Couple of great games in Columbus this evening… our friends at Our Honor Defend did a great job at covering the women’s victory over Temple and the men’s blowout of Jackson State:
Ohio State Hangs On To Defeat Temple, 70-66: After an easy opening win over Tennessee State that allowed the Ohio State Women’s basketball team to slide into the polls, being ranked 24/25thin the polls this week. OSU faced a tougher challenge tonight as they hosted Temple. Temple came into this game 2-0 and returns three starters from a team that made it the second round of the NCAA tournament last year.
Ohio State won the tip but came up empty on their first possession as Samantha Prahalis missed a jump shot. Prahalis immediately made up for the miss though by stealing a Temple pass and racing to the hoop for an easy layup. The Owls came right back to tie the game on their next possession and the two teams went back and forth repeatedly exchanging the lead. Both teams have very good backcourts and were pushing the ball up the floor quickly and attacking the basket off the dribble. The OSU defense struggled a bit with stopping Temple’s dribble drives, getting caught out of position several times. With 11 and a half minutes remaining in the half Temple led 17-16. Tayler Hill hit a three-pointer to put the Buckeyes up to two however the Owls tied the game up with a basket on their next possession. Ohio State came back up the floor and Hill hit her second three-pointer of the night, getting fouled in the process and hitting her free throw for the rare four point play to give the Buckeyes their largest lead so far in the game, 23-19 with just over ten minutes remaining. Read More
Ohio State Manhandles Jackson State, 85-41: There was never any doubt this third game in the Global Sports Shoot-out. After prevailing over the 8th-ranked Florida Gators on Tuesday, Ohio State resumed action against a noticeably inferior Jackson State squad. The Buckeyes were ahead just 14-11 at the under-12 media timeout. However, a 32-4 run shortly thereafter blew the doors off Jackson State. Ohio State cruised to an 85-41 victory.
In a laugher like this, it’s still important to assess individual player performances even where there is no compelling narrative to the game. One obvious question concerns the play of both William Buford and Deshaun Thomas. Both had fairly lousy first halves, which is important to consider since there was no other time when this game was competitive beyond about ten minutes of game action after tipoff. Buford was 2/6 at half for 7 points and 3 turnovers, underscoring my critique of him that we seldom get a consistent 40 minutes out of him. That is, he is our Microwave. He’ll cook for 6-8 minutes in a given game, and then turn off. Meanwhile, Deshaun Thomas starts and it’s not clear, yet, what exactly he brings to the table. He was 1/5 at the half for 2 points. Thomas loves those distance jump shot attempts and they seldom fall down. He’d be so much better hovering around the rim and hoarding offensive rebounds, something for which he is a bit of a savant. As it stands, I cringe at every three point attempt of his. Read More
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