The Buckeyes, playing their first weekend games in Pittsburgh, drew the 15-seeded Loyola Greyhounds out of Maryland. After a brief early battle, Ohio State slowly pulled away, eventually notching a 78-59 victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Deshaun Thomas broke his career record in scoring with 31 points, and added 12 rebounds, 2 blocks, and an assist to his double-double statline. Jared Sullinger also quietly put together a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds on the game, while William Buford notched 17 points. Erik Etherly, Loyola’s excellent junior forward, lead his team with 16 points and 6 rebounds.
As is typical with the NCAA Tournament, the crowd often roots for the underdog. This is particularly true in games that involve seeds with particularly rare upsets, such as the 15 versus 2 and 16 versus 1. That was no different today as the Buckeyes faced what sounded like a particularly hostile crowd hoping for a big upset. This was even despite the fact that the Buckeyes were only about 200 miles from home and likely drew a fair number of fans.
To the obvious delight of the crowd, the Greyhounds brought their “A” game from the get-go. They flat-out refused to back down from Sullinger in the paint and made his early shots difficult. The smaller squad from Loyola also attacked the rebounds, boxing out effectively down low and preventing OSU’s guards from rebounding as effectively as they usually do. Loyola was obviously happy to run a fast paced game and force the Buckeyes to keep up with them.
But the Buckeyes weren’t going to play Loyola’s game. OSU continued to get the ball to Sullinger and let their big guy make things happen. Sully obliged, scoring OSU’s first 6 points, including 3 from deep to give the Buckeyes their first lead of the game. Seeing their talented center have success allowed the Bucks to begin to relax and settle back into their style of play on the big stage.
The Buckeyes worked their usual magic on the defensive end to help get their offense going. By creating steals the Bucks were able to generate easy fast break points and force Loyola into cheap early fouls. That allowed OSU to put themselves into the bonus with 12 minutes left in the first half. Having the bonus that early allowed the Bucks to maximize their trips to the line on every single Loyola foul. Unlike previous games, though, they were actually able to put points on the board from the charity stripe this time around.
Loyola’s foul troubles, which cost 4 players two fouls a piece in the first half alone, were a direct result of running their full-court press. By putting pressure on the OSU ball movement the Greyhounds often risked cheap contact in the open court. The refs demonstrated early hey were not afraid to call the contact, wanting to keep a fast paced and physical game from getting out of control.
Thad Matta managed to make good defensive adjustments that forced Loyola away from the kind of game they wanted to play. To counter, the Greyhounds began to attack the paint. They looked to shift OSU’s big men out from under the basket to allow space for their own shooters to get good looks inside. The strategy was able to cause the Bucks to commit several fouls in the paint, and gave Loyola a chance to close the gap before OSU could completely take over.
Ohio State again settled into their defensive game, successfully limiting shots for the Greyhounds. Despite boneheaded plays on offense resulting in cheap turnovers and fast breaks the Buckeyes were often able to keep themselves in good position. By staying in front of the break, Loyola was often forced to take a lower percentage stop-and-pop shot from around the foul line. Forcing those shots was as critical to the success of the defense as getting a hand in the shooter’s face.
Out of the gate after the half, the Buckeyes surged out on a 6-0 run to a lead that looked as if they were going to run away with the game. Unfortunately, adjustements made by Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos allowed the Greyhounds to begin attacking the Buckeyes better. By attacking the rim, the ‘Hounds caused Aaron Craft and William Buford to commit two silly fouls a piece which drove Matta to take Craft out of the game.
With his team struggling to score on offense, DeShaun Thomas took them on his shoulders. In the middle of the second half Thomas scored 13 straight points to maintain the Buckeye’s double digit lead. The only reason Thomas didn’t extend the lead was the consistent Loyola attack that continued to draw fouls under their own basket. The lead was also hampered by the continued boneheaded turnovers from the Buckeyes, turnovers that they cannot continue to commit if they want to make a deep run in the tournament.
With Matta trying to rest Sullinger as much as possible, Ravenel got some quality minutes under the basket. While he struggled a little with his game in the first half, likely due to Loyola’s quickness, he still provided good presence on the court and made a few good plays when they were needed. Other Buckeyes came off the bench as well, such as freshmen Sam Thompson and Shannon Scott who provided good minutes for the team and contributed well overall.
The win as a whole was generally unimpressive in terms of what this team should be able to do. A lot of the credit for that is due to the quickness of Loyola’s defense, which caused serious problems to the Ohio State offense all night long. The Greyhounds refused to quit all night long, and should be proud of the way they carried themselves in the game. This should be a team we’ll see more of in future editions of March Madness.
Ohio State shot 24-55 (43.6%) overall and 3-12 (25%) from three, while Loyola responded with 19-54 (35.2%) and 4-14 (28.6%) respectively. The Buckeyes outrebounded Loyola 49-24, including 16-5 on the offensive glass, while Loyola committed only 12 turnovers to Ohio State’s 18.
The Buckeyes advance to play the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Saturday, March 17th in the Round of 32. That game will be on the CBS family of networks.
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