Ohio State 55, North Carolina 66 (Final)

[fourteenandoh]

Just watched on my DVR. Why hasn't anyone mentioned Hunter's defense. He was superb! What did he have, 5 blocks? Completely got Hansboro on his heels (no pun intended). Second, was it just me or did all of buckeye nation go completely ape shit when Diebler hit his second three from the horse shoe? That thing looked like one of the shots on his youtube video. Third, Kufos' offense didn't bother me so much as all of his turnovers in the second half. He definitely got out of his game and lost his composure. Butler was Butler. This is his team and so far he is doing a great job with it.

It has been beaten to death so far, but the two cold streaks the last two games are very disconcerting. Does anyone have any theories? I guess I would like to see us slow down a bit when it starts getting tough. Go into the half court and really try to get a good look down low. Once we get down by 7 then 9 then 11 the urgency just picks up and the shots keep getting worse and worse. Thad just needs to remind them that you can't get it all back at once and they've got to keep their composure.

The fun thing about college basketball is that you can't blow your season with one or two early losses like in football (scUM anyone?). Also, a team like this has the potential to grow a ton before late February. I will not be surprised at all if we are in the hunt with a great shot to win the B10 regular season championship come mid-February.

 

[Bestbuck36]

Ok, only the 3rd game I've got to watch fully so far this season but there is one apparent glaring weakness that cant be taught and this team has not shown yet......an emotional charge. Diebler tonight started to get it when his shot started going. No one on this team wants to get pissed off that his shot isnt falling and just rip toward the basket come hell or high water dragging defensive players with them to the hoop! Everythings finesse. Hunter has aggression on the defensive end. Lighty and Butler play aggressive around the ball, but no one wants to just raise up on the offensive end and go throught the body checks and arms slaps to the rim. Koufos got hit square in the face within 5 feet during the first half by Hansbrough, of course, no call. Instead of a little emotion and calling for it the next time down, he faded. You could almost see it in their eyes out there that they were hoping to win or shoot well but werent ready to just take it from UNC.

Now I know we're very young and UNC is an excellent basketball team, but....

Against more aggressive teams we will definitely struggle until someone comes out with the mentality that they wont be stopped regardless. Put Dallas in the middle and tell him "If you let them get one rebound regardless of the end of the floor, you wont play another minute today." Thats not exactly realistic but somebody's got to want to dominate in the middle of the paint for this team to be successful. Everyone on the team cant be a 3 point shooter, maybe they should practice more 15' jumpers.

 

[osugrad21]

DDN

OSU battles but falls to No. 1 UNC

​

By Rusty Miller
Associated Press

Thursday, November 29, 2007

COLUMBUS ? Wayne Ellington and Deon Thompson led a second-half surge, and No. 1 North Carolina held Ohio State without a field goal for almost 11 minutes in a 66-55 victory Wednesday night.
Ellington, who is averaging 17 points per game, scored 23 and Thompson had 14, most at critical times for the Tar Heels (6-0). Tyler Hansbrough was just 6-of-19 from the field and had 13 points and 11 rebounds in one of the premier matchups of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.



Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

OHIO STATE MEN



Ohio State loses to No. 1 North Carolina in men's college basketball



Thursday, November 29, 2007 Doug Lesmerises

Plain Dealer Reporter
Columbus -- Ohio State freshman Jon Diebler banks in a 3-pointer at the horn to give the Buckeyes a halftime lead against No. 1 North Carolina? What's a Tar Heel to do?
Remember that you're better.
Playing without starting point guard Ty Lawson, who sat out with a sprained ankle, North Carolina (6-0) put together a 16-3 run in the middle of the second half on the way to a 66-55 victory over Ohio State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Wednesday night.
As the Tar Heels pulled away, the Buckeyes pressed, missing 21 of their first 24 shots in the second half. With Diebler finally finding his range, the freshman cold streak passed to 7-footer Kosta Koufos. Missing whether he was off-balance or in-balance while trying to post up, Koufos shot 1-of-10 and finished with four points.
Down, 57-43, with 6 minutes to play, Ohio State made a run on 3-pointers by Diebler and David Lighty and a steal and left-handed, fast-break Diebler dunk that sliced the lead to 6. OSU got no closer.




Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

Canton

Buckeyes go cold in 66-55 loss to No. 1 Tar Heels
UPDATE: 12:32 AM, Thursday, November 29, 2007
BY Mike Popovich
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

COLUMBUS The offensive execution came in spurts. It is not the pace that leads to success when you are facing the nation?s top-ranked team.

A blistering stretch of long-range shooting had Ohio State thinking Wednesday upset in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge against North Carolina. When the Buckeyes cooled off from the outside, they were in trouble because not much else was working.

The Tar Heels pulled away in the final four minutes and beat Ohio State, 66-55, at Value City Arena. The Buckeyes shot just 27 percent (19-of-70) from the field, struggles reminiscent of the NIT season tip-off final loss to Texas A&M.


Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

Blade

Depth key for Heels in victory over OSU
Buckeyes' shooting off against No. 1 team

By MATT MARKEY
BLADE SPORTS WRITER

COLUMBUS - North Carolina displayed the depth and resolve you would expect from the nation's top-ranked team in a 66-55 victory over Ohio State last night, while playing without its injured point guard and getting a sub-par showing from its best player. The No. 1 Tar Heels trailed at the half in front of a sold out crowd at Value City Arena, but built a 10-point lead by midway through the second half and never let Ohio State any closer than six points down the stretch as they beat the Buckeyes in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge for the second straight year.

Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

Lima

Cold shooting Buckeyes can't stick with Tar Heels

Jim Naveau | [email protected] - 11.29.2007

[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif] COLUMBUS ? There was no easy explanation, no logical reason for Ohio State?s inability to shoot the ball in a 66-55 men?s basketball loss to No. 2 North Carolina on Wednesday night, so Jamar Butler surmised that maybe it could be attributed to the supernatural.
?I think there was a ghost up there knocking it out. It just wouldn?t fall for us,? the OSU senior guard from Shawnee High School said as he looked at the Buckeyes? 19 of 70 shooting performance on their homecourt.
Ohio State led 32-29 at halftime and was still even with the Tar Heels until the game?s final 15 minutes. North Carolina took the lead for good at 42-39 on a hoop and a free throw by Marcus Ginyard with 15:12 to play.
Wayne Ellington scored 23 points and Tyler Hansbrough got 13 points for North Carolina (6-0). Freshman guard Jon Diebler?s 19 points led Ohio State. Butler scored 17 and David Lighty had 10 points.

Cont...

[/FONT]

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

North Carolina-OSU box score

Thursday, November 29, 2007 3:35 AM

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch
Bob Hunter commentary: This time, no major proclamations can be made

Thursday, November 29, 2007 3:33 AM
By Bob Hunter


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH



When Tyler Hansbrough joined his North Carolina teammates an hour before a game last night with Ohio State, the student section behind the basket booed. He took the floor, grabbed a basketball and swished a shot from 15 feet.

Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

No. 1 North Carolina 66, Ohio State 55
Buckeyes go cold
Ohio State unable to overcome missing 17 straight shots during second half
Thursday, November 29, 2007 3:31 AM
By Bob Baptist


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


Keep believing the shots are going to fall and, at some point, they will. It worked for Jon Diebler last night. Now, his teammates on the Ohio State men's basketball team have to discover what he did.



Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

Game Recaps:

BN$--Final Analysis: UNC 66, Ohio State 55

BN (Free)--Top-Ranked UNC Pulls Away From OSU

Scout (free)--Second-half Struggles Doom Buckeyes

Rivals $--Cold shooting sinks the Bucks

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Well, after getting a good 5 hours of sleep......I woke up this morning feeling encouraged by how we played in spurts against UNC, but I also cannot get over the 17 consecutive missed shots. KK has to play better for us to beat quality teams.....right now we are missing a low post threat and a consistent second and third scorer......more later.

 

[buckeyesin07]

I've been to all the home games thus far, and I've watched all the away games on TV. IMO, OSU's offensive problems can be attributed to a few glaring issues:

1) The other 4 players on the court stand around and watch Butler dribble, waiting for him to beat his man or otherwise make something happen. There seems to be very little off the ball screening or motion in general. This, IMO, results in OSU's taking a lot of contested three pointers, which are not high percentage shots.

2) Lack of rebounding. This is a huge problem on the defensive end, but it is also a problem on the offensive end. Way too many times, OSU doesn't even have anyone in the paint when a shot goes up on the offensive end. There is no excuse for OSU's rebounding not being better, what with KK, Hunter, Twigs, and Lauderdale.

3) KK has to play more aggressively. Hansbrough had his way with him last night, and KK has a few inches on Hansbrough. I think KK will come along and hopefully last night was a good learning experience for him against a preseason All-American, but things won't get easier for him in the Big Ten season.

 

[bkochmc]

I have no idea what happened with Koufos tonight. 1 for 10 and absolutely no production on defense. I heard Stokes and Keels say on the radio on Sunday that the scouts' knock on Koufos was when he struggles, everything goes down hill from there and that was evident tonight. By the way we played offense tonight, we've shown that Koufos is our only offensive threat inside because when he was out and Hunter, Lauderdale and Terwilliger were in, they were just setting screens and making space for guard penetration. This has to change if we want to have success later in the season,especially when Koufos is off. I know Hunter can score. Good thing it is early though.

It really didn't surprise me that KK struggled like he did against a physical Hansbrough. My main concern after watching his first few games was how would he react to a physical player. He did show times of toughness where he backed down Hansbrough... unfortunately he didn't finish the shots. But just like Diebler before tonight, I'm not worried about his 1-10 performance... he's a freshman and the consistency will come. I thought he had a decent night on the defensive side though.

Well, after getting a good 5 hours of sleep......I woke up this morning feeling encouraged by how we played in spurts against UNC, but I also cannot get over the 17 consecutive missed shots. KK has to play better for us to beat quality teams.....right now we are missing a low post threat and a consistent second and third scorer......more later.

Agree... lack of an offensive presence in the paint really hurt the Bucks in this game. If they don't find consistency by the time the Big Ten season rolls around they'll lose a couple of games because of it.

I've been to all the home games thus far, and I've watched all the away games on TV. IMO, OSU's offensive problems can be attributed to a few glaring issues:

1) The other 4 players on the court stand around and watch Butler dribble, waiting for him to beat his man or otherwise make something happen. There seems to be very little off the ball screening or motion in general. This, IMO, results in OSU's taking a lot of contested three pointers, which are not high percentage shots.

2) Lack of rebounding. This is a huge problem on the defensive end, but it is also a problem on the offensive end. Way too many times, OSU doesn't even have anyone in the paint when a shot goes up on the offensive end. There is no excuse for OSU's rebounding not being better, what with KK, Hunter, Twigs, and Lauderdale.

3) KK has to play more aggressively. Hansbrough had his way with him last night, and KK has a few inches on Hansbrough. I think KK will come along and hopefully last night was a good learning experience for him against a preseason All-American, but things won't get easier for him in the Big Ten season.

1) That's something I noticed also, especially when comparing them to UNC last night. UNC was very active with off-ball movement which is why they were successful in the second half.

2) Rebounding was better than I expected last night. UNC only had a 3- offensive rebound advantage (15-12)... I expected Hansbrough to get more offensive boards than he did. UNC's defensive rebound advantage (39-26) can almost solely be explained by the Bucks 0-17 drought in the second half. There are times though when the Bucks seem to "sleep" when a shot goes up... crash the boards and good things happen.

3) Touched on that above.

I too was encouraged by last night's game and do see the areas of concern but I think once this team is more consistent those areas of concern will become smaller and smaller.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

You make some valid points and I posted prior to the game that rebounding was the key......we gave up way to many second chances.....I believe we were beat on the boards by more than 15 rebounds.

The young guys and especially Koufos are being hesitant out there....it is the lack of experience. Many times KK held the ball in the low post waiting for the defense to react instead of making the defense react to him. He needs to be more aggresive in the paint. He is to good not to grow from last night.

Our offensive philosophy right now is to spread the floor and that does not leave anyone in the middle, partly because our big men play better outside of the paint which leaves very few opportunities for offensive rebounds. We need to make some adjustments here......