tOSU -2.5 at Kansas (ov/un 137.5) Sat 3:15 ET, ESPN

[Dryden]

jlb was just called a dildo.

Ditto.

 

[WoodyWorshiper]

Very impressed today with the effort sans Sullinger. If he plays, we win by 15 in one of the toughest gyms in the country.

Peace

 

[JohnnyCockfight]

Would echo everyone's sentiment regarding the great effort today, except on the defensive end. Craft was an animal as much or maybe even more than ever, but the overall team effort was poor. Matta will have a lot of teahing points out of this game - Deshaun in particular had some stretches of conceding easy baskets in the second half.

Was really pleased that Amir got significant playing time. Getting that kid experience will only benefit us when we go up against a team with talented bigs. Was also really pleased to see Buford turn his offense on in the end - he was visibly frustrated when not getting foul calls in this game (deservedly so) and bounced back like a senior leader should.

 

[Tonyank]

jlb was just called a dildo.

GPA???

 

[Best Buckeye]

jlb was just called a dildo.

well if it walks like a dildo, and makes noises like a dildo then.......

 

[MUBuck]

Fair points, and I think OSU with Sullinger is probably the better team, on average. But I don't think the shooting disparity was just a matter of Kansas having the hot hand, and OSU not; Kansas was able to get better looks at the basket than OSU was, generally.

Kansas absolutely got great looks all game long. I'm pretty disappointed with our pick-and-roll defense. I have a feeling we're going to see opponents run it at a higher clip when they play us. For as much intensity as we play defense off the ball, I have to believe our coaches will work our guys to death on defending it.

 

[BrutusBobcat]

The team should improve greatly off of this game. First, effort was excellent, despite being on the road in an insane environment. The team never got rattled and played extremely hard throughout.

Having said that, there's some issues they need to address. zinc, MU and others mentioned KU getting open looks off of the pick and roll, plus KU was able to penetrate the lane, much like we saw in earlier games. If they weren't so sloppy with the ball, this could have gotten ugly. They didn't just get good looks, they got great looks and hit them.

Adding to that, post defense wasn't great, but rebounding was. I was impressed at how they kept Robinson off the glass for the most part, though there were a couple of breakdowns in terms of blocking out in the second half. Still, against a bigger team, the rebounding was very, very good. At one point, the announcers mentioned that Kansas hadn't had an offensive board. That's solid work.

In half court, I felt that they really struggled finding an open shot. Ball movement was okay, but I think this team has been better. Obviously, a major part of the half court game has been feeding Sully in the low post and having him kick it back out, and without that aspect this team needs to go more with Thomas' and Buford's pull up games. It took a while to get that going, but it's effective, and when the defense comes to help, there will be passing opportunities. When both of them have their game going, this team is extremely dangerous.

I'm glad Amir Williams got some playing time, and hope he gets more for however long Sullinger is out. You can see his lack of experience, but he's playing hard when he's in there.

I'm not sure if it was the crowd or if whatever Kansas has is contagious, but it seemed like we turned the ball over more than usual. Part of that is a credit to the Jayhawks -- they were quick, long and played hard on defense. I don't think that's going to be a problem going forward, just another anomaly of this game.

As far as Thompson and Weatherspoon getting in, my question is -- who do you take off the floor? With Buford and Thomas doing the scoring, you have to leave them in, and Craft, obviously, plus against KU you have to have a big in there, either Ravenel or Williams. So, do you pull Lenzelle Smith's defense out for one of them? I think Matta made the right call with his subs on this one.

The game on New Year's Eve against Indiana now looks like a pretty big deal. IU may come in ranked and unbeaten, and OSU will hopefully have both Sullinger and Ross ready to play. I don't see any of the remaining OOC games being a challenge even without Jared and we'll hopefully get a chance to see what LQR is all about.

 

[LitlBuck]

After the game, Thad said Merry Christmas early to Bill Self.

 

[buckeyebri]

I love the fact that the Bucks are playing a game like this and against Duke. IMHO winning or losing is not as much an issue in these games as is playing them for overall preparedness against great competition for a stretch run.

 

[LitlBuck]

Postgame Kansas

I left columnist Bob Hunter all of the material related to the decision to play or not to play Jared Sullinger, so you can read that online or in the paper Sunday. In the meantime, here are some notes and quotes that didn't make my game story:

- Kansas shot apart the Buckeyes' defense like no other team had this season.

The Jayhawks made 58.3 percent of their field goal attempts. Ohio State had limited its first eight opponents to 38.2 percent. None shot better than 44.7.

Three-pointers were particularly an issue. Kansas made nine of 17. The Buckeyes' first eight opponents had made 31.6 percent, although Florida was 11 of 22 in its loss in Columbus.

Coach Thad Matta said it was a combination of execution and effort.
"We were slow (closing out on the shooter), especially in the first half, of getting the switch (off the screen)," he said. "The second half, I just didn?t think we were playing as hard.

"I said coming into this game it was a 'do both' game. You had to do two things at one time, and you had to do them at a high level. We just weren?t there the way we needed to be."

Elijah Johnson made five of Kansas' nine three-pointers. He was 5 of 7 from the field. He came into the game shooting 27.3 percent from behind the arc.

"I felt like they started to scramble. They got a little confused and panicked a little bit and we fed off it," he said of the Buckeyes. "We ran some plays to throw them off, make them think twice what was going on, and we just capitalized on it."

Ohio State guard Aaron Craft said the presence of Thomas Robinson and Jeff Withey in the post for Kansas also played a part.

"We were focusing on them, and they were setting stagger screens off that, and we just weren't reacting fast enough," he said.

Posted by Bob Baptist
http://www.buckeyextra.com/content/blogs/hoops-and-scoops/2011/12/postgame-kansas.html

 

[zincfinger]

After the game, Thad said Merry Christmas early to Bill Self.

Aside from Sullinger being out, I don't think OSU gave Kansas any gifts in yesterday's game. Granted, that's a substantial "aside", but Kansas simply outplayed a Sullingerless OSU team (the shooting percentage differential was a consequence of that, not the cause of it, in my opinion). I'd like to see this team, even without their central player, find a way to beat top-flight opponents, and I think they have the capacity to do so. But it will take shoring up some of the defensive issues, and finding ways to regularly create open shots without the major post threat. It can be done, they just didn't do it yesterday.

 

[EidoloN]

After the game, Thad said Merry Christmas early to Bill Self.

I thought I read that he said that PREgame to Self.

 

[Steve19]

I understand that he said, Merry %$#%# Christmas.

 

[jlb1705]

Diddo, I missed it cuz I had an Accounting Final.

Considering we were missing our best player..this wasnt bad

jlb was just called a dildo.

Ditto.

GPA???

well if it walks like a dildo, and makes noises like a dildo then.......

I object to this name-calling.

It's JLB is a dildo.

 

[LitlBuck]

I thought I read that he said that PREgame to Self.

you are correct because Jared was not going to play