On Saturday night the basketball Buckeyes faced off against UNC Wilmington in Columbus. The Bucks faced little difficulty on their way to an 81-41 victory, taking them to 3-0 on the season. 10 different players logged significant minutes for Ohio State in the game, with our five freshmen off the bench stepping in and giving the starters a break over a large portion of the second half.
The game started with a 7-0 run by the Buckeyes until a turnover led to UNCW’s first basket of the game. William Buford led the Buckeye scoring attack early with several nice shots. Jared Sullinger also got in on the action as Ohio State sought to take advantage of its superior size and athleticism on the interior. All five of our freshmen off the bench saw time in the first half. It was good to see Deshaun Thomas pick back up where he left off against North Carolina A&T in our first game of the season, displaying a strong game on both the inside and outside. However, the real highlight of the first half was the play of Jordan Sibert, who came in midway through the first half and quickly tallied nine points on a hot shooting streak of 3-pointers. Two plays will likely make the Sportscenter top 10 role call, the first being a nice steal by Lighty off an inbounds pass that led to a behind-the-back dribble and reverse dunk. The second will likely appear on the “not Top 10,” much to the chagrin of Dallas Lauderdale, who doinked consecutive dunk attempts. Lauderdale had to sit a large part of the first half after picking up two personal fouls, but he came on strong in the second half with his defense, tallying a total of 5 blocks and 10 rebounds for the game, including a few wipe-away swats that drew exclamations from the crowd at the Schott.
Over the course of the first half our superior size and athleticism was evident, as we forced numerous turnovers and dominated in the rebounding column. For the game the Buckeyes forced 19 turnovers and led in rebounding 47-24, including 16 offensive boards. At one point we had five freshmen on the floor, and while the crispness of play dipped slightly, our team certainly still looked good running the offense and especially halting UNCW on the defensive end. The halftime score stood at 48-16, making it look like it would be a long night for the Seahawks.
In the second half the Buckeye starters played for approximately the first 10 minutes, with substitutes rotating in and out, and then for the latter part of the second half we had a lineup of Thomas, Sibert, Smith, Weatherspoon, and Lauderdale to carry us home. Early in the second half Jon Diebler heated up and hit a few nice three-pointers, and Sibert picked up another basket to put him into double figures for the game.
Overall this was a good game to get some playing time for our freshmen, and it was exciting to an all-freshmen team on the floor during the game. Consistency and execution represent areas for improvement going forward. Sullinger, who narrowly missed his third straight double-double, hit 5 of 8 free throws, and it will be important in future games for him to improve his free throw percentage, as he is sure to make many additional trips to the line.
Five different Buckeyes hit double figures in scoring for the game, with Deshaun Thomas leading the way with 17. William Buford added 12, and as a team we shot over 45% on field goals. For UNCW, Matthew Wallace led the way off the bench with 14 points, and Chad Tomko added 13.
The Buckeyes next game is on Tuesday against Morehead State. The game will be played in Columbus at 7:00pm.
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