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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