Men's Basketball
Oden and Buckeyes Dunk Hawkeyes
By John Porentas

The Buckeyes (16-3, 4-1 Big Ten) survived a second-half charge by Iowa (10-9, 2-3 Big Ten) then went on a 21-2 run to demolish the Hawkeyes by a final of 82-63.

Ohio State led 37-26 at the half despite frigid shooting from three point range. The Buckeyes knocked down just two-of-12 attempts before the intermission, but Iowa turned the ball over 11 times, turnovers that led to 17 points for the Buckeyes . By contrast, Iowa scored zero points off OSU's six turnovers. Ohio State got 11 first-half points from freshman center Greg Oden to help establish the lead.

The Buckeyes appeared to be firmly in control when they scored the first four points of the second half to open up a 15 point lead at 41-26, but the Hawkeyes were far from dead. Beginning at the 18:16 mark of the second half Iowa scored on 10-consecutive possessions to put 21 points on the board while limiting the Buckeyes to 11. The blitz reduced OSU's lead to just five at 52-47.

"We had some letdowns there in the second half defensively," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta, "and (Iowa forward) Tyler Smith really got going and hit some tough shots."

It looked like the Hawks would continue their run when Tony Freeman got a steal on a tipped pass by OSU freshman point guard Mike Conley. The Hawkeyes appeared to be on their way to a layup off the steal to cut the lead to three, but Conley redeemed himself by making a huge defensive play, getting back on defense and getting a steal of his own to prevent the score. The play stopped not only that layup, but spelled the beginning of the end for Iowa.

"That was a huge play," said Iowa Head Coach Steve Alford. "That's what really good players do. I think we were down five at the time and it looks like we have a breakaway, but that's what Mike does. He makes a mistake at one end but he corrects it. He doesn't hang his head, he gets right back into the play and that was a huge play for him," said Alford.

The Buckeyes started playing a little defense and Greg Oden went on a dunking spree that was as devastating to the Hawkeyes as it was impressive. Oden registered eight dunks in the game, six of them in the second half after the Iowa run.

Iowa got to within four at 54-50 when Smith hit a three pointer for three of his team-high 21 points, but the shot signaled the beginning of the end for the Hawks. OSU went on a 21-2 run powered by the dunking of Oden that took the score to 75-52 with 5:23 remaining.

"Once we got our heads back in the game I thought we were pretty active defensively and made things a little bit harder for the them," said Matta. "I thought that when we executed what we wanted to do offensively we got some very good shots," Matta said.

Oden finished the game with a game-high and career-high 29 points. Oden was 12-of-13 from the field and a perfect five-of-five from the free throw line despite the fact that he is still shooting his free throws left handed due to his injured right wrist. The 29 point total tied Oden for the second-best points in a game by a freshman. Michael Redd scored 29 against Northwestern in 1998. The OSU record for freshman was set by Redd with 30 against Southern California.

"Oden is a hand full," said Alford. "We didn't handle him very well. They won by 19 and beat us by 20 in points in the paint, so it was pretty clear where they won the game," said Alford. "I think what makes him very, very special is he can get 29 (points) and 10 (rebounds) and win or he can get six and 10 and win and he's going to feel the same. It's never been about points, it's never been about any kind of selfish ambition with Greg. It's always been about winning.

"You don't see this very often at any level out of the center position. We made a good run in the second half and cut a double-digit lead to about five. I think it was four and Thad called a timeout and I'm sure got into them pretty good, and upon coming out onto the floor the only guy that was really vocal was Oden. You just don't see that very often. He's a great leader and looks like a tremendous teammate and he's hands-down the best talent on the floor," Alford said.

With his 10 assists in the game OSU freshman point guard Mike Conley raised his assist total for the season to 129, breaking the old OSU freshman record of 125 set by Damon Stringer in the 1996-97 season. He also has back-to-back 10 assists games, the first time a Buckeye has accomplished that feat since Curtis Wilson had 10 vs. Old Dominion and Cleveland State in 1988. Conley has had 10 assists in four games this season.

"That's a pretty special point guard,' said Alford. "If you look what he does, he takes good shots, he knows his role, and had a 10-3 assist ratio tonight. He's almost got a 5-1 assist to turnover ratio and he's a freshman," Alford said. "He's in line to break a lot of records here at a university that has produced a lot of really good point guards."

OSU freshman guard Daequan Cook has struggled some with his offense of late, but had an outstanding game against Iowa. Cook was four-of-six from the field including three-of-four from three point range for 11 points. Senior guard Ron Lewis also reached double figures with 12.

Smith's 21 points for the Hawkeyes came on eight-of-19 shooting. Senior guard Adam Haluska, who entered the game leading the Big Ten in scoring at 21.0 points per game, scored 15 to be the only other Hawkeye in double figures.

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