Men's Basketball
Buckeye Defense and Three Point Shooting Key Easy First Round Win Over Central Connecticut State in First Round of NCAA Tournament
By John Porentas

It was clear that Thad Matta and the Buckeyes (31-3) did not want to be the first one-seed to ever be beaten by a 16-seed in the NCAA tournament. As a matter of fact, it was clear really early.

Matta warned his team that Central Connecticut State (22-12) could shoot the three, the great equalizer in college basketball, the shot that upsets are made of really. Matta's Buckeyes took that to heart.

Defending the three usually means that the opposition is shooting contested threes, not open ones. In this case, however, it meant something else.

The Buckeyes simply didn't let the Blue Devils get them off at all, at least in the first half when CCSU might have actually gained some confidence by hitting a few threes.

OSU's defense took Central Connecticut deep into the shot clock on its first half-dozen or so possessions, possessions that ended in desperation shots that resulted in five misses in their first six attempts at a field goal.

The most telling possession came about five minutes into the game when the Blue Devils called a timeout to set up a play to get a good shot and stem and OSU an run. What they ended up with for their trouble was a shot clock violation and a clear signal that the tough defense the Buckeyes had used to defeat Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament final was no fluke.

And while the OSU defense was doing its thing, OSU guards Jamar Butler and Ron Lewis were doing their thing at the other end of the court to make it clear that this game was not going to be close.

The Buckeyes opened the game with a 17-3 run that took away any doubt about how the game would end. Butter his two threes to make the score 6-0 and Greg Oden made a dunk to put OSU up 8-0.

Joe Seymore finally got CCSU on the board with a three to make it 8-3, but Ron Lewis hit two triples to make it 14-3 going into the fateful Blue Devil timeout. Just for good measure, after the Blue Devils turned the ball over on the shot clock violation coming out of the time out, Butler drained one more trey to make it 17-3 and leave no doubt how the game was going to end.

"I thought we got off to a great start both offensively and defensively, we made some shots early," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta in perhaps the understatement of the day.

The Blue Devils finally stopped the devastation for a while but it was just a matter of time. OSU's deep nine-man rotation coupled with CCSU's six-man rotation meant that the Blue Devils were gasping for air as the first half was winding down and the Buckeyes took full advantage. CCSU trailed by just 10 at 27-17 with about four minutes to play but found themselves down 21 when the half ended as OSU went on a 11-0 run that was capped by a three-point field goal by Daequan Cook that beat the buzzer as the half came to an end.

"We came out unprepared," said CCSU guard Tristan Blackwood.

"We came out nervous, which is natural playing competition like that.

"They're a really talented team. They're physical, big and strong. We played zone, we played man to man, and we played to stop Oden but he's just too bid down there," said Blackwood.

"I felt like they made a couple of runs on us and I felt like we answered those," said Matta. "I thought we did some good things today.

The Buckeyes extended their lead to 27 points early in the second half with a method that has proven itself of late, they got Greg Oden involved offensively. Oden finished with a game-high 19 points, 15 of which came in the second half.

Central Connecticut State was able to come no closer than 16 in the second half.

Oden registered a double-double with 10 rebounds to go with his 19 points. Butler ended the game with 17 points, 15 of those coming on five three-point field goals in six attempts, and Lewis ended with 13 for OSU.

Two Blue Devils played 39 of the 40 minutes in the game while two more played 38. One other played 34. Four, Blackwood, Seymore, Jemino Sobers and Obie Nwadike reached double figures in scoring with 19, 12, 12 and 10 points respectively.

OSU committed just five personal fouls in the game after committing just seven in their last outing against Wisconsin.

Box Score

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