 on a basket by Morgan inside. Morgan then stole the ball from Sullinger and grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed 3 by Douglass. But as Morgan was bracing to go up for the follow, Craft darted in and stole the ball.

Craft, who finished with seven points, four assists and three steals, then had an assist on Thomas’ basket in traffic at the other end to make it 52-43. The lead never fell below eight points again.

The Buckeyes held a 24-21 lead after a grueling, physical, defense-dominated half.

Neither team was able to get into its offense because of the head-to-head battles, particularly between the point guards.

Burke had four assists and three turnovers to go with two points in 19 minutes. Craft managed two points with two turnovers and a steal. In a brief appearance, Shannon Scott had two steals.

There were four ties and seven lead changes in the first half.

Buford, Ohio State’s second-leading scorer and only senior, didn’t score in the opening 18:57 and finished the half with three points. Smith had nine points and seven rebounds.

Morgan had six points on 3-of-4 shooting while the rest of the team was 6 of 21.

Go Bucks!!!

Jody Victor

No. 6 Ohio State Downs Nebraska 79-45

Jody Victor : Here’s some great Buckeye basketball news from osu.edu  and OhioStateBuckeyes .com.

LINCOLN, Neb. – Ohio State felt right at home in this road game. William Bufford scored 15 points, Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas had 14 apiece, and the sixth-ranked Buckeyes blew out Nebraska for the second time this month with a 79-45 victory Saturday night.

The Buckeyes (17-3, 5-3) swept their games against Nebraska by a combined 65 points and moved into a three-way tie for first place in the Big Ten with Michigan and Michigan State.

They came to Lincoln with a 2-3 road record, including 1-2 against Big Ten opponents. They weren’t overly sharp, but still were good enough to beat the Huskers (10-9, 2-6) worse than they did in Columbus on Jan. 3, when they won 71-40.

“I see this team growing inch by inch, week by week,” coach Thad Matta said. “We’ve got to continue to hammer ‘em. We had three great practices leading into this game. They were talking on the bench about what can happen if we keep practicing like that. Hopefully, we can continue that.”

Brandon Ubel and Bo Spencer had eight points apiece for Nebraska, which had two field-goal droughts of longer than eight minutes.The Huskers, who upset Indiana (No. 13 ESPN/USA Today, No. 11 AP) 70-69 on Wednesday, were looking for consecutive wins over ranked opponents for the first time since February 2008.

They never had a chance, committing a season-high 27 turnovers and shooting a season-low 29.5 percent from the floor.

“I don’t think we could have played any worse,” Ubel said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been on a team that’s turned it over 27 times. You play that bad, with that many turnovers against a team like Ohio State, they’re going to make you pay, and that’s what happened.”The Buckeyes took their first double-digit lead 10 minutes into the game, going on a 13-0 run after the first media timeout to erase an 8-5 deficit.

“Being down that first timeout, we challenged our guys,” Matta said. “I thought Nebraska was playing harder than us. They were quicker to the play. Defensively, down the stretch of the first half, we did a good job limiting open looks and getting our hands on balls. We played tonight, and that was something we needed to do.”

Nebraska scored only 12 points on 4-of-20 shooting the last 15½ minutes of the half.”We started off well and then we got down six or eight,” Ubel said. “I think we might have started to panic a little bit.”

Fans started leaving the Devaney Sports Center with 12 minutes to play, when Ohio State led 56-28.

“When we’re connected and have five guys together, we have a pretty good half-court defense,” Matta said. “But we’ve got a tendency to lay low sometimes and give up easy baskets. Those are the things that can really bring you down.”

Sullinger, who had 19 points and 12 rebounds in the first game against Nebraska, took only three shots and was held to four points in the first half. Ubel and Jorge Brian Diaz took turns guarding him, and Spencer doubled him whenever he touched the ball in the post.Sullinger shook loose in the second half, scoring 10 points and even making a 3-pointer.

Lenzelle Smith Jr. scored only two points after recording a career-high 28 in last Sunday’s win over Indiana.

Ohio State shot just 45 percent and was outrebounded 40-34 in the 400th game coached by Matta at three schools.

The Buckeyes have won by 10 points or more in 15 of their 17 victories and increased their nation-leading average victory margin to 21.95 points.

“I did not see this at all,” Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said. “We just have to get back to going the way we were going. Does it hurt? Yeah it hurts. There is not anything that we did from coaching to anything that gave us a chance to win tonight.”

Go Bucks!!!

Jody Victor