“This is a joyous moment for our program. It shows the dedication of all the players and coaches this season. No one gave us a chance this year. This shows how far this group has come. We knew we had to prove it on the court.”

Most college prognosticators and so-called experts never mentioned Ohio State when they made their predictions on who would win this year’s Big Ten title. Most had Ohio State from fourth down to sixth, looking up to preseason favorites Michigan State, Illinois, and Indiana.

Though the majority had Ohio State listed as a team that would make it to the madness of March, they also had the Buckeyes battling with the likes of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan for a first-round bye in the Big Ten tournament.

Ohio State did not begin the season in any Top 25 poll, and there was never any mention of the Buckeyes making it to the Sweet 16 or Final Four.

But Ohio State did something Sunday that no other Big Ten team can say this year, they are champions. Big Ten Champions. Even though no one thought they could back in October.

Led by Dials, who basically has put his team on his back the last month, the senior center from Youngstown scored 20 points as the Buckeyes defeated the Purdue Boilermakers 76-57 in front of a sellout crowd at Value City Arena to win the outright Big Ten title, Sunday afternoon.

J.J. Sullinger, a senior and co-captain from Columbus, added 16 points in his final home game. Two other senior co-captains, Matt Sylvester from Cincinnati, and Je’Kel Foster from Natchez, Mississippi, added nine and eight points, respectively.

Maybe because of all the emotions that go to a big game like this, playing in front of a capacity crowd with family and friends in attendance and so much on the line, the Buckeyes were slow out of the gate.

Ohio State was 2-of-8 from the field and 1-of-5 from beyond the arc in the first four minutes of the game.

Purdue actually led by as much as six points early on after guard Chris Lutz drained a triple to put the Boilermakers ahead 14-8 at the 14:58 mark.

But Ohio State went on a 10-0 run with Dials scoring the first five points, and after Sullinger nailed a trey from the top of the key with 13:25 left, the Buckeyes were back on top at 13-11.

While Ohio State’s shooting touch from the outside was off, the Buckeyes pumped the ball inside to Dials, who scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half.

Purdue’s big man in the middle, 6-9 senior forward Gary Ware, played a huge role in the first half for the Boilermakers. He scored 14 of his game-high 25 points before halftime.

Ware got inside and was fouled by Sylvester while going up with his shot. Ware made both free throws with 8:25 left until the break to give the Boilermakers a 21-20 lead.

After a layup by Purdue reserve forward Matt Carroll expanded the margin to three, Dials got the ball in the low post and was fouled by Carroll. His conventional three-point play tied the game at 23-all with 7:35 left.

Purdue was plagued by turnovers all game, one of which resulted in a layup by Ron Lewis that put the Buckeyes head for good on the next possession.

While Purdue showed up for the championship party, it seemed that they only stayed to stay 20 minutes.

Leading 35-31 at intermission, the Buckeyes went on a 16-4 run to start the second half to separate themselves from the Boilermakers with Sullinger scoring nine of those points.

On what could be the highlight play of the year during that run, Foster rebounded a blocked shot on the defensive end and raced up the right side heading towards the middle of the lane. His left-handed, behind-the-back pass went to Sullinger, who was cutting from the right wing. He finished off the sweet dish with a fingeroll and was fouled on the play.

Purdue narrowed the lead down to 12 with 4:25 left in the game after a jumper by Matt Kiefer made the score 67-55 before Ohio State went on a 9-0 run to seal up the title.

Ohio State finished the game shooting 26-of-59 from the field (44.1 percent) and a woeful 4-of-24 (16.7 percent) from three-point range. The Buckeyes were 12-of-36 (33.3 percent) in the first half, but improved the final total by going 14-of-23 (60.1 percent) in the second.

Purdue was able to hang around for as long as they did by shooting 14-of-29 (48.3 percent) from the floor in the first half, but as Ohio State increase the defensive intensity and pressure in the second half, the Boilermakers shooting percentage plummeted. Purdue went 10-of-28 (35.7 percent) from the field in the second half, for a total of 34-of-57 (42.1 percent) for the game.

The Boilermakers also finished a more abysmal 2-of-17 (11.8 percent) from beyond the arc.

With the increase in defensive pressure by the Buckeyes in the second half, Ohio State was able to force 11 of the 17 total turnovers committed by Purdue in the final 20 minutes and cashed them in for 17 points.

All told, Ohio State committed 11 turnovers which led to seven points for Purdue, while the Buckeyes scored 25 points from miscues by the Boilermakers.

“The key to today’s game was Ohio State’s aggressive play in the second half. We made some mistakes in the second half and I don’t know if it was our carelessness or their aggressive play,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said.

Ohio State has now won 18 Big Ten titles in its history, including 11 outright championships. The last league crown came in 2002 and the last outright championship was earned in 1992.

The seeds for the 2006 Big Ten tournament are as follows: 1. Ohio State, 2. Iowa, 3. Illinois, 4. Wisconsin, 5. Indiana, 6. Michigan State, 7. Michigan, 8. Penn State, 9. Northwestern, 10. Minnesota, 11. Purdue.

The Buckeyes will open the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Friday, with a 12:00 pm ET tip. Ohio State will face the winner of the Penn State-Northwestern game, which will be played on Thursday.

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Thad Matta and his ninth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes look to win its first outright Big Ten title since the 1992 season when they take on the Purdue Boilermakers at Value City Arena, Sunday afternoon. Tip-off time is scheduled for 12 noon ET.

The game will be televised locally on WBNS-10 TV with Jim Barbar and Bill Hosket working the headsets for ESPN Plus, while fans throughout Buckeyeland can hear the booming voice of “Big Daddy” Paul Keels and the analytical stylings of former Buckeye Ron Stokes on the OSU Radio Network, now on 61 stations statewide.

The men’s basketball team has asked Ohio State fans to show their support by wearing Scarlet-colored attire to the game Sunday.

As a member in good standing with the United States Basketball Writers Association, journalistically I should say that this is going to be a tough game for the Buckeyes, just like the coaches and players should say before this game. But I know this has “Blow Out City” written all over it.

Purdue enters the game with a record of 9-17 overall, 3-12 in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers have yet to win a game on the road, and are 0-12 in games away from Mackey Arena.

Some of those losses have come at the hands of formidable opponents, like conference foes, a likely number-one seed in the NCAA tournament in Memphis, and to Florida State which upset top-rated Duke this past week.

But the Boilermakers have also lost on the road to teams like Loyola-Chicago, Evansville, and Xavier.

Purdue head coach Matt Painter is probably hoping that the season ends sooner rather than later, and the bleeding to stop, literally.

Painter has lost the services of three players to season-ending injuries with 6-5 senior guard David Teague, 6-7 senior forward Carl Landry, and 6-3 freshman swingman Nate Minnoy out for the year.

He also dismissed freshman guard Korey Spates from the team back in late January for disciplinary reasons.

Add that with junior point guard Tarrance Crump, who was suspended for the season after his involvement in a hit-and-run car accident in October.

In place of the injuries, dismissals, and suspensions are freshmen and walk-ons. 6-4 junior guard Chris Hartley (1.9 ppg), a walk-on, has started the last 12 games for Painter. His backcourt mate, 6-2 Chris Lutz (9.5 ppg), is a freshman.

Only two players top more than 10 points per game on average with 6-10 senior forward Matt Kiefer (12.0 ppg) and 6-8 junior forward Marcus White (11.2 ppg).

Rounding out the starting five is 6-6 senior guard and captain Bryant Dillon (6.6 ppg).

Three of those who are either out or dismissed that averaged more than 10 points per game are Landry (15.2), Minnoy (11.0), and Spates (10.2).

That’s a good chunk of offense gone.

According to Purdue’s sports information department, the Boilermakers have 15 players on the roster, but only will dress nine against Ohio State. One of which is 5-9 freshman walk-on guard Bobby Riddell.

What looked like a promising season for the Boilermakers in October has turned into a nightmare for Coach Painter.

In Ohio State’s last meeting with Purdue back on January 11, four players scored in double figures led by J.J. Sullinger who netted 17 points, as the then 19th-ranked Buckeyes cruised to an 80-64 win over the Boilermakers in front of 10,521 fans at Mackey Arena.

After Jamar Butler drained a three-pointer with 18:55 left in the first half, the Buckeyes never trailed in the game. Ohio State held a 46-32 advantage at halftime, and led by as many as 25 points in the second half.

Ohio State shot 52.5 percent from the field on 31-of-59 shooting, and was 11-of-22 from beyond the arc.

The Boilermakers were led by Kiefer, who scored 15 points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.

This should not be much of a game on Sunday, with a real possibility of the Buckeyes winning by 20 or more points to win the outright Big Ten title.

Up next, Ohio State will play in the Big Ten tournament against a yet to be determined opponent at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

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Last night’s game was a lot like your first car. It wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world, but man, it got you there.

Senior center Terence Dials scored 18 points and Ron Lewis drove home the winning bucket for the ninth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in a 56-53 win over the Northwestern Wildcats at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois, Wednesday night.

With the win, Ohio State claimed at least a share of the Big Ten Conference title.

Ohio State got a lot of help along the way, thanks to turnovers and poor coaching decisions by Northwestern.

With just under a minute left to play and the Buckeyes trailing 53-52, Northwestern turned the ball over when guard Evan Seacat received the pass on the wing, turned to pivot, and moved his foot over the sideline with 54 seconds left.

Twenty seconds later, Ron Lewis launched a three-ball from the right wing and missed, but it was rebounded by Dials, who called a timeout as defenders closed in with 34 seconds remaining.

After several passes, Jamar Butler was stripped of the ball, only to have it luckily bounce towards Lewis, who took off from the left wing and drove to the rack for the game-winning layup with 14 ticks on the clock.

Trailing by one in the closing seconds, Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody decided to let his guard Sterling Williams race down the court and not call a timeout.

Williams got inside the foul line, but instead of lofting up a short jumper, he tried to squeeze in a pass to Bernard Cote that was intercepted by Ohio State’s Lewis, who was then fouled by Williams with six seconds remaining.

Lewis missed his free throw attempt and the ball was rebounded by Northwestern’s Mohamed Hachad, as the Wildcats’ quickly called a timeout with 1.3 seconds left.

Actually, they used three straight timeouts to setup the their last-ditch effort to take down the Buckeyes. Unfortunately, Tim Doyle’s pass sailed well right of his intended target and out-of-bounds.

Je’Kel Foster took the inbounds pass and was fouled. He made of pair of free throws to seal the win.

It was a closely contested game throughout with 14 lead changes and eight ties. Ohio State biggest lead of the game came with 15:43 left in the second half after Foster drained a trey that put the Buckeyes ahead 38-30.

Northwestern’s biggest advantage was three points at the eight-minute mark of the first half after a triple by Vedran Vukusic that made the score 17-14.

Ohio State took a two point lead into intermission after “The Microwave,” Ivan Harris scored on a layup with 35 seconds left until halftime.

The only other Buckeye to score in double figures with Dials was Foster, who chipped in 10 points.

Two Wildcats’ scored in double-digits with Vukusic scoring 13 and Hachad adding 11.

“Well, obviously a great win for our program. We knew coming in it was going to be a hard fought battle and it was one of the toughest games I’ve ever been involved in. I thought both teams played extremely hard, but it was a game of really crazy plays,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said after the game.

“Fortunately for us we got the last crack at it there with Ron (Lewis) getting past the defense and getting the layup, but … tremendous game. I’m proud of our guys for sticking with it. I felt we were a little bit nervous or scared starting out there. We battled through it and we came out on top,” Matta continued.

Up next, Ohio State will play for the outright Big Ten title when they host the Purdue Boilermakers on Sunday at Value City Arena. Tip-off time is scheduled for 12 noon ET.

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Thad Matta and his ninth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes travel to Evanston, Illinois, in the hope of gaining at least a share of the Big Ten title as they take on the Northwestern Wildcats at Welsh-Ryan Arena tonight. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 pm ET.

The game will be televised locally on WBNS with former 10-TV sports anchor Mike Gleason and former Buckeye baller Bill Hosket calling the game action for ESPN Plus. On your radio dial, the game can also be heard on 61 stations throughout Buckeyeland with “Big Daddy” Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.

With Illinois’ 71-65 win at Minnesota on Tuesday night, the Fighting Illini now trail the Buckeyes by just a half-game in the standings. With a win over the Wildcats in Evanston, Ohio State will clinch at least a share of the Big Ten title pie.

Northwestern, on the other hand, is fighting to keep their postseason hopes alive. The Wildcats are an even 13-13 on the year with two regular season games remaining, along with at least one more in the Big Ten tournament.

Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody, in his sixth season, has led the Wildcats to wins over nine Big Ten opponents, but has yet to defeat the Buckeyes since landing in Evanston.

Ohio State has more wins over Northwestern that any other opponent, and the all-time record against the Wildcats is 106-44, with Ohio State winning the last 12 meetings. The last time Northwestern won against OSU was back in 1998, a 70-62 decision at Welsh-Ryan.

Welsh-Ryan Arena, originally built in 1952, seats just 8,117 and is the smallest basketball venue in the Big Ten. It is more than 5,000 seats less than Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, which is 10th in the league in terms of capacity at 13,751.

While more suited for the Mid-American Conference than the Big Ten, Welsh-Ryan can get quite loud when it’s at capacity. But only 6,119 showed up when Northwestern last played a home game, a 61-52 win over the Wisconsin Badgers one week ago.

In that game, Mohamed Hachad scored a career-high 25 points, snapping the Badgers’ three-game win streak. Hachad drew a reaction from the Northwestern fans
when he drove along the right side for a nice reverse layup to increase Northwestern’s lead to 43-36 five minutes into the second half.

Despite a career-high 18 points from senior Evan Seacat, Northwestern fell to the Penn State Nittany Lions, 68-55, in their previous game last Saturday.

After trailing by as much as 16 early in the second half, Northwestern countered with Seacat, who hit a career-high six three-pointers, all in the second half to pull the Wildcats within striking distance.

After Seacat’s fourth three-pointer pulled NU within 49-43, Penn State’s Mike Walker countered with nine straight points to fuel an 18-5 run that put the game out of reach.

Travis Parker and Geary Claxton each scored 14 points as the Nittany Lions made a living at the charity stripe. Penn State scored 20 points from the free throw line
(20-of-26), while Northwestern (13-13, 5-9) missed all three of its foul shots.

Big Ten’s leading scorer Vedran Vukusic chipped in 15 for Northwestern and guard Tim Doyle added nine.

In the previous meeting between Ohio State and Northwestern at Value City Arena on February 18, Hachad scored 15 straight second-half points for the Wildcats as Northwestern pulled within two points of Ohio State on a pair of occasions late in the second half.

The Buckeyes, however, led by Terence Dials’ 14 points and 15 rebounds, pulled away late for a 61-52 victory. Dials scored eight of Ohio State’s final nine points.

The Buckeyes got off to a plodding start and then survived a second-half lull to win for the 19th time this season. OSU, who came into the game leading the conference in three-point field goal shooting at 42 percent, finished the game a mere 3-of-23 from three-point range. Ron Lewis went 1-for-5, Jamar Butler 1-for-7, and Je’Kel Foster 0-for-6 from beyond the arc.

In their last game, a 64-54 win over the Michigan Wolverines at VCA on Saturday, Ohio State shot 22-of-56 (39.3 percent) from the field, but defensively, the Buckeyes’ held the Wolverines to just a 37.3 field goal percentage on 22-of-59 shooting.

The Buckeyes were once again led by Dials, who had his fifth straight double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Not only was Dials effective on the offensive end, but defensively he was able to hold Michigan center Courtney Sims to just 10 points.

If the outside shooting for the Buckeyes turns cold against the Wildcats, pumping the ball into Dials on the low post will be the best strategy, as Northwestern really doesn’t have anyone who can matchup with the big man.

Carmody predominantly used a 1-3-1 zone against the Buckeyes in the first meeting, a likely tactic he will use again tonight.

In other news on Monday, Ohio State cracked the Top 10 in both polls as the Buckeyes landed at number nine in the Associated Press, and at number eight in the USA Today/ESPN poll.

Also senior Terence Dials was honored Monday by the Big Ten Conference as its player of the week. It was the first of the year for Dials and third of his OSU career.

Up next, the Buckeyes close out the regular season as the Purdue Boilermakers visit Value City Arena on Sunday. Tip-off time is scheduled for Noon ET.

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