Men's Basketball
Frigid Shooting Buckeyes Fall To Spartans in Two Overtimes
By John Porentas
"Honestly I think we had some chances and the thing wouldn't go in. If I could pick one thing we could have done better today it would be knock down a few more shots." ---Ohio State Head Coach Thad Mata.
Ohio State and Michigan State hooked up in a nationally televised game that had almost everything; a great setting, great defense, clutch plays, and two overtime periods. What it lacked was good shooting from the Buckeyes, and as a result, No. 14/15 MSU (14-2, 2-2 Big Ten) came away with a 62-59 double-overtime win over home standing No. 16/19 OSU (12-2, 2-2 Big Ten).
Ohio State entered the contest as the Big Ten's second-best three point shooting team, knocking down over 40 per cent of their three point attempts, but against the Spartans, the shots just would not fall despite open looks at the basket from three point range. Ohio State ended the game with seven three pointers, but took 29 shots to get them (24.1 per cent) in what was clearly the stat of the game.
MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo described the Buckeyes as "the best shooting team I've seen ever on film. I've never seen four guys that shot it better than these guys when I watched them on film. When you put Dials in the middle, this is a very tough cover team."
Against the Spartans however, the Buckeyes just could not heat up from the perimeter.
"I don't think they shot as well as I've seen them shoot, not one or two games, most of the games I watched. That's a very, very good basketball team," said Izzo.
Ohio State led just twice in the game, once early at 5-4, but then trailed the rest of the way through regulation. The did, however, stay close to the Spartans throughout the game and managed seven ties, the last one coming with 32 seconds remaining in regulation when Terence Dials tied the game at 46 off an offensive rebound. The Buckeyes earned the tie by hold Michigan State scoreless over the last 7:20 of the game to turn a 46-42 deficit into the tie.
The Buckeyes overcame their shooting woes with one of their best defensive performances in recent memory. The Spartans countered by doing exactly the same thing.
"I think you had two physically and mentally tough teams out there today," said Matta.
"It was a very physical game. There wasn't a lot of easy points to be had out there today. We thought going in we had to make Michigan State make plays. We had to limit the number special or spectacular plays that they made. I think we did that. Our problem was we couldn't make a shot on the other end," Matta said.
"Honestly I think we had some great looks that just wouldn't go down for us. I kept telling the guys 'Don't worry, those are great shots, keep taking them. It's just amazing some of them that we got that wouldn't go down."
"I thought both teams played their hearts out," added Izzo.
"Don't take anything away from them (OSU). They play with a lot of heart too and they made a lot of big-time plays. Sylvester made some big-time buckets late. I thought they ran some good stuff to get guys the ball in the right places."
Just eight points were scored in the first overtime, four by each team. Dials put the Buckeyes up by two at 3:58. Shannon Brown answered with a jumper for the Spartans to tie the game, then made a huge play when Brown came up with a big steal against Matt Sylvester and took the ball the length of the court for a dunk to put the Spartans up by two with 1:51 remaining.
Sylvester made up for his miscue when he got an offensive rebound off a missed shot by Je'Kel Foster and laid the ball in with 12 seconds remaining to tie the score. MSU got off an errant three point attempt by Paul Davis with two seconds remaining, and Maurice Ager's tip in attempt hit the rim at least three times before falling off to send the game to a second overtime.
The second overtime was tied at 56 with 1:18 remaining when MSU's Drew Neitzel took over. Neitzel, who scored just five points in the game, scored four of them in the last 1:18, two on a jump shot to put MSU up 58-56 and two more on a pair of three throws to put the Spartans up 60-56 with 17 seconds remaining on the clock.
Sylvester was able to hit a big shot in the clutch again for the Buckeyes, this time knocking down a three pointer with 12 seconds remaining to cut the MSU lead to just one. OSU got a quick foul sending Paul Davis to the line with 11 seconds left. Davis made both, forcing OSU to go for three to tie.
OSU point guard Jamar Butler was able to get off an open three with eight seconds remaining, but like 21 of the 28 OSU three point attempts that preceded it, the shot would not fall.
"We were down three with 12 second left. There's not too options that you have," said Butler.
"You just come down there and try to get a good shot off and try to get a rebound and throw it back out. It just didn't work out," Butler said.
Matta said he had no problem with Butler taking the final shot as opposed to Sylvester, who made game-winning shots against Illinois last year and LSU this year and who had made some clutch baskets late in this game.
"That was fine. Both guys have proven they can shoot the ball. It wasn't like we were lighting it on fire today anyway. I liked the look he got," said Matta.
Matta was obviously dejected after the game, but said his team could not afford to wallow in the loss.
"As I told our team, this isn't a game that makes or breaks our season. We have to find a way to get back, pick up spirits. You're playing in the best conference in college basketball so you better get yourself ready to go.
"We're all about just trying to get a little bit better. I've said it a million times, we're not where we want to be, but I don't want to be where we were yesterday. That's why I think for our players to come out and compete at the level that they did is very exciting for me.
"As down as I am right now, it's exciting. I think that we look at, regroup, and come back in. In this league, if you dwell on a loss, you're going to get your ass kicked the next night. There's no question," Matta said.
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