• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

tOSU @ Michigan State, Tues 1/7 @ 9p ET, ESPN

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
Despite their ranking, just about everyone has MSU as the #1 overall seed after non-conference play thanks to their wins on neutral courts over Kentucky, Oklahoma, and @ Texas. With that said, a win at their place would be the crown jewel come resume time and would be a calling card few could match.
 
Upvote 0
mendensa said:
That is why I am thinking the smaller line up Matta has been going to the last few games may work against MSU, especially w/ Payne liking to take his game outside. I think Ross on him could work to our advantage.
Click to expand...
I was going to post this yesterday but forgot. Payne can also play inside pretty well and that would not bode well for Ross. Also, according to this article Izzo might start Costello at the 5 position and move Payne to the outside anyhow so Ross might get his chance to guard him anyhow.
The Dayton native is the kind of skilled Big Ten big man that the Buckeyes need to defend, but the defensive plan will depend on how much Payne is playing with his back to the basket. His biggest games this season have come as a true post guy working inside – he had 33 points on 10-of-13 shooting against Texas on Dec. 21.
Click to expand...
No. 3 Ohio State vs. No. 5 Michigan State: 5 things that will decide the top-five matchup between the Buckeyes and Spartans
 
Upvote 0
Haven't really been able to get worked up for this game due to the fact that in order to win on the road you have to be about 15 points better than the home team. Big 10 refs play to the home crowd. Against MSU it's really too much to overcome.
 
Upvote 0
crazybuckeye said:
Haven't really been able to get worked up for this game due to the fact that in order to win on the road you have to be about 15 points better than the home team. Big 10 refs play to the home crowd. Against MSU it's really too much to overcome.
Click to expand...

So now we're chalking up losses to "the refs" before the game even starts? It's possible the Buckeyes lose this game. It's even possible they lose because Sparty plays better basketball. Laying it on the officials is too convenient.
 
Upvote 0
The Bucks' statistical rankings seem unusually low for a team with a 15-0 record and a lofty ranking:

FG % - 63rd
Assists per game - 145th
Rebounds per game - 133rd
Points per game - 107th

Sparty's look like this:

FG % - 33rd
Assists per game - 1st
Rebounds per game - 20th
Points per game - 23rd

It's not odd to see Sparty hitting the boards, but the assists are impressive as well. Tonight's test should be interesting.
 
Upvote 0
Jake said:
The Bucks' statistical rankings seem unusually low for a team with a 15-0 record and a lofty ranking:

FG % - 63rd
Assists per game - 145th
Rebounds per game - 133rd
Points per game - 107th

Sparty's look like this:

FG % - 33rd
Assists per game - 1st
Rebounds per game - 20th
Points per game - 23rd

It's not odd to see Sparty hitting the boards, but the assists are impressive as well. Tonight's test should be interesting.
Click to expand...
Here are some additional relevant team stats that show the Buckeyes in a better light:

Ohio State 3rd nationally in scoring defense at 54.9
Ohio State 5th nationally in scoring differential at 20.7
Ohio State 29th in turnovers per game, and 10th in turnover differential at 4.8 per game
Ohio State 6th fewest personal fouls committed per game at 15.3
Ohio State 6th nationally in FG% defense at 36.9%

Bottom line is that the Buckeyes aren't able to rely on their offensive prowess to beat anyone; it's defense that carries this team. I agree this will be an interesting matchup.
 
Upvote 0
It's going to be tough to pull out this win, but it's definitely a possibility for OSU. They have to limit Dawson (who loves to get garbage points and put back baskets) and get production from the bench. MSU doesn't have a lot of scorers, but their top-3 are really good so OSU will need to get contributions from everybody to win this game. It will be interesting to play them now that they don't have Derrick Nix inside, that guy was a bear and I'm not sure to what extent you can attribute MSU's improvement from a #10 seed in 2011 to a #1 seed in '12 and #3 seed in '13 to Nix's emergence as a beast, but surely Sparty suffered inside against Carolina. This isn't your big brother's MSU team, they are vulnerable inside to some extent.
 
Upvote 0
Saw a stat that MSU is #3 in the country getting 24 points in transition per game, but OSU is like 4th in the country only giving up 7 transition points per game - that factor is clearly going to be big in this game.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top