Buckeye Blogger NetworkPhysical. Slow paced. Methodical Play. In the first half, it was the Spartans playing their type of junkyard basketball that got the Ohio State Buckeyes out of their game. At the end of the buzzer, it was Ohio State with their heads down. In a gut check game, Ohio State didn’t answer. In fact, the got sucked into playing Izzo ball all night long. In the end, it was lack of effort that led to a 58-48 loss for the first time at Value City Arena in 40 games.
Despite starting hot, Ohio State struggled at home in the first half on Saturday evening. Aaron Craft scored 5 of the first seven, and the Scarlet and Gray got going early with a laser fade from the elbow off the hands of Deshaun Thomas just five seconds in the game.
Early, it looked like we would have a back and fourth ballgame. Despite Michigan State shutting down Jared Sullinger in the first five Minutes. The big man would respond with a nice turnaround one hander off the glass and a block shot on the other end.
The next 15 minutes of the first half and the rest of the game would be all Spartans.
Things got back on track for the Ohio State at Ohio Stadium in week number 4 of the college football season. Solid field position, big plays, and breakdowns on Colorado special teams gave Ohio State the advantage all afternoon in a 37-17 victory in the final non-conference game of the season.
Things got started off right on the kickoff, as Jordan Hall started the opening drive right with a 45 yard return. After a holding penalty moved the Buckeyes back to the 40 to begin the game. Braxton miller got his first start as a Buckeye, and on his first drive went three and out after a botched snap on third down.
Colorado then got the ball for the first time at the 28. Tyler Hanson would go three and out on three pass plays. After a nearly blocked punt that went 20 yards, hit the foot of Bradley Robey and was recovered by Chris Fields, The Buckeye offense took over for the second time of the game with solid field position.
That’s when Jordan Hall and Braxton Miller started finding a rhythm on the field. Miller moved the chains on third down to the 30 yard line on a short run and followed that up with a ten yard run option keeper to get the Buckeyes into the red zone. Jordan Hall would then get his legs moving with a nice run to the sidelines and out of bounds to the ten yard line on a big block by Zach Boren. Hall would then have a nice cutback nine run yard, dodging the defensive front in the middle of the field for a gain of nine yards and to the goal line. Hall would then jump over the pile from the one yard line and score the first points of the game.
The game was marked by solid defensive effort from the Buckeyes the whole way.
The Buckeyes rolled to a 19-0 record for the season as the Hawkeyes provided no trouble in a 70-48 win in Value City Arena. OSU completely overpowered the hapless Hawkeyes on both sides of the court, but were particularly sloppy in their play, committing 20 turnovers during the course of the game. David Lighty’s 18 points lead all scorers in the game, to which he added 5 rebounds and 4 assists – a solid stat line for a game like this.
Both teams opened the game with strong defense, but the Buckeyes were near perfect in the early goings with Iowa on offense. The Hawkeyes started the game with nothing for the first 3 and a half minutes of play due to the tough defensive effort from the Buckeyes. An unfortunate turnover allowed the Hawkeyes to close the gap at the first timeout, but the Buckeyes started to blow it open coming out of the break.
OSU’s offense was tough to stop for Iowa early in the game. The Buckeyes used designed plays to confuse the Iowa defense and open up shooters for a quick pass and shot. Buford, Craft and Diebler all took advantage of the strategy, raining in several three pointers early to open up a double digit lead. The Bucks also found fantastic success getting the ball down to Sullinger, drawing a double-team on him and finding an outlet pass either to a shooter outside, or to Lauderdale on the other side of the paint for an easy dunk.
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