Our Honor Defend

Ohio State needed a 20-0 run and two overtimes, but ultimately felled the Illini 88-81 to advance to their second straight Big Ten Tournament finals.  They will await the winner of the Minnesota-Purdue game later today.

It was another one of those games where I thought we were dead to rites and I was already mentally preparing a synopsis eulogy after the end of regulation.  The first half was grim.  Very grim.  The statistic that stands out is obviously the six and a half minute scoring drought, where a 15-7 lead became a 21-15 deficit.  In fact, minus some meager shooting by team leader Demetri McCamey, the Illini did almost everything it wanted on offense.  Dribble drives set up Mike Tisdale for his perimeter jump shots and freshmen DJ Richardson and Tyler Griffey (!!) were hot from outside.  The Illini started the game 1/7 from the field and with four turnovers, in many ways saving the Buckeyes from falling behind further.  The Illini shot over .500 the rest of the way through the half, taking (only) a six point lead into intermission.

It did not get much better in the second half, at least initially.  The Buckeyes made strides very early, but turnovers and stellar play from the Illini pushed the deficit up to nine, and eventually 11.  I thought that was basically it.  The Buckeyes may make some strides, cut it closer, but not really take over the game.  Fortunately, an Evan Turner baseline three pointer precipitated the Buckeyes going bonkers from the 13 minute mark to around the six minute mark.  Ohio State suddenly was firing on all cylinders.  The full court pressure resulted in turnovers, the Illini fell behind in their offensive sets, resulting in more turnovers, fast break points, an intentional foul and some three pointers.  All told, a 20-0 run (!!) turned an 11 point deficit into a nine point lead with under six minutes remaining.  Exciting, but the Buckeyes followed that with some regrettable play that resulted in a 10-1 run that made everything essentially level.  Some Les Miles-inspired clock management for the Illini in the second half fortunately took us into overtime.

The first overtime was a level matchup, with both teams exchanging blows.  I feared the Illini had the momentum after storming back to send the game into overtime.  Demetri McCamey took over for the Illini, scoring at will while the Buckeyes struggled to get a stop, or a defensive rebound.  However, Evan Turner took his teammates on his back for the first overtime, scoring the final six of the Buckeyes’ eight overtime points.  The only other two came early into the first overtime period on a William Buford putback of a Jon Diebler missed three pointer.  The Illini, though, had the possibility to win the game at the end of the first overtime, but, again, Bruce Weber and company channeled their inner-Les Miles to squander the opportunity.

The second overtime belonged to the Buckeyes.  Jon Diebler started the festivities with a three pointer and Evan Turner followed with a layup.  DJ Richardson responded on the other end, but the Buckeyes kept a two-possession lead most of the way through.  Even as Evan Turner fouled out with a minute remaining on a Tyler Griffey putback opportunity (again: boxing out), Griffey missing the front-end kept Ohio State’s lead at three.  With Turner out, old man David Lighty showed his leadership on a dribble drive and layup.  The Buckeyes had a five point lead with the shot clock off.  PJ Hill came in for Jeremie Simmons (who, in turn, came in for the departing Turner), who poked the ball out on a vital possession for the Illini.  The Illini recovered on their end of the floor, but the resulting confusion allowed David Lighty to pick the ball and fastbreak for a layup and a seven point lead that was ultimately the final score.  A weird game when all is considered, but the Buckeyes advance.

Miscellany

• Jeremie Simmons played 10 minutes in the first half after Jon Diebler got in early foul trouble.  Some bad misses from him showed how so few minutes can matter here.
• I can’t stress enough PJ Hill’s role in breaking down the Illinois’ last meaningful possession.
• Evan Turner played the first half like the hype got to his head.  He gets a lot of praise but it’s necessary to call attention to stuff like this.  He was forcing passes into tight spots, “arm punting” (in Penn State fan parlance) on fast break opportunities that just weren’t there and wantonly dribbling into trouble as if (so it seems) he just expected he would wiggle out of it.  He concluded the game on fire in the overtime period, finishing with 31 points and 10 rebounds… and 10 turnovers.  After the Buckeyes put together a 20-0 run, Turner made one really bad pass and committed two really unnecessary fouls within a minute of each other to be playing with 4 fouls the rest of the way through.  The obvious problem is that, with a 6 man rotation where Lighty, Diebler, Buford and Turner will play all 40 minutes under ideal circumstances, there is absolutely no margin for error.  Some decisions from him must not be duplicated later in March.
• This is the first time in awhile (that I can think of) where Kyle Madsen played disproportionately more than Dallas Lauderdale.  Dallas was really ineffective this game, not boxing out, not going up for rebounds, among other discretions.  We really need more from him if this team is going to return to Indianapolis.

Finally, to lighten up, I remember many days where I wondered if Thad Matta’s whiteboard on the bench read “give the ball to Sylvester” when a timeout was called.  Similarly, we learn that this was on Matta’s whiteboard today.

From the post in question:

This game plan works about 75% of the time. I’m not sure what the Ferrari is all about. It was really thoughtful of him to draw the sun in there, though.

The Buckeyes play in the tournament finale, held tomorrow, 3:30 ET on CBS.