#3 Wisconsin 72, #5 Ohio State 69 (Final)

[buckeyeboy]

Should be interesting when they come to our place towards the end of the year.

If we only lost by three on their home floor (see the free throw disparity), I'm pretty confident we'll win by double digits at home, especially considering our young guys will have another month and a half of Big Ten play under their belts at that point. If I were Wisconsin, I wouldn't be very encouraged by last night's result at all. Go Bucks!

 

[MaxBuck]

1. DaeQuan Cook, though he had a tough night offensively, once again proves to be a beast on the boards. 9 boards in 13 minutes? That is otherwordly, folks, for a slender 6-5 wing.

2. Mike Conley needs to be more aggressive in taking over the game. When he puts his mind to creating offense, he is almost unstoppable. He is too deferential to the older players on the squad, IMO.

3. Wisky won by guile and veteran smarts, but they are unlikely to make it to the final 4 IMO. Not enough talent there aside from Kammron Taylor and Alando Tucker. Buckeyes, though, clearly ARE able to get there if they mature sufficiently during league play.

4. Our rebounding is getting better with every game. Coming out even with the tall Badgers is a very good outcome, especially breaking even on the offensive glass when we took so many 3s.

5. I cannot believe some fans complain about someone who is 5-for-11 from beyond the arc taking so many of the 3-point attempts.

 

[crazybuckfan40]

1. DaeQuan Cook, though he had a tough night offensively, once again proves to be a beast on the boards. 9 boards in 13 minutes? That is otherwordly, folks, for a slender 6-5 wing.

Agreed

2. Mike Conley needs to be more aggressive in taking over the game. When he puts his mind to creating offense, he is almost unstoppable. He is too deferential to the older players on the squad, IMO.

Not sure I agree here, he just needs more time to understand who needs the ball in certain situations, but he is learning...

3. Wisky won by guile and veteran smarts, but they are unlikely to make it to the final 4 IMO. Not enough talent there aside from Kammron Taylor and Alando Tucker. Buckeyes, though, clearly ARE able to get there if they mature sufficiently during league play.

Don't count out Wisky, they are a very physical team and will be a very tough out in the tourney. They go 9 deep and Tucker is one of the top 3 players in the country if not the top. We shut him down, but not many other teams have.

4. Our rebounding is getting better with every game. Coming out even with the tall Badgers is a very good outcome, especially breaking even on the offensive glass when we took so many 3s.

Agreed

5. I cannot believe some fans complain about someone who is 5-for-11 from beyond the arc taking so many of the 3-point attempts.

Totally agree, but some of his shots were a little quick and forced...

 

[Steve19]

I think the youngsters are coming along just fine. After Tennessee, no real challenges until MSU, they can now settle in. I think they can make it to the Final Four and maybe take Florida in a rematch. Now, that would be something to look forward to.

 

[jimotis4heisman]

missed the game, ill check it out soon as i had it dvred. from the sounds of it im glad the guys showed some guts and fought back. something i like to see.

 

[CookyPuss]

One other thought from this game: I think this team will have its greatest difficulty with teams that are fundamentally sound and have and inside physical presence like Wisky.

 

[BuckeyeTillIDie]

Free throw dispartiy was not why we lost this game.

We lost because we couldn't make a shot to save our life in the first half (8:30 mins without a field goal).

And then when we battled back our two experienced players (Butler and Lewis) decided to turn the ball over to Wiscy for easy points a few times.

That's where I believe we lost the game. Otherwise, we showed no quit, which I like.

 

[Best Buckeye]

This team is like split personalities. It can be very good , or it can be very bad. Right now the bad times are at about 50%.
In the first half there was no teamwork on offense to speak of. Just quick shots. That is why we shot about 28% in the first half. Other times we passed and shot a lot better. The defense still is too loose. When wisc got the ball in side it seemed like time after time we would collapse in and leave the perimeter shot wide open.
That inconsistancy on both sides of the ball is why we lost and wha we need to improve on.
When this team starts playing like it should then watch out. We will see amazing things.

 

[TooTall]

My points of improvement for Ohio State is:


1) Freshman: Stop playing like you're all-stars.. WE SEE YOU OUT THERE! Play like a team though, don't just chuck up a one and done shot.

2) Get Oden more involved, NO ONE looked for him down low until LATE last night. If Ohio State wants to be a dominant team, this kid needs the ball.

3) Have someone else other than Butler bringing the ball up-court. He kept turning the ball over on ill-advised passes and it costed! Having someone like Conley or Cook bringing it up would be more worth while

4) STOP SHOOTING THREES! It's understandable that you're the best three point shooting team, but when you're shooting them with 25-30 seconds on the shot clock, you almost NEVER win! Try getting the offense together and spread the ball around, THEN if there is an open look TAKE THE THREE!

5) Removed (Player Bashing)

6) Finally, Matta, when the team is starting to go south call a timeout! They let Wisconsin reel off 8-some straight points before finally calling a TO.. Get the troops rounded and get a play together and try setting the defense up a little better!

Matta will get this team to be more unselfish as the season goes on.. It's only a matter of time when he says to all the Freshman that it isn't all about them and they start listening. No reason to panic for the Bucks though!

 

[OH10]

Wisconsin should feel very afraid after that game last night. They have to know they beat a team that is far more talented, but that gave them the game because of silly fundamental mistakes.

Ohio State lost because of:

1. More poor defensive rotation. The full court was especially ineffective.

2. Turnovers. It's one thing to give away a possession. It's two things to have that lead to an easy layup for the other team.

 

[OH10]

My points of improvement for Ohio State is:

1) Freshman: Stop playing like you're all-stars.. WE SEE YOU OUT THERE! Play like a team though, don't just chuck up a one and done shot.

The only freshman you could be talking about is Cook. And if I'm not mistaken, he is an All Star. I'm not going to complain when Cook tries to make something happen, because he does make things happen. He just had an off night last night.

I would like to see better defense from Cook.

2) Get Oden more involved, NO ONE looked for him down low until LATE last night. If Ohio State wants to be a dominant team, this kid needs the ball.

The fact is that Oden is not all that effective down low unless he gets position on his man. He has no touch right now, so he's struggling when he plays with his back to the basket. I like to see him working down there, but this offense cannot run through him right now.

3) Have someone else other than Butler bringing the ball up-court. He kept turning the ball over on ill-advised passes and it costed! Having someone like Conley or Cook bringing it up would be more worth while

I'm thinking that the ugly turnovers last night were more of an aberration than a trend. Butler was Mr. Consistency last year

4) STOP SHOOTING THREES! It's understandable that you're the best three point shooting team, but when you're shooting them with 25-30 seconds on the shot clock, you almost NEVER win! Try getting the offense together and spread the ball around, THEN if there is an open look TAKE THE THREE!

I agree that the team needs to be more patient. But the 3-point shot is absolutely essential to any team's success at the college level, especially one that has some pretty good shooters.

When Oden gets his other hand back, then the 3 ball won't be so important, but they lose by double digits last night without it.

5) Player Bashing

If you're going to bash the guy, at least spell his name right. He's not the most talented player on the team, but he adds necessary depth to the front line. So unless you can go find Charles Bass somewhere in the backwoods of the Ohio Valley Conference, Twigs has to play

 

[buckeyeboy]

3) Have someone else other than Butler bringing the ball up-court. He kept turning the ball over on ill-advised passes and it costed! Having someone like Conley or Cook bringing it up would be more worth while

Calm down, fella. Butler is a pure PG, and he is one of our best ball handlers (not to mention he's a fantastic defender). Didn't you watch any of the games last year in which he had one of the best assist to turnover ratios in the nation? Just b/c he made a few turnovers last night doesn't mean that he shouldn't handle the ball anymore.

EDIT: just saw SD's post.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Another learning experience on the road, I was proud of the way they fought back unlike at Florida......its a step in the right direction.....if we take better care of the ball in certain spots.....we probably win this one....

5) Player Bashing

Lets please keep in mind BP rules on player bashing....and I honestly thought he played well and gave Ohio State some quality minutes when Oden and Hunter were on the bench in the first half. I must have been watching another game....

2) Get Oden more involved, NO ONE looked for him down low until LATE last night. If Ohio State wants to be a dominant team, this kid needs the ball.

Its a two way street....he needs to be more active in the paint and make himself big on a consistent basis and the guards need to find the right spots to get him the ball. Several times Oden was open but they missed him and other times he failed to flash to the ball......he is learning and they are learning to play with him.

3) Have someone else other than Butler bringing the ball up-court. He kept turning the ball over on ill-advised passes and it costed! Having someone like Conley or Cook bringing it up would be more worth while

I must have been watching another game again.....Conley spent most of the game bringing the ball up until he ran into foul trouble.....and actually Conley averages more turnovers a game than Butler......

6) Finally, Matta, when the team is starting to go south call a timeout! They let Wisconsin reel off 8-some straight points before finally calling a TO.. Get the troops rounded and get a play together and try setting the defense up a little better!

I didn't feel like he made a mistake in this area.......sometimes it is good for a young team to fight through adversity.....

Freshman: Stop playing like you're all-stars.. WE SEE YOU OUT THERE! Play like a team though, don't just chuck up a one and done shot.

It was not only Cook and Lighty shooting early, the whole team including Butler and Lewis were guilty of quick shots....this is an area that needs to improve.

 

[7Brutus7]

I think this game showed a couple of things....

First off, that when Whisky comes to the Schott they should be afraid, very very afraid

Also that our boys do have alot of heart, and for such a young team i think thats absolutley remarkable that they have learned so quickly to never give up from the srekcUF game to just a few weeks later in this game

Finally, I believe that all this road experience (3 away games to teams in the Top 5) will prove to be invaluable come tourney time and ecspecially since our team is so young that playing in these type of situations and atmospheres will make them a very dangerous team in March


:gobucks3::gobucks4:

 

[ScarletBlood31]

I'm not an tOSU basketball expert by any means, but why the hell don't they get the ball to Oden more? The games that i've watched, i've seen them take the ball down the court, pass it once or twice, and then launch up a three. And most of the time that I watch them, they'll miss three in a row before finally hitting one. And to make it worse, usually the other team gets the long rebound and starts a fast break.

IMO they need to get the ball down low to Oden, or attempt to, atleast every other possession. Hell, his defenders usually back off and let him dunk most of the time anyway. Not to mention tOSU could control the game more, and not get outrebounded and kill their possesions before they even start.