Our Honor Defend

A successful shooty hoops campaign, that saw the Buckeyes begin conference play without their star player and down 1-3 in the standings, only to rebound and capture a share of the league crown and first seed in the conference tournament, is sure to result in some recognition for individual performances.  Sure enough, the Buckeyes were well represented in the list of all-conference teams and individual honorees.

Evan Turner was appropriately recognized for having a standout season, in which the 6′7 point guard/forward lead the conference in scoring in points per game, rebounds per game, was second in assists and was fifth in steals.  Turner was the only unanimous selection to the Big Ten first team, appearing in all the coach and media ballots.  With such a spectacular season, he was a runaway selection for Big Ten Player of the Year.  The Buckeyes’ first conference player of the year since Terrance Dials, Turner was the unanimous media choice.

Further, Thad Matta pleasantly surprised me by picking up his third Big Ten Coach of the Year Award.  I assumed that, in a year without a spectacular coaching story within the conference, that Matt Painter of Purdue would claim that award.  He actually did, taking the honor as voted by his peers.  Thad Matta got the media vote.

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It has been awhile since I turned out one of these features, though this contribution will take us one step further in better knowing the incoming 2010 recruiting class.  Thus, in this second installment of the third edition of this now 19-part series titled Better Know A Buckeye, I again proceed chronologically (by commitment date) and consider Jamel Turner, a DE/OLB prospect coming to us from the Fork Union Military Academy.  Jamel Turner was the beneficiary of very early hype after a standout sophomore year and a junior campaign that resulted in an undefeated season and state championship for the Ursuline Fighting Irish.  Unwilling to invest too much time into recruiting during the football season, Jamel Turner revealed his long-standing preference and committed to the Buckeyes in December, 2008.  However, we will see that’s not the end of the story for Jamel.  After recapping the Jamel Turner story as I know it, I discuss strengths and weaknesses in the usual fashion.  Then, I mention some miscellaneous things that I think are important and ultimately conclude that Jamel is better known.

Height: 6′2
Weight: 220lbs
40: 4.55
High School: Fork Union Military Academy; Fork Union, Virginia

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I thought the lady Buckeyes were dead to rights in the second half and the outcome certain. An 11 point deficit that plagued the Buckeyes in the first half swelled to 16 early in the second half and no adjustments seemed to be coming. However, the Buckeyes stormed from 16 back, took the lead late in the second half, and ultimately escaped the Big Ten Tournament finale with a 66-64 win.  The win secures the Buckeyes’ second straight “Big Ten Double”, repeating as both the Big Ten regular season champions and the Big Ten tournament champions.

Two really forgettable turnovers, quickly capitalized for points by Iowa’s Kachine Alexander, foreshadowed just how ugly the game was for the Buckeyes in the first half.  With 14 minutes remaining, an 11-0 run for Iowa put the Buckeyes behind big, and early.  A mini-run came to cut into that margin, but an 11 point deficit plagued the Buckeyes for almost all of the first half before a Tayler Hill 3 point jumper and a defensive stand from the team kept the deficit at eight at intermission.  Perhaps more troubling than the actual deficit was the foul trouble and poor play from Samantha Prahalis and Jantel Lavender.  The heroes of the game against Wisconsin, both struggled in the first half.  Prahalis had the worst of it.  I don’t think I can fault Lavender for her early foul trouble, since it seems everything was a foul this game.  Prahalis, on the other hand, made bad decisions, committed bad turnovers, struggled on defense and struggled with her shot.  With eight minutes remaining in the first, she made the regrettable decision to reach for the ball after Iowa had gathered and was appropriately called for a foul.  The ensuing outburst in light of her frustrations should, in all fairness, have resulted in a technical foul.  Fortunately, one was not called and Jim Foster kept her on the bench for the remainder of the first half.

It did not seem the Buckeyes could recover in the second half.  Rather than chip into Iowa’s lead, the same problems manifested again and resulted in a 16 point deficit.  However, a 9 minute field goal drought for Iowa changed the course of this game.  The Buckeyes had finally cut off the penetration that worked so well for Iowa (22 points in the paint in the first half, and I think 0 in the second half).  Meanwhile, Jantel Lavender took over.  She had 12 first half points, but dominated the second half, finishing with 35 points and 10 rebounds.  Two free throws from her with 3:51 remaining gave the Buckeyes their first lead since 6-4 in the first half.  Later, with under  two seconds remaining in the game, she drew a foul, sank both free throws that were ultimately the difference in the 66-64 outcome.  As a result, the Buckeyes repeat as tournament champions in spite of everything in this game that would’ve suggested the opposite outcome.

The obvious hope is that the victory here, in front of  Evan Turner, Dallas Lauderdale and PJ Hill (who all made the trip), sets up a similar feat from the men’s team in the Big Ten Men’s Tournament, which begins March 11th.  For the meantime, the Buckeyes celebrate this victory and await their selection into the (UCONN Is Not Losing The) NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.  Therein, the Buckeyes are in very good position for a 2 seed.

The Buckeyes started 1-3 in conference play but have rebounded, lost only once since and, with the victory over the Illini on Senior Day, have now clinched at least a share of the Big Ten championship.  It is Thad Matta’s third Big Ten championship in six years and the third time in which the Buckeyes have won Big Ten championships in football and the two shooty hoops in the same academic year (’05-’06, ‘06-’07, ‘09-’10).

While the Buckeyes got their championship moment, at home, and gave an appropriate send-off to people like Kyle Madsen, Jeremie Simmons, Danny Peters, PJ Hill and Mark Titus¹, it was a trying game there for stretches.  Evan Turner did not have a banner day.  He finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists, but had a few unsightly turnovers (4 in total) and it looked the Illini had him bottled up and were going to take away his opportunities to attack the basket.  Further, Dallas Lauderdale looked like he was playing with cement hands for most of the game.  However, David Lighty and Jon Diebler deserve praise for having kept the Buckeyes afloat through critical stretches of the first half when the Illini were sinking their shots and when Demetri McCamey was too much for the Buckeyes to handle.  Jon Diebler was 7/14 from 3, finishing with 21 points.  David Lighty, on the other hand, played like a man possessed.  Much of his 15 points came from attacking the basket, drawing fouls and finishing strong.

There were times where it looked difficult, but the Buckeyes made the relevant adjustments and played strong on defense in the second half.  Eventually, the Illini ran out of steam.  Now, the Buckeyes celebrate clinching a well-earned share of the Big Ten championship (1-1 against Purdue, won lone meeting against Sparty (at Sparty), 1-1 against Wisconsin).  The Buckeyes next tip off in the Big Ten tournament, more than a week from now.

For the meantime, let’s party Columbus.

1. …whose senior day introduction was touching. [↩]

The first half was a bit of a ride.  Up 9-0 and Michigan still scoreless more than four minutes into the game, the Buckeyes nevertheless trailed the Wolvereenies by one at the half.  However, all the factors that allowed Michigan to rally from their early deficit, including the points off turnovers and three point shooting, were not present for TSUN during the second half.  The Buckeyes quickly regained the lead, padded it to nine around the under-8 timeout and held on for the 66-55 victory.

Thad Matta hates his bench, or so I’m inferring, but the point distribution from this game is still amusing.  Buford led all scorers with 24, going 9/15 from the field.  Much of his points came at opportune times, either during a mini-run from Michigan or were baseline three pointers aimed at breaking the spirit of the Wolvereenies.  Therein, he was a perfect three for three from behind the line.  He also crashed the boards, tallying nine and adding four assists to boot.  Evan Turner put up the aggregate numbers that will buttress his claim for the Naismith Award.  He even played admirably in light of acquiring 3 fouls early in the second half, for which he took only a 44 second breather before a TV timeout.  This was our lone introduction to PJ Hill.  Nevertheless, he finished with 18 points (8/11 shooting), 11 rebounds and seven assists.  He was three assists and two turnovers away from a quadruple Turner double.  His four blocks amounted to a career high.  Lastly, Dallas Lauderdale played strong around the rim.  He had a career high 14 points off 7/9 shooting.  One of the better sights in Buckeye shooty hoops has been how well Turner and Lauderdale have been able to interact with each other on the court.  Lauderdale is not exactly the guy you give the ball to on a post-entry pass and expect for him to do his thing.  At best, he’s active on the offensive side of the ball and Turner has done a great job at drawing his defender away and feeding the ball to Lauderdale for easy baskets.

Combined, Buford, Turner and Lauderdale accounted for 56 of the Buckeyes’ 66 points for the game.

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