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NIT Final Four (semi-final): Ohio State 81, Ole Miss 69 (Final)

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This game was another that demonstrates how important matchups are in tournament games. Ole Miss just matched up poorly with OSU, considering their biggest starter is 6'8". In the first half, it was apparent that OSU could dominate the inside, as the Buckeyes dominated the rebounding margin and had what seemed like a ton of blocked shots. They therefore managed to outscore the Rebels by 20+ even though both teams were incredibly sloppy with handling the ball. This matchup was about as one-sided as the horrible matchup that OSU had against Georgetown in the 2006 tournament in which G'Town ran OSU out of the gym.
 
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Great balance for the Buckeyes last night.......suprising effort on the boards.....our size really hurt them.......basically we played one half of this game and then coasted the second half...........great win and another step for this team.......I thought Turner and Koufos were very good last night.

Great win....bring on UMass.......

:oh:
 
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OSUBasketballJunkie;1129557; said:
Great balance for the Buckeyes last night.......suprising effort on the boards.....our size really hurt them.......basically we played one half of this game and then coasted the second half...........great win and another step for this team.......I thought Turner and Koufos were very good last night.

Great win....bring on UMass.......

:oh:
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:io:
 
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OSUBasketballJunkie;1129557; said:
Great balance for the Buckeyes last night.......suprising effort on the boards.....our size really hurt them.......basically we played one half of this game and then coasted the second half...........great win and another step for this team.......I thought Turner and Koufos were very good last night.

Great win....bring on UMass.......

:oh:
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Agreed on the above. I also thought Dallas Lauderdale put in some quality minutes from the bench (with the caveat that I missed most of the second half). Ole Miss was a great matchup for him, because his forte, muscle on the boards, was a perfect counterbalance to their strength.
 
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ozone

Men's Basketball
First Half Blitz Carries Buckeyes to NIT Final
By John Porentas
OK, maybe the Buckeyes (23-13) didn't play so well in the second half, but for a half against Mississippi (24-11) OSU played about as well as they have this season. Well enough that a second-half lapse didn't really matter, because it was game, match set when the first half ended and OSU was ticketed to the NIT final.
Ohio State jumped all over Ole Miss to take a 44-20 half time lead, then went on to cruise to an 81-69 win to advance to the final of the NIT tournament in Madison Square Garden. It was arguably the best half of basketball played by the Buckeyes this season.
"I think our press got to them and they turned the ball over a little bit, and when you turn the ball over it leads to easy baskets," said OSU senior point guard Jamar Butler.
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"I thought P. J. did a tremendous job for us. He had a nice finish on the penetration and really brought great energy and gave us a boost on defense as well," said Matta.
Dallas has made tremendous progress at practice the last three weeks. We thought going into this game this was going to be a game where he could be a factor just because of his size and athleticism down there," Matta said of Lauderdale.
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As does everyone else I thought we played well the 1st half and coasted in the 2nd. I am happy with the win but a little disappointed in our lack of killer instinct. Nc would have scored over a hundred on Miss.
 
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BucyrusBuckeye;1129784; said:
As does everyone else I thought we played well the 1st half and coasted in the 2nd. I am happy with the win but a little disappointed in our lack of killer instinct. Nc would have scored over a hundred on Miss.
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Thus the reason they are in the Final four and we are in the NIT finals...

Lots of props to go around...Lauderdale, Hill, Lighty, Turner, Butler, KK, Hunter all played very well...

Diebler struggled last night, was nice to see him try and take his game to the midrange instead of just outside the 3 point range, but still couldn't find his shot and had a couple bad turnovers...

Nice to see us dominate on the boards, and really control the paint...
 
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zincfinger;1129574; said:
Agreed on the above. I also thought Dallas Lauderdale put in some quality minutes from the bench (with the caveat that I missed most of the second half). Ole Miss was a great matchup for him, because his forte, muscle on the boards, was a perfect counterbalance to their strength.
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As I've been saying since early in the season, I can't wait to see Lauderdale next season with BJ Mullins in the lineup. He's impressed me all season long with the effort he's put in. It's been a great two years for Othello Hunter, hate to see him go already. I'd love to see the Bucks take home the NIT crown for Hunter, Butler, and Terwilliger..... Needless to say, I guess I came down a little harsh last season on Twig. He hustles harder than anyone on the floor for a loose ball, he steps up and knocks some decent jumpers down. I'm very proud of OSU's performance in the NIT right now. They've exceeded expectations.
 
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BucyrusBuckeye;1129784; said:
As does everyone else I thought we played well the 1st half and coasted in the 2nd. I am happy with the win but a little disappointed in our lack of killer instinct. Nc would have scored over a hundred on Miss.
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I think Matta wanted us to "coast" in the second half just to keep the guys fresh for tomorrow night's game where they will be up and down the court and he took his press off for awhile but as soon as the Rebels started to mount a little bit of a comeback the trap press went back on and that was the game. I think Matta would have liked to keep his trap press off for the second half but unfortunately we started getting a little bit sloppy then the boys from down South started hitting some shots.
 
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Big Ten! ::clap clap:: Big Ten! ::clap clap:: Big Ten! ::clap clap:: ...

After watching those first 2 1/2 minutes, I thought we were gonna be ICE cold the entire game. Then, we can't miss... all the way to the halftime horn. In the 2nd half, we thought we had it in the bag, having punished Cal and jumping out to an insurmountable lead late on Dayton. Ole Miss grabs the momentum, Matta rallies the troops, the boys stay out of foul trouble (with Hunter being the exception), Jamar shakes off his ankle injury, and we finish the game. Well done.

Can't wait to watch these last 40 minutes of the season. These guys are going to leave it on the floor tomorrow night.
 
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Buckeye89Fan;1129805; said:
As I've been saying since early in the season, I can't wait to see Lauderdale next season with BJ Mullins in the lineup. He's impressed me all season long with the effort he's put in. It's been a great two years for Othello Hunter, hate to see him go already. I'd love to see the Bucks take home the NIT crown for Hunter, Butler, and Terwilliger..... Needless to say, I guess I came down a little harsh last season on Twig. He hustles harder than anyone on the floor for a loose ball, he steps up and knocks some decent jumpers down. I'm very proud of OSU's performance in the NIT right now. They've exceeded expectations.
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sometimes, as of late, I like twiggy as much or more than Jamar, however, I don't think Twig would be what he is now, without his sidekick Jamar...

those two read each other's minds it seems.
 
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Appears that the entire team is playing it's best ball of the year. Everyone is stepping it up. How many guy's did we have in double figures scoring against Old Miss? We created 21 turnovers. Playing great zone Defense. The last few games, a new confidence and chemistry has emerged. We've done pretty decent on the boards, as well as blocking shots!! Hunter has been a monster, Koufos has found his rythmn, Turner has turned it up, Dallas has been productive in his limited time, Twigs is hitting key shots, Butler is leading well and landing the three, Diebler is playing decent....

Just one more game to go.

Here's hoping we bring home the NIT championship!!

:oh:
 
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scarletngray;1130029; said:
Appears that the entire team is playing it's best ball of the year. Everyone is stepping it up. How many guy's did we have in double figures scoring against Old Miss? We created 21 turnovers. Playing great zone Defense. The last few games, a new confidence and chemistry has emerged. We've done pretty decent on the boards, as well as blocking shots!! Hunter has been a monster, Koufos has found his rythmn, Turner has turned it up, Dallas has been productive in his limited time, Twigs is hitting key shots, Butler is leading well and landing the three, Diebler is playing decent....

Just one more game to go.

Here's hoping we bring home the NIT championship!!

:oh:
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4 starters were all at 16 or 17 points, and Hunter had 9 points - missed FTs late cost him being the 5th guy in double figures.

:io:
 
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