Right: Ohio State’s Evan Turner denies the shot attempt of Iowa’s Jermain Davis.
(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

In a hard-fought slugfest against Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Tuesday night, two critical plays in the closing seconds kept Ohio State’s hopes alive of attending the “Big Dance.”

With the Buckeyes clinging to a 60-58 lead, the Hawkeyes’ Jermain Davis drove to the bucket and appeared to have an uncontested layup, but OSU’s Dallas Lauderdale was able to swat the shot from behind with seven seconds left.

After Lauderdale got his hands on the rebound, he tossed the ball over to Jon Diebler and he was able to get a pass off to Evan Turner, who was quickly fouled with 5.2 ticks left on the clock.

Turner, a 76.8 percent free throw shooter on the year, missed his first charity stripe toss and Iowa’s Jake Kelly snared the rebound giving the Hawkeyes one last chance.

Kelly’s pass went to Davis down the near-sideline, who then raced to the right wing and lofted a 23-foot three-pointer at the buzzer that clanged off the back of the rim, while giving the Buckeyes a very good chance of having their named called on Selection Sunday.

Turner, who scored a game-high 22 points with five rebounds and nine assists, tallied the game-winner with 2:09 remaining on a spinning move in the lane.

Iowa led by as many as eight points in the second half after Devan “Hey Rocky, Watch Me Pull a Rabbit Out of My Hat” Balwinkle hit one of his eight 3-pointers of the game with 18:31 left that put the Hawkeyes ahead 40-32.

The Buckeyes responded with two triples from Jon Diebler which was sandwiched in by a two-handed jam from B.J. Mullens that quickly tied the game at 40-all with 15:44 to go.

With the game deadlocked at 19-19 in the first half, the Hawkeyes also held an eight-point advantage after another Balwinkle three which gave Iowa a 27-19 lead, but the Buckeyes also came right back with treys from William Buford and Jeremie Simmons along with a 16-foot J from Buford that tied the game once again with 2:34 left until halftime.

The Hawkeyes took a 32-30 lead into the locker room at intermission after a three-ball from Kelly with five seconds to go.

Overall, Ohio State and Iowa both took 45 shots, though the Hawkeyes attempted 29 three-pointers while the Buckeyes lofted 14 from beyond the arc. Ohio State was 25-of-45 (55.6%) from the floor and 7-of-14 (50.0%) from three-point land. Meanwhile, Iowa was 19-of-45 (42.2%) from the field and were 12-of-29 (41.4%) from 20-feet, 9-inches away.

The Buckeyes also outrebounded the smaller Hawkeyes 29-21.

Outside of Turner, only one other Buckeye scored in double figures as Diebler added 12 points.

For Iowa, Balwinkie had a team-high 24 points and Kelly chipped in 19, with Matt Gatens adding another 11 points.

It was nice to see Ohio State playing more man-to-man defense against Iowa, though you have to be aware of the shooters on the perimeter. The Buckeyes played more zone in the second half, which seemed to work a little better as the Hawkeyes shot 36.4 percent (8-of-22) in the final 20 minutes.

It was another game for the Buckeyes, though, without any type of offense from their three post players. Mullens, Lauderdale and Kyle Madsen combined to go 4-of-7 from the field for nine points against the Hawkeyes, whose tallest player was 6-foot-8.

Up next, Ohio State hosts Northwestern in the regular season finale on Sunday afternoon. Tip-off at Value City Arena is scheduled for 5:00 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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Two summers ago when former Ohio State point guard Scoonie Penn (left) along with
former/current OSU president E. Gordon Gee were kickin’ it at my pool party.

As most of you should be aware of by now, the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Iowa Hawkeyes tip-off at 9:00 p.m. ET in a men’s basketball game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena which is being televised on the Big Ten Network.

But two hours prior at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Big Ten Network will air the 1999 NCAA South Regional Championship game between Ohio State and St. John’s, which was played at the Thompson-Boiling Arena on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Led by 5-foot-10 point guard Scoonie Penn who scored 22 points with eight rebounds and eight assists, the Buckeyes defeated the Red Storm 77-74 to advance to the Final Four.

Ohio State never trailed at any point of the game, but St. John’s had possession with less than 10 seconds left trailing by two when Penn forced Red Storm guard Erick Barkley to turn the ball over.

The Buckeyes did lead by as many as 13 points in the second half.

Along with Penn in double figures was Michael Redd with 20 points, Jason Singleton had 13, and Ken Johnson added 12 points and seven blocked shots.

Lavor Postall led the Red Storm with 24 points, while everybody’s favorite NBA player, Ron Artest, added nine for St. John’s.

Former OSU head coach Jim O’Brien was in his second season at the helm after guiding the Buckeyes to an 8-22 record (1-15 in the Big Ten) during his first year.

While this was a great win in the history of Ohio State basketball, it’s no longer recognized by the NCAA, since Boban Savovic was ruled ineligible and played in this game as well as all the others during the 1998-99 season.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Ohio State Buckeyes (18-9, 8-8) vs. Iowa Hawkeyes (14-15, 4-12)

Date: Tuesday, March 3
Time: 9:00 p.m. ET
Place: Carver-Hawkeye Arena – capacity 15,500
TV: Big Ten Network with Wayne Larrivee and Tim McCormick.
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 64-73 all-time record vs. Iowa.
Last Game: Ohio State defeated Iowa 68-65 back on Dec. 31, 2008, at Value City Arena. Jon Diebler scored 27 points and William Buford added 16 for the Buckeyes.

Right: Iowa head coach Todd Lickliter has seen his team get decimated by injuries.
(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

If there was ever a time where one could say this is a “must-win” for Ohio State, now is a really good occasion.

Planted firmly on the the NCAA tournament bubble, the Buckeyes can ill-afford to slip against an Iowa team who has a sub-.500 record and is currently ranked No. 106 in the RPI.

Both the Buckeyes and Hawkeyes have lost four out of their last five games. Iowa is 4-3 in home games against Big Ten foes, while Ohio State is 2-6 in league games away from Value City Arena this season.

Injuries have hampered the Hawkeyes. Starting guard Jeff Peterson has missed four straight games with a hamstring injury, and has not played since Feb. 11. Starting forward Cyrus Tate, though, has returned from an ankle injury and has played in three consecutive games, with his minutes increasing each night, and guard Jermain Davis has returned from a bruised knee.

Starting guard Jake Kelly has moved from shooting guard to point guard in place of the injured Peterson and leads the Hawkeyes in scoring, averaging 11.1 points per game.

Ohio State really needs to benefit from their height advantage against Iowa. Getting outrebounded yet again is not an option. Of course, Matta is going to have to light a fire under Dallas Lauderdale and B.J. Mullens to get them going, while Evan Turner, Jon Diebler and William Buford will have to play like they are capable, too.

Also, look for Turner to play more point guard against the 6-foot-6 Kelly. You might even see two post players for the Buckeyes on the floor at the same time, as well.

This is a game Ohio State must, and will, win.

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Right: Ohio State’s Evan Turner goes baseline and has his stuff packed by Purdue’s JaJuan Johnson. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Ohio State’s free-fall, which was halted momentarily last Tuesday when the Buckeyes defeated Penn State at home, continued on Saturday as OSU suffered their second-worst defeat of the season, losing to 16th-ranked Purdue 75-50 at Mackey Arena in W. Lafayette, Ind.

I can’t think of any other reason of Ohio State’s last-season collapse other than fatigue. It’s been well documented here on BuckeyeBanter.com that injuries have played a huge role. Starting forward David Lighty and reserve forward Nikola Kecman are out, and backup point guard Anthony Crater transferred to South Florida whining about playing time.

But those are things we already know as Ohio State is now firmly sitting on the NCAA tournament bubble.

For the second straight game, junior point guard P.J. Hill was inserted into the starting line-up. You hear a lot about Hill and his work ethic in practice, though this is something the average fan like you and me never see. Of course during the games, you can see his hustle. And don’t get me wrong, you like guys who play as hard as Hill, but you have to have some talent to go along with it.

Hill had averaged 3.8 minutes per game through the first 10 contests of the season, all against non-conference opponents before Crater quit. In those 10 games, he made just four appearances and registered a DNP (Did Not Play) in six contests against Bowling Green, Miami, Notre Dame, Butler, Jacksonville, and West Virginia.

In the last two games that Hill has started, he’s averaging 10.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 turnovers in 21.0 minutes of game action. Decent numbers, but I would want more assists coming from my starting point guard.

One player that’s clearly missing in action is sophomore forward Dallas Lauderdale. “Mr. Two City” had just two points, a rebound, a steal and two blocked shots in 20 minutes against Purdue. Against Penn State, he played 15 minutes and scored three points, with two rebounds and a blocked shot. And the game before that against Illinois, the only stats he registered was one point and one rebound in 17 minutes.

Ohio State generally goes eight to maybe nine-deep, with Walter Offutt and Kyle Madsen getting more playing time as the season winds down. But you also have several starters that play 35-plus minutes like Evan Turner and Jon Diebler. With a thin bench, the Buckeyes can ill-afford to have anyone to have any lapses in their play.

I really think it’s time that Matta starts freshman B.J. Mullens at center and give him about 30 minutes of playing time if he can handle it and stay out of foul trouble. The lack of any low-post offense when he’s not on the floor doesn’t help the players on the perimeter.

Against Purdue on Saturday, the Buckeyes came out flat to start the game and eventually they were staring at a 12-point deficit when Purdue’s Robbie Hummel canned a pair of charity-stripe tosses with 9:01 left until halftime, putting the Boilers ahead 26-14.

Purdue still clung to that spread, leading 32-20 after a jumper by JaJuan Johnson with 4:04 remaining until the break, but the Buckeyes went on a 6-0 run to close out the first half and headed to the locker room trailing 32-26 as Turner drained a long J from the top of the key with one foot on the three-point line as the horn sounded.

Ohio State got within two with 18:51 left in the second half after a steal by Hill resulted in a bucket by Mullens that made the score 32-30.

But the wind quickly deflated from OSU’s sails at that point as Purdue went on a 17-2 run capped off on a triple by E’Twaun Moore that put the Boilers up 49-32 with 13:21 on the clock.

The Buckeyes could never recover.

The biggest difference of the game could be that Purdue was just 2-of-10 shooting from behind the arc in the first half, but made 7-of-9 shots from that distance in the second. Ohio State, meanwhile, was just 4-of-17 from three-point land for the game.

One other thing, you’re not going to win too many games when you have almost as many turnovers (15) as you do rebounds (19). Add to the fact that the Buckeyes were outrebounded 35-19 doesn’t help, either.

You’re not going to win too many games, as well, when you only get to the foul line four times while your opponent attempts 15 shots from the charity stripe. It’s all about attacking the basket and not settling for jumpers.

Ohio State does have two very winnable games coming up. On Tuesday night, the Buckeyes travel to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes, Tuesday night. Tip-off at Carver-Hawkeye Arena is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

OSU then returns home to host Northwestern for the regular season finale at Value City Arena on Sunday. Game time is set for 5:00 p.m. ET, and it will also air on BTN.

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