Aaron Craft #4 of the Ohio State Buckeyes lays in a shot in the first half against the Penn State Nittany Lions on January 25, 2012 at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
Jared Sullinger scored 20 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in 27 minutes of action as fourth-ranked Ohio State had an easy time defeating Penn State, 78-54, in front of 16,907 fans at Value City Arena in Columbus, Wednesday night.
The Buckeyes scored the game’s first eight points and began the contest on a 13-2 run, which was capped off by a conventional three-point play from sophomore point guard Aaron Craft with 13:33 left in the first half. From there, Ohio State led by double digits the rest of the game and Penn State never got any closer.
At halftime, the Buckeyes led 38-18 after shooting 50.0 percent (13-26) from the field, 3-of-5 (60.0%) from three-point range, and went 9-of-11 (81.8%) from the free throw line. Defensively, Ohio State held Penn State to 21.9 percent (7-32) shooting from the floor while the Nittany Lions were just 2-of-10 (20.0%) from beyond the arc, and were 2-of-6 (33.3%) from the charity stripe.
The Buckeyes continued the domination in the second half, jumping out to their largest lead of the game with 10:29 remaining after Sullinger converted an old-school three-point play that put OSU ahead 61-32.
Penn State's Ross Travis (43) has his shot blocked by Ohio State's Amir Williams (23) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State's J.D. Weatherspoon (15) and Penn State's Sasa Borovnjak (21) look on. Ohio State won 78-54. (AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)
Shortly thereafter, Ohio State head coach Thad Matta started emptying the bench to get his backups some playing time.
For the game, Ohio State was 25-of-50 (50.0%) from the floor, 4-of-11 (36.4%) from beyond the arc, and went 24-of-34 (70.6%) from the charity stripe. Penn State was 20-of-64 (31.3%) from the field, 5-of-16 (31.3%) from three-point land, and 9-of-16 (56.3%) from the foul line.
Ohio State also held a 43-35 edge in rebounding, but the Buckeyes did have 13 turnovers while forcing only 10.
Impressive: Along with Sullinger’s 20, William Buford added 15 and Craft chipped in 11.
Not so impressive: Deshaun Thomas just missed double figures with nine points, but was just 4-of-11 shooting from the field. He did have seven rebounds, though.
Ohio State’s fifth starter, Lenzelle Smith Jr., did not score in 17 minutes and had one rebound, two assists and two turnovers.
Impressive off the bench: Freshman guard Sam Thompson played 17 minutes and scored six points with two rebounds and three assists, while sophomore forward J.D. Weatherspoon scored eight points in 10 minutes.
But the player I was most impressed with was freshman center Amir Williams. Though he played only eight minutes and scored just two points, he did have four rebounds and three blocked shots. He needs to play more.
Up next, Ohio State hosts Michigan for sole possession of first place in the Big Ten this Sunday. Tip-off at Value City Arena is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on your local CBS affiliate.
