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Do IT this week: Layering
Forced to perimeter, Buckeyes shoot blanks, lose
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Monday, Feb 11, 2008
COLUMBUS: Ohio State began its exhibition season back at the end of October and Coach Thad Matta is still searching for answers regarding his young team.
All he could do after a 59-53 loss to Indiana (20-3, 9-1 Big Ten) on Sunday is ponder aloud why the Buckeyes (16-8, 7-4) continue to come out of the gate flat.
''It's hard to explain. You just have an internal feeling. I'm not trying to be a psychologist here,'' Matta said. ''A lot of time we need something good to go for us early and that doesn't always happen.''
Although something did go well for OSU, something else didn't. The Buckeyes held the Big Ten's most potent offense to almost 11 points below its conference scoring average. But their inability to generate an offense in the first half spelled doom for OSU.
Both teams played well defensively but the offensive numbers looked particularly ugly for the Buckeyes, who struggled to find any offensive rhythm.
Ohio State shot 34.6 percent from the floor and turned the ball over five times, leading to 12 Indiana points. The Hoosiers also dominated inside, outscoring the Buckeyes 14-6 in the paint.
Indiana proved only marginally better, shooting 43.3 percent from the floor, but it still led 31-23 at halftime.
Although the Buckeyes
held the conference's leading scorer, freshman Eric Gordon, to just 15 points, senior D.J. White did as he pleased. White had a double-double (12 points and 10 rebounds) in the first half.
''I felt like in the second half we were a little more aggressive guarding him,'' Matta said. ''To his credit, he was throwing guys around. He was getting position and doing a good job of finishing. He looked today like I thought he was going to be when he was a freshman. He had that bounce back.''
White finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds.
It's a bounce that Buckeyes' center Kosta Koufos noticed.
''D.J. is a tremendous player. He's a senior and a leader on that team and I give him all the credit in the world for coming out here tonight and doing what he did,'' Koufos said. ''He's a strong player, so in the future, we just have to come harder at big guys like that.''
The tenacious defense continued for both teams, and the Hoosiers' aggressive zone was particularly tough on Ohio State's guards, who were unable to get to easy baskets.
The result: of the Buckeyes' 53 shots, 27 came from beyond the 3-point arc. Indiana forced 10 turnovers that led to 21 points.
OSU senior point guard and leading scorer Jamar Butler was held to four points and missed all five of his 3-point attempts.
''There were three points that started with Butler,'' Hoosiers Coach Kelvin Sampson said. ''We knew we had to keep (Othello) Hunter off the offensive glass, make sure there was always a man on Butler and get defensive rebounds.''
Freshman guard Jon Diebler said that the Buckeyes needed to be more aggressive when attacking that zone defense.
''It seemed like tonight we were just a little bit tentative and unsure of ourselves when we got penetration into the zone,'' he said. ''When you face a great team like Indiana, you have to be decisive and be able to make a play.''
Despite that, the Buckeyes still had their chances. They missed opportunities toward the end of the game while trying to chip away at an Indiana lead that grew to as much as nine points, but couldn't get over the hump.
''Not all our shots were falling, so we put extra pressure on our defense to hold,'' Diebler said. ''We did a good job of rebounding, but when you can't convert offensively, you can't win games. At the end, they made the plays they needed to and we didn't.''
Koufos led the Buckeyes with 18 points and nine rebounds and Diebler had 14 points. The Buckeyes will play next at Northwestern at 9 p.m. Wednesday.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/sportsblitz.
COLUMBUS: Ohio State began its exhibition season back at the end of October and Coach Thad Matta is still searching for answers regarding his young team.
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