Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Rebound from Early Deficit to Claim Regular-Season Sweep of Northwestern
By John Porentas

Ivan Harris was got into the zone with his shot and the No. 5 Buckeyes (17-3, 5-1 Big Ten) got out of their zone defense to turn an early 20-11 deficit into a 27-24 half time lead, then held on to beat stubborn Northwestern (11-9, 1-6 Big Ten) by a final of 59-50 in Evanston for their second win over the Wildcats in eight days.

Harris scored 14 of OSU's 27 first half points on five-of-six shooting from the field that included two-of-three from three point range and two-for-two from the free throw line. Harris's shooting fueled a Buckeye surge that resulted in a 16-4 OSU run to end the first half and put the Buckeyes in charge after they had trailed by a score of 20-11..

"I think he's (Harris) got some things that he can do for this team and tonight we saw that," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta. For a guy of his age and ability, so much of it just having a great concentration for every possession of every play. He did that tonight and I couldn't be happier for him," Matta said.

The Wildcats assumed the early lead with the help of the three point shooting of Northwestern center Vince Scott who hit two triples in the first half. The 6-10 Scott was able to stand free outside the three point arc while OSU center Greg Oden was down on the baseline in OSU's zone. Scott made the Buckeyes pay early, but once OSU left their zone and Oden was able to challenge the Wildcat center's shot Scott cooled off.

"He's a good shooter," said Oden. "The best thing you can do with somebody that tall and can shoot that good is just go up and have your hands up and make him shoot over you."

The Buckeyes stayed out of their zone defense to open the second half, but a couple of other OSU shooters found the shooting zone to open the second period. Jamar Butler, Mike Conley and Ron Lewis all hit three pointers while the Wildcats could counter with just one field goal to allow OSU to open up a 10-point lead. The Wildcats, however, weren't ready to fold.

Northwestern recovered to make a run of their own and sliced the OSU lead to just one at 39-38 with 9-0 spurt. The Buckeyes remained ahead in the game the rest of the way, but simply could not put the tenacious Wildcats away. OSU hurt its own cause in the second half with missed free throws but was able to dominate on the glass to remain in control. Freshman center Greg Oden garnered a game-high 17 rebounds, five of them offensive, to help the Buckeyes maintain their second-half lead. Oden's 17 caroms was just two less that Northwestern's game total of 19. Harris was also effective on the glass, matching Oden's five offensive boards.

"That's what the coaches have been stressing with us. They said they were going to double team on Greg so the weak side is going to be open, so every time you have to go to the glass. If you don't go in we're going to take you out, so I went (to the glass) every time," said Harris.

The game remained a three to five point game into the final minutes. The Buckeyes finally managed to pull away as the clock wound down, but needed one last big play from Harris to get it done. With Northwestern trailing by just five at 53-48 and with just over two minutes remaining in the game, Harris grabbed a rebound of a missed shot and made a fall away jumper to extend the Buckeye lead to seven at 55;48 with 2:02 remaining on the clock. OSU was then able to close out the game by hitting their free throws over the last two minutes to seal the win.

"We had some guys make some big plays down the stretch. In a game like this you have to do that. I think the difference was Ivan Harris' offensive rebound and couple of Greg's," said Matta.

"That's what we had to do. It was a close game and we needed somebody to make plays. Ivan Harris, he made a whole bunch of plays," said Oden.

Guard Jamar Butler said that OSU's rebounding dominance was in part due to the return to the man-to-man defense.

"That zone, it's harder to rebound out of a zone," said Butler. "When we go man it's a lot easier to rebound. You already know where you're going on the floor out of a man-to-man."

Harris' scoring was the big story of the first half, but a big sidebar was two points scored by Greg Oden who tossed in a jump hook from the right side of the lane about midway through the half. The shot itself was not remarkable, but what was noteworthy was the fact that Oden made the shot with his right hand, the first time this season Oden has attempted a field goal from that range.

"I have no idea what I was thinking. It just went in. That was a good thing. It didn't hurt that much though," said Oden.

Harris finished as the game's leading scorer with 18 points. Oden logged a double-double with 17 points and 17 rebounds. Northwestern was led by Tim Doyle with 15 points. Sterling Williams and Kevin Coble added 11 and 10 respectively for the Wildcats.

Notes:

* Ohio State outrebounded Northwestern 39-19 to dominate on the glass and also went to the free throw line 24 times, converting 15 of those attempts. By contrast, Northwestern had just two free throw attempts in the game and made one of them. Despite the disparity in free throw attempts, Northwestern Head Coach Bill Carmody did not feel the officiating was one-sided.

"I thought the officiating was fine," said Carmody. "When Oden got the ball down low we didn't have any answers and ended up fouling him," Carmody said,.

* Greg Oden had a good game with 17 points and 17 rebounds, but actually needed a police escort to exit the arena after the game. The police were there to protect Oden not from irate fans, but from fans seeking autographs. Despite the police escort, Oden didn't make it out of the arena before he was swamped with requests. He was also besieged by autograph seekers as he left the floor after the game.

* Ohio State outscored Northwestern 21-5 on second chance points.

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