Right: Anthony Crater (right) is no longer is a Buckeye. (Jim Davidson/The O-Zone.net Photo)

Earlier today, backup point guard Anthony Crater requested and was given a release from his scholarship at Ohio State and plans to transfer, according to Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Crater, a freshman from Flint, Michigan, is one of seven players on the Buckeye roster who has played in all 10 games, and was averaging 1.2 points, 0.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 0.9 turnovers while playing 13.1 minutes per game.

It seems that Crater was upset with playing time. In Bob Baptist’s article from the Columbus Dispatch, it appears that during the recruiting process, Ohio State head coach Thad Matta made some sort of promise or guarantee that Crater was going to be the starting point guard when he arrived on campus.

Even after Matta signed junior college transfer Jeremie Simmons, Crater was told his status and playing time would not change, though Simmons won the starting job in preseason camp.

Neither Simmons or Crater are great point guards. Simmons is more of a shoot first, pass second type. Crater, on the other hand, is not much of a shooter. In 10 games, Crater has made just three field goals in 15 attempts, while knocking down only 2 of his 14 three-point tries.

Clearly at this point, Simmons is the better player. It’s a shame that Crater didn’t gut this out. But once against it’s just another example of a prima donna player taking his ball and going home when he doesn’t get his way.

On Saturday, Ohio State was thoroughly embarrassed on national TV by West Virginia, losing to the Mountaineers 76-48 at Value City Arena.

It looked like the Buckeyes mailed it in, playing without any heart, passion, or intensity.

Simmons and William Buford each scored 11 points, while Evan Turner had 10 and 11 rebounds for Ohio State.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: Quarterback Todd Boeckman is not to blame for Ohio State’s offensive offense this season. (AP Photo)

Going into the 2008 tackle football season, on paper Ohio State had all the makings to return for their third-straight national championship game. Unfortunately, when you lined up the 11 guys on the rectangular field that measures 360 by 160 feet, that wasn’t the case.

This from a team that had several preseason All-Americans and five potential first-round selections in next April’s NFL Draft.

Preseason Heisman Trophy candidate Chris Wells suffered a turf toe injury in Ohio State’s easy 43-0 season-opening victory over Division I-AA opponent Youngstown State and missed the next three games.

Things were much tougher a week later playing against in-state rival Ohio, who finished the year 4-8, and the Buckeyes struggled to move the ball most of the game without Beanie.

Ohio State did manage to gain 162 yards on the ground, but had to run the ball 40 times to do so for an average of 4.1 yards per attempt. Daniel Herron and Maurice Wells combined for 98 of those yards.

Sixth-year senior Todd Boeckman was 16-of-26 passing, but 15 of his completions only covered 85 yards. His longest pass play of the day was a 25-yard pitch and catch to tight end Jake Ballard. Boeckman was also sacked three times.

Ohio pushed their lead to 14-6 when Ohio State center Jim Cordle was high and wide on his snap to Boeckman in shotgun formation, who then couldn’t come up with the ball in the end zone and the Bobcats’ recovered the loose pigskin for six.

The Buckeyes closed the gap on Boom Herron’s one-yard burst with 2:51 left in the third quarter, but Pretorius missed badly on the PAT, which made the score 14-12 in favor of the Bobcats.

Ohio State took the lead for good when backup cornerback Shaun Lane recovered a muffed punt before it rolled out-of-bounds at the Ohio 25 yard line. Six plays later, Brandon Saine plowed in from the two to put the Buckeyes up 19-14 with 14:00 remaining in the game.

Ray Small put the game on ice with 5:57 to go when he took a punt 69 yards to the house.

But Ohio State’s offensive woes continued mightily the following Saturday at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Out of 12 games this season, Ohio State failed to score an offensive touchdown in three of them, with the first occasion coming against Southern California.

The Buckeyes managed to get just 207 yards of total offense, with 69 of those occurring on OSU’s only scoring drive of the game in the first quarter that gave Ohio State a brief 3-0 lead.

Of course, the Trojans went on to score 35 unanswered points to thoroughly embarrass the Buckeyes on national TV.

Boeckman was 14-of-21 passing and threw two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown, and was sacked four times.

It was the last game Boeckman started for the Buckeyes.

For the Troy game a week later, true freshman Terrelle Pryor was named the starter after having played in the first three games coming off the bench.

Boeckman, though, cannot be blamed for Ohio State’s offensive struggles. Boeckman was just the scapegoat. The blame could be placed on head coach Jim Tressel with his unimaginative play-calling, and to the offensive line with their “Matador-style” blocking schemes.

The Buckeyes recorded two rather easy wins against Troy and Minnesota before venturing out on the road once again to face then 18th-ranked Wisconsin.

Though the Buckeyes outgained the Badgers 327-326, it took a 12-play, 80-yard drive capped off on a 11-yard run by Pryor to give Ohio State a 20-17 win.

Needing to go 80 yards in the fourth quarter, Pryor was 3-of-4 passing for 59 yards and scored the game-winner with 68 seconds left when he faked the option pitch to Beanie and slashed 11 yards for the score.

But there wasn’t much in the way of scoring or offensive production by Ohio State from the early in the first quarter until a little more than halfway through the fourth.

The Buckeyes covered 71 yards in six plays which was capped off on a 33-yard run by Wells that put Ohio State ahead 7-0 on the game’s opening possession.

On OSU’s next five possessions of the first half, the Buckeyes netted just 52 yards and two of those drives ended on turnovers, an interception by Pryor, and a fumble after Dane Sanzenbacher was crushed after a catch.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin was able to move the ball in the second quarter and mounted a 15-play, 91-yard scoring drive which took 8:16 off the clock, ending on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Evridge to Mickey Turner.

The Badgers went into the locker room at halftime leading 10-7 after Phillip Welch connected on a 20-yard field goal as time expired.

Ohio State’s Ryan Pretorius added two field goals, one from 21 yards in the third quarter that tied the game, and another with 10:52 left in the fourth quarter to give the Buckeyes a 13-10 advantage.

Wisconsin responded by going 63 yards, all on the ground, in 10 plays capped off on a 1-yard run by P.J. Hill before Pryor led the Buckeyes downfield for the game-winner.

The following Saturday in Columbus, Ohio State failed to score in offensive touchdown for the second time during the course of the 2008 season, yet defeated Purdue 16-3.

The Buckeyes’ lone TD against the Boilermakers came on a blocked punt by Malcolm Jenkins that was returned by Etienne Sabino.

After scoring 45 points in East Lansing, Ohio State came back home for their biggest game of the year, taking on third-ranked Penn State. And for the third time this season, the Buckeyes failed to score an offensive touchdown in a 13-6 loss to the Nittany Lions.

Ohio State led 6-3 going into the fourth quarter, but Pryor was sacked and fumbled at the OSU 38 yard line which set-up Penn State’s go-ahead touchdown.

On the Buckeyes last possession of the game, Pryor was intercepted by Lydell Sargeant in the end zone with 27 seconds left.

In Ohio State’s last three wins against Northwestern, Illinois and Michigan, the Buckeyes averaged 39 points per game.

So, have they turned the corner offensively? Was moving Pryor into the starting line-up the smart thing to do, or was it an act of desperation?

Clearly, the play of the offensive line has been troublesome all year. But after the loss to USC, did it really matter who played quarterback? Could Ohio State defeat Penn State with Boeckman calling the signals? Given the outcome, it was possible. But hindsight is 20/20.

I am going to have to think that Tressel was going with his best option to win this season, as well as looking towards the next two years when he put Pryor into the lineup. The experience he gained this year is invaluable.

I am not sure how much you can change your offensive schemes during the period pf practice time between the Michigan game and the Fiesta Bowl, but one thing is for sure, it’s time to be a little more imaginative and a little less predictable when it comes to the play-calling. And while Tressel has given the car keys to Pryor, it would be a good time to give him something better to drive than the Yugo the Buckeyes have been tooling around in for most of the season.

Through 12 games this season, Ohio State ranks 78th in the NCAA in total offense averaging 339.7 yards per game. Obviously with Beanie in the backfield, the Buckeyes did much better running the ball, averaging 191.6 yards per contest, good for 28th in the nation. The problem is, Ohio State ranks 104th in passing offense, netting just 148.1 yards per outing.

Looking ahead to the Fiesta Bowl, Texas is second in the nation in rushing defesne, but are ranked a whooping 104th in passing defense. The Longhorns only give up 73.6 yards per game on the ground, though they have yielded 266.3 yards per game through the air.

Jim, it looks as though if you want to beat Texas, you are going to have to throw the ball.

Tags: Football by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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No. 15/13 Ohio State (9-0) vs. West Virginia (9-2)

Date: Saturday, December 27
Time: 4:00 p.m. ET
Place: Value City Arena – capacity 19,049
TV: CBS with Happy Gilmore co-star Verne Lundquist and former Buckeye baller Clark Kellogg.
Radio: WBNS-AM 1460 and WBNS-FM 97.1 in Columbus and 58 more stations across Buckeyeland on the Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Network with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.
Series History: Ohio State owns a 9-5 record against West Virginia.
Last Game: Ohio State won 77-68 at St. John Arena back on Nov. 28, 1995. Forward Rick Yudt scored 21 points and guard Damon Stringer added 16 to lead the Buckeyes. Guards Jami Bosley and Jason Singleton both came off the bench to chip in 10 points each. Forward Shaun Stonerook netted nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Right: West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins returns to Columbus. (AP Photo)

Bob Huggins, head coach of West Virginia and born in Morgantown, returns to Columbus for the first time since 1980 when he was an assistant at Ohio State under Eldon Miller.

Huggins grew up in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, the same hometown as Miller, and played basketball for his father, Charles, at Indian Valley South High School.

Huggins then played basketball at Ohio University before transferring to West Virginia, and has a younger brother, Larry, who played at Ohio State.

After his stint as an assistant at Ohio State, Huggins went on to be the head coach at Walsh and Akron.

But Huggins is more widely known in the state of Ohio for his 16 years at Cincinnati, making him the winningest coach in terms of victories and percentage in the school’s history. Huggins directed Cincinnati to ten conference regular-season titles and eight league tournament titles.

The Bearcats appeared in post-season play in each of Huggins’ 16 seasons at U.C., advancing to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament two times in 1993 and 1996 and, in 1991-92, appearing once in the Final Four.

Those 16 years at UC, though, were tumultuous to say the least. In 1998, the Bearcats’ men’s basketball program was placed on probation for a lack of institutional control. In 2004, Huggins was arrested for driving while under the influence. In August of 2005, Huggins was forced to resign at Cincinnati.

Huggins took a year off then accepted the head coaching job at Kansas State, but only stayed one year in Manhattan guiding the Wildcats after his alma mater was without a coach when Jim Beilein left West Virgina to take the job at Michigan.

In his first year in Morgantown, Huggins led the Mountaineers to a 21-11 record as WVU advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.

So far this season, West Virginia is 9-2 with marquee wins over Iowa (87-68) and Mississippi (80-78). The two losses have come at the hands of Kentucky (54-43) and Davidson (68-65).

The Mountaineers are led by senior guard Alex Ruoff, who is averaging 17.0 points per game. Da’Sean Butler, a 6-foot-7 junior forward is the team’s second leading scorer, averaging 15.5 points per contest.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: Freshman center B.J. Mullens glides by a defender en route to a finger roll. (AP Photo)

Coach Matta’s recipe for success: lull your opponent into a false sense of security in the first half, then lay down the hammer in the second.

Against UNC-Asheville, though, the hammer came down with two minutes left in the first stanza as Ohio State easily won 83-59 at Value City Arena, Monday night.

The Bulldogs trailed by five with 3:09 left until intermission after a three-point field goal by J.P. Primm, but the Buckeyes closed out the half going on an 8-0 run fueled on a conventional three-point play by Byron James Mullens, a triple from the baseline by William Buford, and a two-handed jam by Dallas Lauderdale to give Ohio State a 37-24 advantage at the break.

After halftime, the Buckeyes used a 13-5 spurt to further outdistance themselves from the Bulldogs capped off on a two-handed slam from point guard Anthony Crater that put OSU up 50-29 with 15:25 left to play.

The closest UNC-Asheville could get the rest of the way was 18 points after a pair of free throws by Primm cut OSU’s lead down to 77-59 with 1:30 remaining.

Mullens led the way with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Evan Turner added 17 points for the Buckeyes. Buford contributed 16 points and seven rebounds, while Lauderdale posted 11 points and seven more boards.

As a team, Ohio State shot 51.6 percent (33-of-64) from the field, while holding UNC-Asheville to 35.4 percent (23-of-65) from the floor.

Up next, Ohio State hosts Bob Huggins and the West Virginia Mountaineers, Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. ET, and it will be televised on CBS.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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No. 15/13 Ohio State (8-0) vs. North Carolina-Asheville (4-7)

Date: Monday, December 22
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Place: Value City Arena – capacity 19,049
TV: Big Ten Network with Tom Hamilton and former Buckeye Tony White.
Radio: WBNS-AM 1460 and WBNS-FM 97.1 in Columbus and 58 more stations across Buckeyeland on the Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Network with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.
Series History: Ohio State owns a 2-0 record against UNC-Asheville.
Last Game: Ohio State, led by Jamar Butler’s 21 points and 10 assists, advanced to the second round of the 2008 MasterCard National Invitational Tournament by defeating North Carolina-Asheville, 84-66, last March.

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Right: Freshman center B.J. Mullens slams down two of his nine points against Iona. (AP Photo)

Evan Turner scored 21, Jon Diebler added 16, and William Buford came off the bench to chip in 10 points as the 17th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Iona Gaels at Value City Arena, Saturday afternoon.

Byron James Mullens, starting for an injured David Lighty, score nine first half points, but played sparingly in the second stanza and did not register another point.

With the game tied at 31-all with 15:30 left in the game, the Buckeyes used a 14-4 run to outdistance themselves from the Gaels, capped off on an a sweet alleyoop pass from Jeremie Simmons that was slammed home by Buford.

Ohio State led 28-24 at halftime, but Iona went on a 7-0 run to start the second half before Turner drained a triple from the top of the key to tie the game at 31-31.

From that point, the Buckeyes outdistanced themselves by going on a 17-6 run to take a double-digit lead after a pair of free throws from Turner.

Ohio State shot 48.8 percent (20-of-41) from the field, while holding Iona to 36.4 percent (20-of-55) shooting. The Buckeyes went 5-of-17 from three-point range, while the Gaels knocked down nine of their of 26 attempts from beyond the arc, with four of those coming from 7-foot forward Jonathan Huffman.

Once again, Ohio State was outrebounded with Iona pulling down 36 caroms to OSU’s 29 boards.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: David Lighty shoots a deep three from the right baseline against Jacksonville.
(AP Photo)

In Ohio State’s first six wins, the Buckeyes dominated the opposition by using their stifling 3-2 match-up zone defense with man principles. On Wednesday night it was an offensive explosion, especially from junior David Lighty, that sparked the Buckeyes to an 81-68 win over the Dolphins.

Lighty, who entered last night’s game averaging just 7.8 points per game, scored a career-tying 21 while three others notched double-digit point totals for the Buckeyes.

It was a game that at times looked like Ohio State was going to run away from Jacksonville, only to find those pesky Dolphins making several runs to get back into the game.

After Lighty’s trey gave Ohio State their first lead of the game at 6-4 with 16:33 left in the first half, the Buckeyes never trailed, nor was the contest ever tied the rest of the way, but Jacksonville sure did make things interesting on several occasions.

The Buckeyes jumped out to an 18-6 lead after Jon Diebler’s triple from the baseline with 12:35 left in the first half and it appeared that the rout was on.

Jacksonville, though, had other ideas. They didn’t seem intimidated playing in front of the sparse crowd at Value City Arena.

The Dolphins used a 14-4 scoring run capped off on a bad pass from Diebler that was stolen at midcourt by Jacksonville’s Ben Smith that led to an uncontested layup that made the score 22-20 in favor of the Buckeyes with 8:29 left in the first half.

On Ohio State’s next trip down the floor, Diebler misfired on a triple from the left wing and Byron James Mullens was whistled for an over-the-back foul going for the rebound.

On their next possession, Jacksonville had a chance to tie the game or take the lead and the ball found the hands of Aric Brooks on the right block, who was hacked hard by Dallas Lauderdale. Following the TV timeout at the eight-minute mark, Brooks converted just one of his two free throw attempts, and that’s the closest the Dolphins could get the remainder of the game.

Ohio State eventually increased their margin to double digits over the next five minutes after a deep three from freshman William Buford from the right wing with 2:54 left until intermission.

The Buckeyes led 45-34 at halftime.

Less than four minutes into the second half, Ohio State took their biggest lead of the game after a three-ball from the left wing by Jeremie Simmons put the Buckeyes ahead 56-37.

Yet the Dolphins wouldn’t go away quietly.

Evan Jefferson nailed a deep three from the right baseline that trimmed Ohio State’s led to single digits at 67-58 with 8:40 left. Two trips down the floor later after Ohio State failed to score on missed free throws and a layup, Jefferson connected again from nearly the same spot in transition following a Buckeye turnover to make it a two-possession game with 7:16 remaining.

After an eight-foot floater in the lane while avoiding an offensive foul by Lighty put the Buckeyes ahead by eight, the Dolphins’ Brian Gilbert knocked down a high-arching three over Lauderdale from the left baseline that trimmed OSU’s lead down to 69-64 with 5:01 to go.

But that’s about when it appeared that Jacksonville ran out of gas.

Diebler connected on a three-pointer and the Buckeyes made five out of their next six free throw attempts to put the game away.

Along with Lighty, Turner added 17, Diebler chipped in 14, and Jeremie Simmons contributed 10 points for the Buckeyes. Turner also added a team-high eight rebounds.

Ohio State shot a blistering 64.3 percent (27-of-42) from the field, 58.8 percent (10-of-17) from beyond the arc.

But defensively, the third-best team in the nation in that department going into the game allowed Jacksonville to shoot 49.1 percent (26-of-53) from the field, and were 9-of-15 (41.2%) from three-point range.

“We let them shoot 50 percent tonight and that’s the first time this season we’ve allowed that,” Lighty said after the game. “We need to go back to the drawing board and fix ourselves defensively so that doesn’t happen again.”

Up next, Ohio State hosts Iona, Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. ET, and it will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: Junior point guard Ben Smith (3, center) is the Dolphins leading scorer. (AP Photo)

With final exams last week, Thad Matta’s basketball Buckeyes played just one game, holding off the Butler Bulldogs 54-51 at Value City Arena on Saturday.

Butler, a perennial Horizon League contender and NCAA tournament participant, was another quality win for Ohio State, their third out of the seven victories this season.

With that win, the Buckeyes climbed from No. 21 in both polls to No. 17 in the Associated Press and are one slot higher in USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ poll at No. 16, which were released on Monday.

Surprisingly, Ohio State is the highest-ranked Big Ten team in the coaches poll, with Purdue checking in at No. 18 and Michigan State at No 22.

In the AP poll, Purdue is the highest-ranked conference member at No. 13, with Michigan State two slots behind the Buckeyes.

This Wednesday night, Ohio State will host the Jacksonville Dolphins, members of the Atlantic Sun Conference, who enter tomorrow’s contest with a record of 2-5 overall.

The Dolphins lost their first five games of the season against stiff competition, dropping decisions to Florida State (59-57), Georgetown (71-62), American (75-67), Baylor (76-68), and Georgia Tech (79-76).

In the past week, Jacksonville has righted the ship by defeating conference foes Belmont (65-64), who was picked to win the A-Sun by the coaches and media while the Dolphins were chosen second, and took down Lipscomb (83-67), last Saturday.

Clearly, the tough non-conference schedule has benefited Jacksonville to get them ready for league play.

The Dolphins are led by diminutive point guard Ben Smith, a 5-foot-10 junior, who is averaging 18.4 points and 4.9 rebounds in 35.0 minutes per game. He’s also his team’s best deep threat, knocking down 41.0 percent (16-of-39) of his shots from beyond the arc.

Jacksonville’s win over Lipscomb marked the sixth-straight game that Smith has scored in double figures, pouring in 18 points. He has led the Dolphins in scoring five out of the last six games, averaging 20.0 points per game during that stretch.

Marcus Allen, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound senior forward, is the only other Dolphin that averages in double figures (10.8 ppg), and is the JU’s best rebounder (6.0 rpg).

As a team, the Dolphins are shooting 42.0 percent (171-of-407) from the field, but have only connected on 29.0 percent (38-of-131) of their shots from downtown. Another problem stat for Jacksonville is that they are averaging more turnovers per game (16.4) than assists (12.4) by a wide margin (0.7).

For comparison sake, Ohio State’s assists-to-turnover ratio is 0.9, as the Buckeyes average 11.3 assists to 12.7 turnovers per game. Numbers that need to improve.

Jacksonville head coach Cliff Warren will go 11 deep, rotating six guys off the bench to stay fresh as the Dolphins prefer a more up-tempo game. The only problem is Ohio State’s three-quarters court diamond press which falls back into a stifling 3-2 match-up zone defense. JU’s turnover margin and lack of of a shooting touch from beyond the arc might turn this game into a rout.

No. 17/16 Ohio State (6-0) vs. Jacksonville (2-5)

Date: Wednesday, December 17
Time: 9:00 p.m. ET
Place: Value City Arena – capacity 19,049
TV: ESPNU with Jim Barbar and Mike Kelly.
Radio: WBNS-AM 1460 and WBNS-FM 97.1 in Columbus and 58 more stations across Buckeyeland on the Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Network with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.
Series History: Ohio State owns a 1-0 record against Jacksonville.
Last Game: Ohio State won 85-74 in Jacksonville back in December of 1986.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: David Lighty drives to the dish against Butler’s Gordon Hayward. (AP Photo)

After posting two wins against ranked teams away from the sterile confines of Value City Arena last week, Thad Matta’s basketball squad return home to face a much tougher opponent.

No, I wasn’t referring to the Butler Bulldogs, though they gave Ohio State all they could handle on Saturday.

The tough opponent was was referring to goes by the name of Final Exams, as the last week of the Fall Quarter can be quite hectic for the student-athlete, cramming in hours of study time as well as practice.

After jumping out to a rather large lead in the first half, the Buckeyes appeared to run of a gas towards the end. Maybe final exams took a toll on the young Buckeyes.

It was a game where Ohio State had to grind it out in the end to win, and were fortunate enough to do so.

Butler’s freshman swingman Gordon Heyward had made seven of his 10 three-point field goal attempts during the first 59 minutes and 59 seconds of the game against Ohio State, but the one that would of sent it into overtime from the left wing clanged off the back of the iron as the horn sounded.

With that, all 13,976 fans at the VCA let out a collective sigh of relief while celebrating OSU’s seventh win in as many tries.

Once again, sophomore Evan Turner led the Buckeyes with 14 points, though he was just 4-of-10 from the floor while committing three turnovers and four personal fouls.

The only other Buckeyes to notch double-digits in the scoring column was David Lighty with 10 points, and shared the team lead in rebounds with Dallas Lauderdale, pulling down eight boards.

Lighty, though, was just 1-of-5 from the charity stripe, including a pair with under two minutes left that would of doubled up Ohio State’s lead. As a team, the Buckeyes shot a mere 57.1 percent (16-of-28) from the foul line for the game.

It appeared that Ohio State would have an easy time against Butler after a block by Lauderdale and a defensive rebound by Turner on one end resulted in a layup by Lighty that gave Ohio State a 13-5 advantage with a little more than six minutes into the game.

And maybe that’s what the players felt as well.

Nearly two minutes into the contest after three-pointer by Jeremie Simmons made the score 6-5, Ohio State never trailed, even though a Butler tied the game twice in the first half and once in the second stanza.

Hayward tied the game at 17-all with 6:34 remaining until the intermission break and again on Butler’s next possession, but the Buckeyes went on a 10-4 run to close out the first half and headed into the locker room with a 29-23 advantage after a bucket by Byron James Mullens with a little more than a second left the clock.

With 15:40 left to play in the game, Lauderdale dropped in a pair of free throws giving Ohio State its’ biggest lead of the game at 43-30.

Again, it appeared that the Buckeyes were in control and would have an easy time the rest of the way.

But Butler slowly and methodically chipped away at the 13-point deficit, eventually tying the game at 51-all on Hayward’s seventh triple of the game with 3:38 left.

Fortunately for the Buckeyes, the Bulldogs failed to score another point the rest of the way, going 0-for-6 from the field and misfiring on all five three-point attempts in the final three minutes.

Ohio State reclaimed the lead for good on Turner’s leaning jumper in the lane with 3:07 remaining in the game that put the Buckeyes up 53-51.

For the game, Ohio State shot 40.5 percent (17-of-42) from the field, but went just 6-of-20 in the second half, and failed to connect from the floor during a stretch of over nine minutes. After Lighty scored in the paint with 12:30 left, the only other points the Buckeyes scored when not standing still from 15 feet away was Turner’s game-winner.

The Buckeyes were also 4-of-14 from three-point range and forced 19 Butler turnovers while committing 15.

Though Hayward was 7-of-11 from beyond the arc, the rest of the Butler team made just one attempt in 11 tries from three-point land. Overall, the Bulldogs shot 31.9 percent (15-of-47) from the field and 36.4 percent (8-of-22) in threes.

Up next, Ohio State will host the Miami Jacksonville Dolphins, Wednesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET, and it will be televised on ESPNU.

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Right: Junior guard Willie Veasley scored a career-high 13 points at Bradley, Wednesday night. (AP Photo)

The 21st-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes will host the Butler Bulldogs at Value City Arena, Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Bulldogs enter Saturday’s contest with an unblemished record of 8-0, and while they are unranked, Butler did receive votes in both major polls this week, and are third in the Rating Percentage Index (RPI) just below Gonzaga and Clemson. For comparison sake, Ohio State is 25th in the RPI.

Of Butler’s nine wins, the most notable ones are Northwestern (57-53), Evansville (75-59), and Bradley (87-75).

Second-year head coach Brad Stevens took over the reigns at Butler in 2007 for Todd Lickliter, now at Iowa, and has just one returning starter and one senior from last season’s team that finished 30-4 overall, eventually losing in second round of NCAA tournament to Tennessee.

Stevens, coincidentally, was hired in 2000 by Thad Matta when he was head coach at Butler to be the Director of Basketball Operations.

Gone from last year’s team are First-Team, All-Horizon League guards A.J. Graves and Mike Green, as well as Pete Campbell, Julian Betko and Drew Streicher.

Shelvin Mack, a 6-foot-3 freshman guard leads the Bulldogs in scoring averaging 13.1 points per game, while another freshman, 6-foot-8 swingman Gordon Haywood, is third at 11.9 points per outing and is Butler’s best marksman from beyond the arc (47.1%).

The lone returning starter, 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Matt Howard, is second in scoring (12.9 ppg) and Butler’s best glass cleaner (6.4 rpg).

On Wednesday night, visiting Butler jumped out to a 20-6 lead against Bradley and then held off a second-half comeback attempt by the Braves while posting a 12-point win.

The Bulldogs shot 59 percent from the field in the first half and led at halftime, 44-31. Bradley cut the margin to five points on two occasions in the second half, the last at 62-57 with 8:27 remaining. The Bulldogs responded with an 11-0 scoring run to post their biggest lead of the contest, 73-57.

Butler wound up shooting a season-best 54 percent (29-of-54) from the field for the game, including 48 percent (13-of-27) from beyond the three-point arc.

The Bulldogs are currently leading the Horizon League in scoring margin (+14.4), scoring defense (55.2), field goal percentage (.441), turnover margin (+4.6), assist/turnover radio (1.2) and three-point field goals per game (8.8), plus Butler is ranked sixth in the NCAA in scoring defense and fewest turnovers.

No. 21 Ohio State (5-0) vs. Butler (8-0)

Date: Saturday, December 13
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Place: Value City Arena – capacity 19,049
TV: The Big Ten Network with Tom Hamilton and former Buckeye Jimmy Jackson.
Radio: WBNS-AM 1460 and WBNS-FM 97.1 in Columbus and 58 more stations across Buckeyeland on the Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Network with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.
Series History: Ohio State owns a 30-9 record against Buter dating back to 1924.
Last Game: Ohio State lost to Butler, 61-46, at Hinkle Fieldhouse last season, in a game where the Buckeyes led 30-20 at halftime.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: OSU linebacker James Laurinaitis.
(AP Photo)

Wake Forest senior Aaron Curry has won the Butkus Award honoring the nation’s top college linebacker.

Ohio State’s James Laurinaitis, who won the award last year, finished third behind USC’s Rey Maualuga and Curry.

Laurinaitis will be in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday night as the finalist for the the Lombardi Award, then he treks over to Orlando, Fla., where he’s up for the Bednarik Award as part ESPN’s college football awards show.

Little Animal will meet up with fellow senior and cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, who was named with Laurinaitis to the American Football Coaches Association All-America team last week.

Jenkins was also named a finalist for the Thorpe award, which goes to the nation’s top defensive back.

Laurinaitis then heads to Newport beach, California, for the Lott Trophy presentation on Sunday.

Tags: Football by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: Boise State’s blue turf. (AP Photo)

The Ohio State Buckeyes will be making their fourth straight BCS appearance and seventh overall as they will take on the third-ranked Texas Longhorns in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, January 5, at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:20 p.m. ET.

The 10th-ranked Buckeyes are now tied with Oklahoma and USC for the most BCS appearances and are 4-2 in those games.

The Longhorns finished in a three-way tie atop the Big 12 South and thought that their 10-point victory over Oklahoma should have earned them the nod over the Sooners. But Oklahoma was declared the division winner on a BCS standings tiebreaker, and the Sooners ripped Missouri in the Big 12 title game to earn a trip to Miami for the national title game.

The Fiesta lost Big 12 champion Oklahoma to the BCS title game, so it was a no-brainer to replace the Sooners with Texas. When it came time to name an opponent for the Longhorns, the Fiesta had to decide between tradition and rankings.

It picked tradition, selecting Ohio State over Utah, the undefeated Mountain West Conference champion ranked three slots higher. The Utes, who were guaranteed a BCS berth, will face Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

Boise State was left out of the Bowl Championship Series with an undefeated record for the second time in five years, even though the Broncos were ranked No. 9 in both polls as well the final BCS Standings, one slot higher than the Buckeyes.

The BCS only guarantees one spot to a team from the five non-automatic bid leagues—Mountain West Conference, Western Athletic Conference, Mid-American Conference, Sun Belt Conference and Conference USA—that finishes in the top 12.

Utah was ahead of Boise State because the Utes’ conference (MWC) is better than the Broncos’ (WAC). So Utah is the BCS buster. Boise State could have gotten the at-large bid that went to Ohio State, but it’s hard to argue that the Broncos are better than the Buckeyes. Ohio State’s opponents had a record of 82-62. Boise State’s opponents were 64-81.

Tags: Football by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: Evan Turner wraps a pass around Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody. (Getty Images)

After playing four games against three mid-major programs and a high school team from Alabama, the Ohio State Buckeyes ventured out on the road for the first time this season to balmy and no-so-balmy locations, taking on ranked opponents from arguably the two top conferences in the country.

The first stop on Thad Matta’s fact-finding mission was the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Florida, where Ohio State defeated 22nd-ranked Miami.

After south Florida, the Buckeyes next stop was the brand new Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to face the seventh-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Though Coach Matta would never admit this, here’s what I learned from Ohio State’s two-game road trip. The Buckeyes are serious contenders in the race for the Big Ten title, and Evan Turner is the real deal.

Turner recorded team-highs in points and rebounds scoring 28 while pulling down 10 boards as Ohio State downed Notre Dame 67-62, Saturday afternoon.

Turner is now fourth in the Big Ten in scoring, averaging 16.6 points per game and third in rebounding, pulling down 7.8 boards per contest.

The Buckeyes got off to a slow start as the Irish scored eight of the game’s first 10 points. After a short jumper by Tory Jackson with 15:48 left in the first half, Notre Dame led 8-2.

But Ohio State got back into the game, and after several ties and lead changes, the Buckeyes took to lead for good with 1:34 left until halftime on a jumper by William Buford that put OSU up 28-26.

In the second half, Ohio State never trailed and led by as many as 10 points with 6:47 left to play after David Lighty scored on a fast-break layup that made the score 58-48.

Notre Dame, though, went on a 10-3 run over the next three minutes and 57 seconds with Tory Jackson draining a three from the left wing that closed the gap to 61-59 with 2:50 remaining which made it a one-possession game.

Both teams misfired during their next turns with the orange-colored ball, but on consecutive possessions Turner drained a short jumper for Ohio State and Jackson connected on another trey for Notre Dame that cut OSU’s advantage down to a single point with 26 ticks left.

Luckily for Ohio State, both Turner and Jeremie Simmons combined to go 4-for-4 from the foul line in the closing seconds while Notre Dame could not hit their shots from beyond the arc.

Along with Turner, the only other Buckeye to notch double-digit points was freshman center Byron James Mullens, who scored 11 with seven rebounds off the bench.

Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody, who missed the last two games due to pneumonia and was listed as out indefinitely before the game, had a double-double in the first 16 minutes and finished with 25 points and 16 rebounds.

While Harangody was was able to score inside, the Irish had plenty of problems against the Buckeyes’ swarming zone around the perimeter. Notre Dame guard Kyle McAlarney, who was averaging 32.7 points in his previous three games, scored just six and went 0-for-6 from three-point range.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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