This is a game that Ohio State had in its’ grasp and let slip away.

Make no mistake, top-ranked North Carolina is a very good team, but the young Buckeyes wilted in the second half.

Leading 32-29 at halftime after freshman guard Jon Diebler banked in a three-pointer, Ohio State changed ends and it appeared the basket on the other side of the court had a lid on it.

With 16:25 left to play in the game, Ohio State’s 7-foot freshman forward Kosta Koufos scored on a layup to put the Buckeyes ahead 39-37.

Ohio State’s next field goal did not come until Diebler drained a triple form downtown with 5:33 remaining in the contest and North Carolina was leading 57-46.

In a span of eight minutes and 52 seconds, the Buckeyes attempted 16 shots from the field and missed them all.

If you read game recaps written by sports journalists from the state of North Carolina, most would state that it was a tremendous defensive effort put forth by the Tar Heels.

But the thing is, Ohio State had many open looks and took some decent shots, unfortunately they didn’t find their way through the orange cylinder.

Of those 16 shots that missed, six were layups, and another six were from three-point range.

Granted, Othello Hunter shooting 18-foot jumpers and Matt Terwilliger hoisting the rock from beyond the arc are not high percentage shots, but they were open.

And even with the offensive drought, Diebler’s steal led to his own slam dunk that trimmed North Carolina’s lead down to 57-51 with 4:34 left in the game.

Unfortunately, Ohio State could not get any closer.

As a team, the Buckeyes were just 19-of-70 (27.1 percent) from the field, including 10-of-33 (30.3 percent) from beyond the arc.

Koufos was a no-show, shooting just 1-of-10 from the field for four points and three rebounds.

Diebler, though, finally made an impact for the first time this season, scoring 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting. He was 5-of-14 from downtown.

Senior point guard Jamar Butler chipped 17 points and eight rebounds, while Lighty added 10 points and nine boards, and Hunter scored just five points, but had a team-high 10 rebounds and six blocked shots.

Wayne Ellington lead the Tar Heels with 23 points.

I am not sure what’s more troubling. Could it be the woeful shooting, the fact that Ohio State was outrebounded 58-42, or that the Buckeyes went to the foul line just nine times the entire game. Granted, I didn’t think the officiating was very good, especially in the second half when Diebler was hacked when he went baseline for a dunk then fell awkwardly on his right wrist and there was no call. But Ohio state has to attack the basket instead of settling on jumpers.

One thing that has to improve is the post play of Koufos. In the last few years when Ohio State had difficulties shooting outside, they could always pound the ball inside to players like Greg Oden and Terence Dials. While Koufos and Hunter are not true centers, or “fives (5’s),” their play in the low post will be needed if the Buckeyes want to three-peat as Big Ten champions and advance to the NCAAs.

Up next, Ohio State travels to Indianapolis to take on Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., and the game will be televised by ESPNU, with the “U” meaning “you will probably not see it.”

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Tonight, Ohio State hosts top-ranked North Carolina in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge at Value City Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:00 p.m., and it will be televised on ESPN.

It’s the third time in four games that head coach Thad Matta and his Buckeyes will square off against a ranked opponent.

Last week in the NIT Season Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden in New York, Ohio State downed then-No. 16 Syracuse 79-65, before getting throttled by 16th-ranked Texas A&M, 70-47.

In Ohio State’s last game, the Buckeyes returned home and went old school, routing Virginia Military 90-57 at St. John Arena on Sunday

North Carolina is 5-0 on the season with wins over Davidson (72-68), Iona (107-72), South Carolina State (110-64), Old Dominion (99-82), and Brigham Young (73-63). UNC has yet to face a ranked opponent.

The Tar Heels are led by 6-foot-9, 245-pound junior forward Tyler Hansbrough, who is averaging 23.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.

Two other starters routinely score in double figures as 6-foot-4 sophomore guard Wayne Ellington averages 17.0 points per game, and 5-foot-11 point guard Ty Lawson chips in 10.6 per contest.

Ellington is the Tar Heel’s best outside shooter, connecting on 48.0 percent of his shots from beyond the arc, while Lawson, who leads the team averaging 4.6 assists per outing, may not play due to an ankle injury. He did not make an appearance in UNC’s last game against BYU on Saturday.

Coming off the bench, 6-foot-5 junior swingman Danny Green averages 13.2 points per game as the only other Tar Heel in double digits.

Last year at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, the “Thad Five minus one” was given a true test on the road. It was also the last game Greg Oden would show up in street clothes.

Ron Lewis scored 30 points, but it wasn’t enough as the third-ranked Buckeyes dropped a 98-89 decision to the seventh-ranked Tar Heels.

In the end, North Carolina just had a deeper bench and fresher legs to finish off Ohio State.

It was quite a game as the young Buckeyes’ came flying out of the gate without any fear or apprehension, taking a 15-9 lead into the first media timeout that was fueled on three-pointers from Jamar Butler and Ivan Harris.

Ohio State claimed their largest lead of the game on two different occasions, with the last installment coming on a jumper by Lewis that put the Buckeyes ahead 35-25 with seven minutes remaining in the first half.

North Carolina chipped way at Ohio State’s lead and trailed 48-44 at halftime.

The Buckeyes didn’t quite get off to the same start in the second half as they did in the first, as the Tar Heels went on a 9-0 run capped off on a three-pointer by Ellington that put North Carolina ahead 53-48 with 6:38 left.

But Ohio State used a 16-5 scoring barrage thanks to three consecutive triples by Harris, and the Buckeyes took a 64-58 lead with 12:43 remaining.

The Tar Heels reclaimed the lead after Hansbrough scored on a short jumper at the 8:28 mark to put UNC up 69-68, and never trailed the rest of the way.

North Carolina’s largest advantage came with 4:43 left after a jumper by Lawson made the score 84-72 in favor of the Tar Heels.

Harris added a another three-pointer with 1:52 remaining to reduced UNC’s margin down to 88-83, but Ohio State could not get any closer.

Along with Lewis’ 30 points, Harris and Cook both came off the bench to score in double figures. Harris finished with 17, and Cook had 14 points for the Buckeyes.

Hansbrough was the Tar Heels’ leading scorer with 21 pints, while Ellington added 19, Lawson had 13, and Brandan Wright chipped in 11 points.

Ohio State was 34-of-65 (52.3%) from the field, and 13-of-26 (50.0%) from beyond the arc for the game.

North Carolina was 34-of-64 (53.1%) from the floor, and 8-of-18 (44.4%) from three-point range.

The Tar Heels outrebounded the Buckeyes 41-27.

Analysis

Can the inside duo of senior Othello Hunter and freshman Kosta Koufos contain Hansbrough? Can they stay out of foul trouble? Can Matt Terwilliger offer quality minutes coming off the bench?

Clearly, these are the keys to the game, because you have to have strong post defense against North Carolina and you have to control the glass. Giving up offensive rebounds to the Tar Heels and allowing them to score second chance points could be the downfall for the Buckeyes tonight.

Also, Ohio State needs to shoot much better than they did against Texas A&M, and hopefully guard Jon Diebler can get on track.

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Over the holiday weekend, Thad Matta’s basketball Buckeyes advanced to the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off by defeating 21st-ranked Syracuse 79-65 on Thanksgiving Eve at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Buckeyes returned to the Garden and followed that impressive win over a ranked opponent by being on the receiving end of a rout as Texas A&M trounced Ohio State 70-47 in the finals on Friday.

In the semifinals against the Orange, 7-foot freshman Kosta Koufos scored a career-high 24 points while Othello Hunter added 15 points and Jamar Butler had 14 for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State was down 20-15 midway through the first half, before using a 16-4 run to take a seven point lead. Koufos scored the last six points of the spurt with a 3-pointer and a three-point play with 5:43 left in the half. The teams traded baskets and the Buckeyes went into the break up 42-34.

Then Koufos scored the first basket of the second half to extend the lead to 10 before Syracuse went on a 9-2 run to close to 46-43.

The Buckeyes answered right back with an 8-1 spurt to take a 56-44 lead on Butler’s 3-pointer with 12:35 left. Ohio State increased the lead to 15, hitting three more 3-pointers, including another one by Butler that made it 67-52.

Syracuse could get no closer than 11 the rest of the way.

In the finals on Friday, Butler had 17 points for the Buckeyes, but Koufos finished with just 10 on 4-for-16 shooting against the Aggies.

Ohio State couldn’t throw a beach ball into the Hudson River if they were standing on a pier against Texas A&M.

As a team, the Buckeyes shot 24.6 percent for the game (14-for-57), including 5-for-28 in the second half (17.9 percent). Ohio State was 4-for-21 from 3-point range.

“You’re going to have games like this,” Matta said. “I don’t know how many I’ve been a part of where the ball would not go in the basket for us but tonight I was. We’ve got to get back, regroup, and get ourselves ready to go. To feel sorry for yourself or whatever, we can’t do that. We’ve got to get ourselves ready to play again. I can’t name another team in the country that’s playing four Top 25 teams in a stretch of 10 days, and that’s what we’ve got ahead of us.”

Texas A&M shot 52.7 percent for the game (29-for-55) and outrebounded the Buckeyes 47-32.

“When you shoot 24 percent there’s going to be a lot of rebounds and it’s probably going to be a little lopsided,” Matta said.

On Sunday, the Buckeyes returned home to take on Virginia Military at St. John Arena because Elmo and Big Bird took over Value City Arena with Sesame Street Live.

Koufos recorded his first career double-double as the Buckeyes rolled over VMI with a 90-57.

Four other Ohio State players reached double figures in the win as Butler added a dozen, David Lighty scored 11 and Matt Terwilliger and Evan Turner each scored 10 for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State will get their digs back and take on No. 1-ranked North Carolina in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge at Value City Arena, Wednesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. and it will be televised on ESPN.

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As you are probably already aware of, Ohio State sits at No. 5 in the current Bowl Championship Series standings, and while you might think that the Buckeyes are out of the title race, think again.

LSU is first in the latest BCS standings, but the Tigers still have to play Arkansas and the SEC Championship game, which will either be Tennessee or Georgia. If Tennessee beats Kentucky this Saturday, the Volunteers are in the SEC title game, but if they lose, Georgia is in.

Coming in at Nos. 2 and 4 respectively, Kansas and Missouri play against each other at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, this Saturday. The winner will either play Oklahoma or Texas in the Big XII Championship game.

Both the Longhorns and Sooners are 5-2 in the Big XII South with each having one game left to play. Oklahoma owns the tiebreaker over Texas since OU won the Red River Rivalry game.

But, if Texas beats Texas A&M on Friday and Oklahoma loses to Oklahoma State on Saturday, the Longhorns would face the Missouri-Kansas winner on Dec. 1 in San Antonio.

Third in the BCS standings is West Virginia, who still has to play No. 20 Connecticut this Saturday, and Pittsburgh next week. The Big East does not have a championship game.

Now, here’s what gets interesting. With Kansas playing Missouri, Ohio State will jump up to no less than No. 4 in the BCS standings over the weekend.

The only help Ohio State might need is just one upset in the coming two weeks.

I am privileged enough to have the Big Ten Network on my local cable system, and I was listening to former head coach now studio analyst Gerry DiNardo talk about the possibilities.

Now you have to remember that the Associated Press college football poll is conducted by the sportswriters, and it does not factor into the BCS equation. But the USA Today poll as voted by the coaches does weight in.

DiNardo pointed out on BTN that the coaches generally voted based on attrition during the season, and as one team losses, the ones behind them move up.

During the season, the coaches voted anonymously until the final ballot. And with their last vote before being submitted to the BCS there names are attached, thus making it known who had voted for whom.

With that, the coaches tend to put much more thought into their final vote. It’s quite possible that Ohio State could leapfrog a team like West Virginia and make it to the BCS title game.

Games to watch this weekend:

Thursday, November 22, 8:00pm ET
#11 USC at #7 Arizona State
If Arizona State defeats USC, then Arizona next week, like Ohio State, they will be guaranteed no worse than a Rose Bowl date with the Buckeyes.

Friday, November 23, 2:30pm ET
Arkansas at #1 LSU
Clearly an important game, since LSU currently has 51 of the 60 first-place votes in the coaches’ poll.

Saturday, November 24, 3:30pm ET
#20 Connecticut at #4 West Virginia
All I have to say is, “Go Huskies!”

Saturday, November 24, 8:00pm ET
#3 Missouri at #2 Kansas
Either way, Ohio State moves up a spot no matter who wins, but let’s root for Missouri since Kansas is undefeated.

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The Big Ten announced the 2007 All-Conference football teams and individual award winners last night as selected by the coaches and a media panel.

After leading Ohio State to a third straight conference title for the first time since 1977, linebacker James Laurinaitis was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year by both the coaches and media, while defensive end Vernon Gholston was honored as the Defensive Lineman of the Year by the coaches.

After earning consensus All-America honors last season, Laurinaitis returned to Columbus to spearhead a Buckeyes defense which led the Big Ten in total, rushing, passing and scoring defense during conference play.

The Big Ten’s preseason Defensive Player of the Year boosted the Buckeyes to a third straight championship for the first time since the 1977 season and back-to-back outright titles for the first time since 1954 and 1955.

In all games, the junior linebacker led Ohio State with 103 tackles while also collecting 8.5 tackles for loss, five sacks, two interceptions and a fumble recovery in 12 games. Laurinaitis is the third Buckeye in the past five years to be named Defensive Player of the Year by both the coaches and the media along with A.J. Hawk in 2005 and Will Smith in 2003.

Laurinaitis, the reigning Nagurski Trophy winner as the nation’s top defender, is a finalist for the Butkus Award and Nagurski Trophy and a semifinalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year, Bednarik and Lombardi Awards.

Gholston led the Big Ten with 10.0 sacks during conference play to become the fifth Buckeye to nab Defensive Lineman of the Year laurels and the first since Smith was honored in 2003.

In all games, the junior defensive end ranked second in the conference and sixth nationally with 13.0 sacks to equal the school single-season record set by Mike Vrabel in 1995, when he won the first of two straight Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year awards.

Gholston was part of a pass-rushing unit which tied for second in the Big Ten and fourth nationally with 42 sacks on the season.

OSU currently tops the country in all games by allowing only 10.7 points, 225.2 yards of total offense and 148.2 yards of passing offense per game while ranking third nationally by giving up only 77.1 rushing yards per outing.

In what could be the most egregious error, Ohio State was voted as a First-Team, All-Big Ten selection by the media, somehow the coaches though that Michigan’s Chad Henne was the best quarterback in the conference. But how?

Boeckman was 176-of-273 passing for 2,171 yards with 23 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also led the Big Ten among starting quarterbacks with an efficiency rating of 150.3.

Henne, meanwhile, played in just nine games and was 137-of-239 passing for 1,565 yards with 14 TDs and seven INTs. He was seventh among starting Big Ten QBs with a 125.8 pass efficiency rating.

Someone got robbed?

Other Buckeyes honored:

Chris “Beanie” Wells was tabbed by both the coaches and the media as a First-Team, All-Big Ten selection at running back. Wells rushed for 1,463 yards and 14 touchdowns this season.

Offensive tackle Kirk Barton was a First-Team selection by both panels along with cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, Laurinaitis and Gholston.

Offensive tackle Alex Boone was a unanimous choice on the Second_team bu both the coaches and media.

Linebacker Marcus Freeman was a Second-Team, all-Big Ten selection by the coaches.

Boeckman, along with free safety Kurt Coleman, wide receiver Brian Robiskie, strong safety Anderson Russell, punter A.J. Trapasso, and cornerback Donald Washington were Honorable Mention selections by the coaches.

Kicker Ryan Pretorius, plus Coleman, Freeman, Robiskie, Russell, and Trapasso were Honorable Mention selections by the media.

Wide receiver Brian Hartline garnered a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.

A complete listing of the 2007 All-Big Ten Teams and individual honors follows:

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Two young, inexperienced teams will meet on the hardwood in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Preseason Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden in New York, Wednesday night.

The Ohio State Buckeyes will take on the 21st-ranked Syracuse Orange in the second NIT semifinal at 9 p.m., which will be televised on ESPN2.

While Ohio State starts two seniors, a sophomore, and two freshmen, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim doesn’t have one senior in his starting five.

Through three games so far this season, the Orange are led by 6-foot-9 freshman forward Donte Greene, who is averaging a team-high 19.0 points, and a second-best 8.0 rebounds per contest.

Freshman point guard Jonny Flynn is fourth on the team averaging 13.0 points per game, and leads the Orange with 7.7 assists per outing.

A pair of sophomores, 6-foot-9 Arinze Onuaku (13.7 ppg), and 6-foot-5 guard Paul Harris (12.7 ppg) are second and fifth, respectively, in scoring for Syracuse, while Harris tops the Orange with 11.7 rebounds per game.

The only upperclassman among the starting five for Syracuse is 6-foot-4 junior guard Eric Devendorf, who is second on the team at a 16.0 points per game clip, and he is the only returning starter to average in double figures (14.8 ppg) last year.

Only one player comes off the bench to play any significant minutes, and he’s a freshman, too, as 6-foot-9 forward Rick Jackson averages 6.7 points and 2.0 rebounds per contest.

Last season, Syracuse finished 24-11 and advanced to the NIT quarterfinals before eventually losing to Clemson, 74-70.

The Orange have advanced to the semifinals of the Preseason Tip-Off to face the Buckeyes by defeating Siena, 97-89, and St. Joseph’s 72-69.

Against Siena, Flynn scored 28 points, a Syracuse record for a freshman making his debut, and was 10-of-13 shooting from the field and 6-of-7 from three-point range to surpass the points record set by Carmelo Anthony.

Against St. Joe’s, Flynn hit a three-pointer from the top of the key with 5.3 seconds left to break a 68-all tie in his only basket of the game. Harris and Greene each had 18.

The Orange squeezed in a nonconference game in between St. Joe’s and their match-up with Ohio State and defeated Fordham, 80-63, as Greene had 25 points and nine rebounds to lead the way for Syracuse, last Friday.

“Syracuse is a talented basketball team and is off to a great start because they are playing great basketball,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said on Monday. “Their threat is that they can score. Donte Greene and Jonny Flynn are both off to a great start. Flynn seems to have great command of the team and what they are running already while Greene has found different ways to score.”

Ohio State is led by 7-foot freshman forward Kosta Koufos, who is averaging 18.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

But he’s far more advanced at this stage of his freshman year offensively than Greg Oden was at the end of his rookie campaign.

One big difference between Koufos and Oden is that Koufos is 2-of-3 from three-point distance, while Oden never attempted a shot beyond the arc the entire season. Other than free throws, Oden might not of taken a shot outside of 15 feet.

“Kosta is more of a face up player that can handle, shoot and pass the ball well so he can do a little more offensively for us than Greg,” Matta said on Monday. “I think time will tell if he is a one year and done player.”

Up next, Ohio State will play either Texas A&M or Washington at Madison Square Garden, Friday night.

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