Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Hold On for Win Over Spartans in Tale of Two Halves
By John Porentas
The
planned white-out for the OSU (18-3, 6-1 Big Ten) vs. Michigan State
(17-5, 4-3 Big Ten) game was pretty much a success. Save for a few
white-shirted fans disguised as no-shows, Value City Arena was a vision
in white. It was almost perfect. Almost everything else was perfect for
the Buckeyes too...for a half, but after that half, oh my, it was Drew
Neitzel and the Michigan State Spartans that were near-perfect, but
just fallible enough to let OSU hang on to claim a 66-64 win in front
of a full house at Value City Arena.
Ohio State
shot 62.5 per cent in the first half and held Michigan State to 30.0
from the field to earn a 43-23 first half lead. The Buckeyes looked
positively unstoppable, and the Spartans looked clueless. Greg Oden,
who scored OSU's first seven points in the game, ended the half with 11
as did Buckeye sixth-man Daequan Cook. Jamar Butler added eight in the
first half for the Buckeyes as well. OSU was torrid from three point
range, hitting six-of-10 (60 per cent) while MSU made just one-of-seven
from long range (14.3 per cent). Of note in the first half was that
Oden regularly used his right hand to score, something he had not been
able to do to this point of the season.
The second half could not have been any more different.
White
our or no white out, Michigan State senior guard Drew Neitzel put on a
clinic in the second half to bring the Spartans not just back into the
game but to the brink of victory. Neitzel was held to five points in
the first half, but was virtually unstoppable after the break, scoring
24 of his game-high 29 points after the intermission. Neitzel made just
one-of-seven from the field in the first half, but eight-of-13 in the
second half including three-of-five from three-point range.
The
Spartans scored the first seven points of the second half to serve
notice that this was not going to be a blowout and along the way cut
OSU's 20 point halftime lead to just 13. A dunk by Ron Lewis stopped
MSU's initial run, but the Spartans were on a roll powered by Neitzel's
shooting and aided by some stone-cold shooting by the Buckeyes. After
blistering the nets in the first half, the Buckeyes could throw it in
the ocean in the second. OSU shot just 23.8 per cent from the field in
the second half and made just one-of-nine three point attempts (11.1
per cent) after the intermission. The combination of deadly shooting by
Neitzel and frigid shooting by the Buckeyes made for an incredibly
interesting and entertaining half of basketball.
The
Spartans pulled to within three at 57-54 with 6:49 on the clock when
Neitzel hit a trey but the Buckeyes were able keep the margin in the
three to five point range until under two minutes to play. OSU guard
Jamar Butler hit four free throws down the stretch to help the Buckeyes
hold off the Spartans, but with 1:41 remaining and OSU leading by
three, Neitzel went to the free throw line for three attempts and a
chance to tie the game. Neitzel was able to make good on two to cut the
lead to one and set up the dramatic last 1:41.
With
1:11 left to play Neitzel had an opportunity to put his team ahead, but
could not connect on an open three with just 22 second remaining. Izzo
could not fault Neitzel for the missed shot.
"His
legs were about gone by then. A heroic effort by him, it really was,"
said Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo of Neitzel who played the
entire game, logging 40 minutes.
In the rebounding
scrum that followed the Neitzel miss MSU's Raymar Morgan was whistled
for a foul sending Oden to the line. Oden made one of two to put OSU up
66-64 with 15 seconds remaining. An open three as the clock expired by
MSU's Maurice Joseph did not fall to give the Buckeyes the win. Izzo
said his team was definitely playing for a three point attempt and the
win on the final possession and not the tie.
"We had some of our bigs in trouble and Drew (Neitzel) and Travis (Walton) were
just walking on their knees (due to fatigue)," said Izzo.
"We were going for the win. I didn't think our guys could survive five more minutes (in overtime)."
"The better team won tonight," said Izzo.
"They've
got talent. They did some good things. They've got so many weapons, so
many shooters, but I think Michigan State showed up."
"We went into the game thinking we had to take away the transition, I thought we did an incredible job of that."
"We said we had to take away Oden from dunking, I don't think he had a dunk."
"We
said we had to stop penetration because I think Conley is very, very,
very good, and we did a decent job of that, and then we had to stop the
three point shot."
"In the first half I don't know
what happened, I don't know if it was the crowd or the pressure, but we
just kind of froze. Give them credit, they hit a lot of great shots,
but we had our hands down on the floor," Izzo said.
"That
first half we played some great basketball. Give Michigan State credit,
they didn't go away, they made an incredible comeback on us," said OSU
Head Coach Thad Matta.
"What Neitzel was able to
do, I don't think I've ever seen a guy catch fire like that in 20
minutes as he did in my college experience. It seemed like everything
he/they threw up was going it. It was really a story of momentum on the
offensive end. The lid seemed pretty tight on our side," said Matta.
"I
told these guys, you watch enough basketball and there's going to be
crazy games like this. When we got fouled down the stretch J.B. (Jamar
Butler) was huge making his free throws there in the second half."
Oden led the Buckeyes with 19 points. Butler finished with 12 and Cook 11.
MSU's Raymar Morgan reached double figures with 14.
The Spartans out-rebounded OSU 31-27.
After shooting just 30.0 per cent from the field in the first half, MSU shot 62.5 per cent in the second.
Notes:
OSU Head Football Coach Jim Tressel and his wife Ellen were in
attendance at the game and interviewed by ESPN court side reporter Erin
Andrews. Former Buckeye linebacker Bobby Carpenter, now with the NFL
Dallas Cowboys, was also on hand and was introduced to the crowd during
a time out in the second half.
Box Score
Game Photos
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