Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Catch on In Time for 65-61 Win over Wolverines
By John Porentas

Coping with change can be a tough thing.

After games with Penn State and Wisconsin that at times resembled sumo wrestling matches Big Ten officials decided to call the game in Ann Arbor pitting No. 1 Ohio State (27-3, 15-1 Big Ten) against Michigan (20-11, 8-8 Big Ten) like it was a matchup between a leper with a sunburn and your ugly aunt Nellie with poison ivy. In other words, touching somebody was definitely not something you wanted to do. In this case, it wasn't disease or revulsion that resulted, but any little bump brought an immediate whistle. It took a little getting used to.

"It's tough," said OSU freshman point guard Mike Conley describing the contrast.

"The last game you were allowed to punch and elbow somebody to coming in here and if put you arm on them you were getting a foul. That's tough to adjust to. I think we had to adjust to that in the second half. First half we were all messed up with foul trouble," Conley said.

The Buckeyes definitely didn't cope well in the early going, and they definitely got messed up with foul trouble.

Starters Ivan Harris, Conley and Greg Oden all played ten or less minutes in the first half before retiring to the watch the action with Thad Matta on the OSU bench with two fouls each. Top baseline sub Othello Hunter did worse, picking up three fouls in just nine minutes of play in the first half. Jamar Butler also picked up two, but with Conley already on the bench, Butler had to stay in the game. Only senior Ron Lewis seemed to be able to cope and didn't pick up a single foul in the first half.

OSU played more-than half of the period with the combination of Matt Terwilliger, Butler, Lewis, Daequan Cook and David Lighty on the floor. The only thing more amazing than the way the half was called was that the Buckeyes were still in the game with that rather unusual combination on the floor so long. Lewis saved them offensively with 12 points in the first half, eight of them coming on a one-man 8-2 run of his own that cut a Michigan lead of eight to just two. The rest of the patchwork lineup did what it had to do in order to keep the Buckeyes in the game.

"I give the guys who were in there in that last stretch (of the first half) that got it back to three at half time a lot of credit," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta. "We were very fortunate to be down three at half. The foul trouble really put us in a bind but those guys came in (and kept OSU in the game)," said Matta.

"I really think 'Twig and Othello and and the rest of the guys, Daequan and David, did a great job of stepping in and holding ground while we were out," added Conley.

The first half ended with the Wolverines leading 34-31. The Buckeyes were able to work their starters back onto the floor in the second half, but the Wolverines were playing like a team possessed. For them, a possible trip to the NCAA tournament was at stake and perhaps even the job of their head coach Tommy Amaker. Michigan was relentless in its attack If didn't seem to matter who was on the floor for the Buckeyes, the Wolverines kept coming and held the lead seven at 51-44 late in the first half, but every time they seemed on the verge of breaking away, the Buckeyes would find an answer to stay close.

As the game clock wound down under four minutes it looked like the Wolverines had it all going their way. They held a six point at 61-55, the crowd was loud and thoroughly behind them, and OSU center Greg Oden had picked up his fourth foul and was in danger of fouling out. Michigan's formula for victory seemed clear. Simply get the ball down to center Courtney Sims and let him go to work on Oden and either score or foul him out. It seemed obvious. It just didn't work out quite the way the Wolverines would have liked.

Michigan did go down low to Sims, but Oden was able to block his shot once without picking up a foul. The play was a stunner, and seemed to both rattle the Wolverines and fire up the Buckeyes. Over the last 3:54 the Buckeyes ratcheted up the defense to force three U of M turnovers and start the Wolverines wilting under the pressure. Sims missed a wide open dunk with 1:08 remaining and leading scorer Dion Harris missed a the front end of a crucial 1 and 1.

The Buckeyes, meanwhile, were making the Wolverines pay for their mistakes. First Conley drove for a basket to cut the lead to four. Next Oden tipped in a missed field goal attempt to bring the Buckeyes to within two, then Lewis hit two free throws to tie the game at 61.

The crowd was stunned, and so were the Wolverines. The Buckeyes took their first lead of the second half when Butler made a flying, acrobatic reverse layup to put OSU up 63-61. The game may not technically over, but it was a blow from which the Wolverines just would not recover.

"When I got the reverse layup I thought that was it," said Butler. "Then we came down and got the steal and that was the game."

OSU was able to turn the Wolverines over one last time and burn precious seconds off the clock before Conley shot as the shot clock was expiring with just over 10 seconds on the game clock. The shot missed, but Ivan Harris got the offensive board to all but seal the game. The Wolverines fouled Butler to stop the clock, and Butler hit both ends of a one-and-one make the final 65-61 and send the Wolverine crowd to the exits disappointed.

"We knew there was a lot of time on the clock," said Butler of the late-game rally

"Two-and-a-half minutes is a lot of time and we were down six. We knew we had three possessions no matter what. We just had to toughen up at the defensive end, show great poise, and we would come out on top."

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