Men's Basketball
Buckeye Second Half Defense Leads to Road Win over Penn State
By John Porentas
Ohio State enjoyed a seafood buffet Friday night before their saturday afternoon matchup with Penn State and according to Matt Sylvester, the lobsters were perhaps not the only thing that went into the tank.
"We had a gigantic seafood buffet last night. I think the shellfish to be honest with didn't sit just right. The hotel where we stay has a fantastic seafood buffet. They had everything. I think I gained five pounds last night. I went to sleep a happy man," said OSU forward Matt Sylvester.
Sylvester may have gone to sleep happy, but OSU (14-2, 4-2 Big Ten) Head Coach Thad Matta was anything but happy with the way his team playing in the first half against Penn State (10-6, 2-3 Big Ten).
"I told them we were...let me paraphrase here...I didn't think we played very well," said Matta when asked what he told his team at the half.
"I didn't think our attention to detail was good, I didn't think we were tough. We were very passive in everything we were doing."
Matta's team shot just 33.3 per cent from the field in the first half and gave up a whopping 11 offensive rebounds. Penn State managed to turn those 11 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points. What the Lions could not do was make shots from the field consistently and make free throws. Despite OSU's poor play, Penn State found itself down by five at the half 32-27. Penn State shot just 28.9 per cent from the field to offset the fact that they had 11 more shots in the half than the Buckeyes. Penn State was also just three-of-eight from the free throw line.
Matta apparently got his team's attention at the half, because the Buckeyes opened the second half with a defensive flourish that set the tone for the rest of the game.
The Buckeyes opened the half with a 6-0 run, and all six points came as a result of steals. Je'Kel Foster got the first one and made a layup, Terence Dials got the second and got the ball to Ron Lewis for the second basket, and Jamar Butler made the third theft and made a layup.
OSU's lead had gone from five to 11 in the space of 1:46, and Penn State Head Coach Ed DeChellis was forced to call a time out to stem the tide.
"I think that was critical," said DeChellis. "Not only did we turn it over, it lead to easy baskets. There's no defense for turnovers in the back court that lead to easy baskets. We only had 11 turnovers, but they came in flurries. That (period of the game) was really, really important."
"We just wanted to come out better than we did in the first half. We played soft the first half so we tried to come out and just play better, pick up the pressure and deny. We did rattle them a little bit.," said said OSU guard Ron Lewis.
"We were trying to generate a little bit of offense or an easy shot," said Matta of OSU's spurt to open the second half. "I don't know if it was anything too different than what we were doing in the first half.
The spurt was all the Buckeyes needed to coast home for the road win. The Lions were never able to cut OSU's lead to less-than eight, and the Buckeyes led by as-many-as 13 in the second half. OSU was able to limit Penn State to just two offensive rebounds in the second half and five rebounds overall, but Penn State was able to put the ball in the basket more consistently by getting the ball down low Jamelle Cornley, Geary Claxton and Travis Parker. That trio scored 40 of Penn State's 64 points. Cornley netted 14 and Claxton and Parker 13 each. OSU also heated up from the field, hitting 62,.5 per cent after the intermission. Ron Lewis, who got the starting nod over Matt Sylvester, led all scorers with 15 points. Je'Kel Foster added 13 and Jamar Butler and Matt Terwilliger 12 each. Lewis got the start when Sylvester developed back problems this week.
"Actually the last couple of days I've been having back spasms. Nothing serious, just something where I wanted to just wait and feel the game for a second and get in there. I think he made the right decision. My back was bothering me a little bit, but I'll be fine for Iowa for sure," said Sylvester.
The Buckeyes will now be off until next weekend when they travel to Iowa for their second-consecutive Big Ten road game. Matta said his team can use the mid-week break.
"Ron's (Lewis) has been sick, James (J. J. Sullinger) has been sick, Syl's (Matt Sylvester) back is hurting, Je'Kel's finger, we can take this week and maybe get a little healthy," said Matta.
Box Score
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