OSU wins Big Ten tourney, earns No. 2 seed in NCAAs
Right: Ohio State’s Evan Turner (left) along with Mark Titus and and David Lighty celebrate with the Big Ten tournament championship trophy. (Getty Images)
Now Ohio State has a companion for the trophy they won earlier this season by winning the Big Ten regular season title.
The Buckeyes took care of business in the second half by walloping Minnesota, 90-61, in the Big Ten tournament championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Sunday afternoon.
Shortly after the game, the selection committee revealed their pairings for the 2010 NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Ohio State will be playing close to home, though they really didn’t get a favorable draw as OSU received a No. 2-seed in the Midwest Regional. The Buckeyes will begin the tourney at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, taking on No. 15-seed UC-Santa Barbara, Friday night. Tip-off is scheduled for roughly 9:35 p.m. or so, and the game will be televised on CBS.
With a victory this Friday, Ohio State will then play the winner of Oklahoma State-Georgia Tech on Sunday to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
I really like the Buckeyes chances of making it that far into the tournament, but after that, the task is quite daunting. The Midwest Regional is by far the toughest out of the four. In the Midwest, you have top-seeded Kansas, third-seeded Georgetown and fourth-seeded Maryland to contend with down the line.
The Big Ten got five teams into the tournament this year. Along with Ohio State, Purdue, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Minnesota all got invites to the Big Dance.
Against the Golden Gophers, it was close for the first 27 minutes until the Buckeyes blew the roof off the gym.
Ohio State led 33-30 at intermission and with 13:41 remaining in the game, the Buckeyes held a slim 42-40 advantage after the Golden Gophers had rallied from an 11-point deficit just a few minutes earlier.
But Ohio State went on a 9-0 run from that point fueled by Evan Turner and David Lighty and eventually outscored the Gophers, 37-15, over the next 11 minutes take a 79-55 lead with 2:41 left after Turner’s jumper in the paint and that was all she wrote. During the run, the Buckeyes made 12-straight field goals.
Turner, the Big Ten’s Player of the Year and the unanimous choice for the tournament’s most outstanding player, paced the Buckeyes with game-high totals of 31 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. It was Turner’s 16th double-double of the season. David Lighty added 20 points, seven boards, and five assists, and Diebler made five three-pointers to finish with 19 points.
The Buckeyes made 34-of-59 (57.6%) field goals, including 12-of-22 (54.5%) three-pointers, while holding a 37-23 edge on the boards. The Gophers shot the ball pretty well in the game by making 22-of-52 (42.3%) field goals, including 7-of-16 (43.8%) treys. But 14 Minnesota turnovers led to 21 fastbreak points for the Buckeyes.
Minnesota was led by 17 points from senior guard Lawrence Westbrook, while sophomore guard Devoe Joseph was the only other Gophers player to reach double figures, finishing with 14 points.
