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Northern Kentucky at Ohio State, 12/1, 4:30 p.m., Big Ten Network

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LitlBuck

LitlBuck

Kevin Warren is an ass
This team is very bad that I am not talking about the Buckeyes:)


? Matchup to watch: Eshaunte Jones was a major-college recruit out of Fort Wayne, Ind., who played two seasons at Nebraska before transferring to Northern Kentucky. He?s a stocky shooting guard similar to Lenzelle Smith Jr., who is expected to check him.

? Notable: Ohio State plays its next eight games in Value City Arena, finishing the run with its Big Ten opener Jan. 2 vs. Nebraska. ? Amir Williams? 10 rebounds at Duke were a career high. ? Northern Kentucky is playing its first 10 games away from home in its first season as an NCAA Division I program. ? The Norse have lost to San Diego, Tulsa, Siena and Cal State Northridge.

? Next: Long Beach State, noon Dec. 8, Value City Arena
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Preview
 
It didn't prevent the Bucks from cruising today but Craft's shooting woes continue. He's 2 of 9 overall, 0 for 4 from three. He did have 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals, though.

Bucks win, 70-43, as Ross leads the way with 22 points.
 
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First season in D-I, NKU is just happy to be playing in games like this one. They have played D-I teams including UK in the past in preseason exhibitions, but this was their first game against an elite team in regular season competition. They're still getting a kick out of the fact that the game was on TV and will show up in the ticker on ESPN.

I work at NKU and in years past I've had a student or two on the team. I don't have any this year though so no second thought about being glad that the Buckeyes rolled in this one.

NKU gets another power conference foe in a few days, heading to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech.
 
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Matta still not very pleased with our defensive effort and are transition offense.
?I thought we had great looks,? Matta said. ?I told them at halftime, ?Hey, you?ve got to put the ball in the basket.? ?We?ve got to get that corrected this week, that?s for sure.?

The Buckeyes do not play again until next weekend, while they prepare for final exams for the semester. They play host to Long Beach State at noon on Saturday.

They are home for every game in December, and for seven more games in a row, as they prepare for the start of the Big Ten season on Jan. 2 against Nebraska. Matta wants to get all of the team?s loose ends tied up by then.

?The No. 1 thing I wanted to see (against Northern Kentucky) was if we would get up off the mat and have a little fight to us. I don?t think we were as effective that way as I wanted to be,? he said.
?We challenged the guys defensively (on) staying sound and keeping (Northern Kentucky?s) field-goal percentage down. We kept talking about it, but they were beating us to the ball on long rebounds, which are things we?ve got to get better at.?

The Buckeyes outrebounded their first five opponents by an average of nearly six a game but outdid the Norse only 43-41 and allowed them 16 offensive rebounds. But they did hold Northern Kentucky to 27.1 percent shooting and forced 20 turnovers. Jalen Billups led the visitors with 11 points and nine rebounds.


?Offensively,? Matta said, ?we were in transition quite a bit and we weren?t as (fluid) as I wanted us to be in transition. ? We weren?t as cohesive as I wanted us to be.?

Aaron Craft had his hands all over the effort on defense, registering four steals and forcing numerous other turnovers with his pressure on the ball.

?He was maybe as good as I?ve ever seen him in terms of disrupting what our opponent was attempting to do,? Matta said. ?He was the glue when things weren?t maybe going as we wanted them to. He was leading huddles. He cares so much that we play good basketball.?

Craft and the other guards struggled to make shots for the second straight game. Craft made 2 of 9 shots.


But ?I?m not even flinching on that,? Matta said. ?I know he can do that.?
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Postgame
 
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I agree with Matta, we looked like crap on the Boards and our offense.
Where was Thomas? and why does Craft miss so many wide open shots for two games now? It pains me to watch experienced guys fo 4 for 16 or so.
I also noted too many bad decsions on offense.
Not Happy. We won the game with #10 and our athleticism but if we had played a top team we probably would have lost again.
Not Happy. But I know we will get better fluidity in our offense but we need to start making our shots cuz we all know that one scorer a game isnt going to go far especially in the B10.
 
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That's funny cuz frm where I was sitting we got beat time and time again right under the basket. Check it out
NKU a very small D1 team comes within two rebounds of our team with all our height and athleticism.
 
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I agree with you, Best. That was not a good basketball team. Apart from Ross's offensive output, I was not particularly pleased with any other aspect of the team's performance. NKU gave a much better effort, despite the talent disparity.
 
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Fungo Squiggly;2270913; said:
I agree with you, Best. That was not a good basketball team. Apart from Ross's offensive output, I was not particularly pleased with any other aspect of the team's performance. NKU gave a much better effort, despite the talent disparity.
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I don't think Ohio State is particularly a good basketball team right now either. Individual performances have been carrying them so far.

Lots to work on, that's for sure.
 
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LitlBuck;2271459; said:
Seems like the pollsters are agreeing with your early assessment. Thank goodness it is early and polls do not mean anything:)

Twitter
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If we are still ranked #7 and people think we aren't any good then I cant wait for us to play well and then see where we are ranked. :biggrin:
 
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