Our Honor Defend

With the rise of the Big Ten Network, my opportunities to watch Buckeye shooty hoops are infrequent.  Thus, it is with great chagrin that I have to write about an episode of Buckeye shooty hoops that ended as unfortunately as it did for Ohio State.  The Buckeyes started hot in Morgantown, leading by as much as 14 and taking a 12 point lead into intermission.  However, West Virginia dominated the second half, eventually winning shooty hoops by a score of 71-65.

That’s not to say things didn’t start out well.  They did.  Ohio State, one of the country’s premier shooting offenses (tied for 7th nationally, with Kansas) started the game on an 8-0 run. Everything seemed to work offensively.  Turner, who finished the first half with 13 points (6/12 shooting), 6 rebounds and 3 assists, was frustrating West Virginia’s defense.  Further, David Lighty, Jon Diebler and William Buford were knocking down shots to complement Turner’s necessary herculean efforts.  West Virginia turned the ball over 8 times, allowing Ohio State to pad a lead that swelled to 14 and ended at 12 (40-29) at the half.  Herein, West Virginia had already exposed Ohio State’s 1-3-1 with the 3, making almost half of their attempts.  However, every punch West Virginia had came with a counterpunch from the Buckeyes or a turnover from West Virginia.

The script flipped in the second half.  Ohio State’s first points of the second half came with over 3 minutes expired from the clock, and not before a 10-0 run from WVU closed their deficit to a manageable two possession game.  The score was essentially level entering the final 10 minutes of the game.  Here, things got particularly ugly for Ohio State.  West Virginia finally broke through, taking their first lead of the game.  Ohio State began to fold.  The Buckeyes had two field goals in the final 10 minutes.  One was a William Buford jumper with 8:36 left, the other was a Dallas Lauderdale tip-in with a minute remaining.  Under duress, the offense degenerated (as it seems to do) into the Evan Turner show, where everyone on the court stands around waiting for Evan Turner to pull a rabbit out of his hat.  Turner had some opportunities when West Virginia began playing tight on him and getting called for minor contact fouls.  Turner unfortunately missed the front end of some 1-and1s.  Provided he hits some of those, Ohio State is about 1 or 2 down during this time.  Instead, they were down about 6 for important stretches of the final 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, WVU played much better defense and killed Ohio State beyond the arc.

To recap, West Virginia outrebounded Ohio State by 12, had 12 offensive rebounds, limited themselves to only 2 (I think) 2nd half turnovers, was 10/23 from 3, held Ohio State to 2 field goals in the final 10 minutes and outscored the Buckeyes in the 2nd half by 18.  This is not a winning recipe for Ohio State.

Buckeyes next play shooty hoops with Iowa, on Wednesday and on the road in Iowa City.  While a road game, this is still a manageable opponent and one Ohio State should expect to beat.  Nevertheless, this defeat to the Mountaineers showed that the Buckeyes have some real bad habits and can crack under pressure.  It offsets some of the momentum gained from beating Purdue, a result that carried over into the first of half of the game in Morgantown.

Miscellany

• Turner got his stats (18pts, 11rebs, 4asts), but his performance was mostly limited to the first half.  In the second half, he had 5 points and made no field goals.
• William Buford was the hot hand of the night and, in that crucial stretch with 10 minutes left, I wish we would’ve tried to find him more.  He finished with 22pts on 9/13 shooting.  However, when Ohio State gets pressured, its offense becomes one-dimensional and focused on Turner.  Buford didn’t get much opportunities in the final 10 minutes.
• WVU fans were chanting some fairly nasty things during the game, but I’m not too upset about it.  I expect that from that crowd and, to be honest, I feel more in rage during Ohio State sporting events than they do in the need to be vulgar and lewd.  It’s all gravy.  They were certainly loud, which is what you want from a home crowd.
• The transition from zone to man came about 5 minutes to late for my liking.  I would’ve made that switch early into the second half.