Pregame Glance: Cleveland State

The Cleveland State Vikings come to Columbus in the middle of a rough stretch of games.  The Buckeyes are really going to have to watch out for this one.  Let’s get to the facts.

Cleveland State has a rich tradition in the NCAA tournament.  In 1986 the 14^th seeded Vikings upset 3-seed Indiana and then followed that up with an upset of 6^th seed St. Joseph’s.  They lost by 1 to Navy in the sweet 16 that year, but did an impressive amount of damage as a 14^th seed.  More recently, in 2009, the Vikings upset 4^th seed Wake Forest before losing to the Arizona Wildcats.  They are a team that is not afraid of going toe-to-toe against the best in big environments and will not back down from the Buckeyes tomorrow.

Cleveland State has not fared so well thus far this season.  They currently stand at 4 wins and 8 losses, complete with a 5 game losing streak to Kentucky, Virginia, Wichita State, Wright State and Detroit.  After a single win, they then proceeded to lose two more; one to Robert Morris and the other to West Virginia.  Do not, however, think that this makes Cleveland State a patsy.  They gave West Virginia all they could handle and fell by a mere 2 points – 80-78.  I would not be surprised for them to come into Columbus and give the Bucks a fight.

In the good news department, Evan Turner’s injury may not last quite as long as originally stated.  It has been revealed that the injury he has to come back from was not so much the broken vertebra, but the muscle damage that resulted from the break.  He has already started working the muscles with light walking and work in the pool, and he’s done stationary dribbling.  He, of course, gave the Media a guffaw moment by saying that if his team needs him he’ll simply slap some Ben Gay on the leg and get going.  I highly doubt that, but I find his other statement more believable.  He wants to play against Purdue on January 12^th.   I currently see that date happening, given the sounds coming out of the program right now.

Leading the Vikings in play is Junior Guard Norris Cole (6-2, 175).  This kid is the type of backcourt guard that coaches rave about in post-season play.  He can absolutely explode when he’s needed most and has done that in the last few games, scoring 22 points against Robert Morris and 29 (!!!) against #6 West Virginia.  He can hit the long ball, but he prefers to shoot closer to the basket, averaging about 48% from the field.  He also distributes the ball very well with nearly 4 assists per game.  Cole makes this Vikings team better simply by being on the floor.  It will be up to PJ Hill and David Lighty to keep him under control.

The other top scoring threat for this team is Sophomore Guard Trevon Harmon (6-1, 170).  He averages almost 6 points fewer than Cole, but still more than 10 per game.  He’s not as accurate of a shooter, but is a better rebounder and a solid defender which compliments Cole very well.  The last starting guard is Junior D’Aundray Brown (6-4, 185) who is CSU’s version of David Lighty.  He doesn’t score as much, but he plays fantastic defense and rebounds extremely well.

The two front court players (when CSU chooses to go big) are Junior Forward Jared Cunningham (6-9, 235) and Sophomore Forward Aaron Pogue (6-9, 275).  Both are decent scorers down low, averaging only about 8 points per game, but they’re not going to kill you on the offensive end.  Both are extremely good rebounders – especially Pogue who grabs near 7 per game.  He does, however, foul frequently and is likely a fantastic target for driving at and attempting to get to the free-throw line (hint hint,Jon Diebler).

The last player that needs mention is Sophomore Guard Jeremy Montgomery (6-2, 190).  I point him out not because he is the third best scorer on the team (averaging 9 points per game) and is a great three point shooter (40%), but because of his free-throw shooting.  The Buckeyes need to avoid fouling him at all costs because he shoots a disgusting 91.3% from the line.  He doesn’t get to the line often (only 23 times) but he’s hit 21 of them.  Cole is also quite dangerous, but is more likely to miss one now and then (53 made on 65 attempts).

The Buckeyes need to be focused on this game and not looking ahead to the next opponent (Wisconsin).  Cleveland State is more than capable of beating the Buckeyes, especially if the Vikings catch the Bucks napping.  OSU needs to execute its gameplan and not lose track of what they’re doing like they did against Presbyterian.  If CSU gets hot, watch out because it could get ugly in a hurry.

The game will be played in Value City Arena tomorrow night (Tuesday, December 22^nd) at 8:30 pm.  You can see the game on the Big Ten Network.