Ohio State took the hardwood for the first and only time in exhibition play against the Walsh Cavalier. Ohio State jumped out to a big lead early, and cruised to a 95-49 victory at home where they were able to play every single scholarship player on the bench. William Buford led all scorers with 17 points, while Lenzelle Smith and Evan Ravenel each collected 8 rebounds for the game. Also of note were Jordan Sibert’s and Jared Sullinger’s 15 points, and Sibert’s incredible 4-5 shooting from long range.
The Buckeyes started out with a lineup that was somewhat of a surprise for many. Running with Aaron Craft, Lenzelle Smith, William Buford, Deshuan Thomas, and Jared Sullinger, was a line that demonstrated just how deep this team really can be. Ohio State operated a fast paced offense early, trying to get the ball down low to Sullinger on every possession. They were more than happy, though, to take shots from the outside when it was open. Buford took advantage of that on several occasions.
At the first TV timeout Shannon Scott and Evan Ravenel came in for Lenzelle Smith and Deshaun Thomas respectively. With the line change, Sullinger moved to the 4 and Craft moved to the 2 as we expected with the talents of this set. Despite the change in personnel the OSU offense did not change drastically. That suggests the talents of this team will allow many players to come in and play for with a minimum of disruption.
Surprisingly, Shannon Scott fouled twice quickly while on the floor. That gave us an opportunity to see Matta switch Craft back to the 1 and bring out Jordan Sibert in place of Scott. We also saw Sam Thompson enter the game in place of William Buford and really start to make a name for himself. He demonstrated a fantastic slashing ability without the ball, and attacked the glass on offense better than most freshmen you see.
When the Buckeyes switched to a younger lineup, including names like JD Weatherspoon and Amir Williams, Walsh began to find some success on both sides of the court. Shannon Scott also returned to the floor despite having 2 fouls – though that’s obviously more of a factor of Matta wanting to test his lineups rather than caring about foul numbers. The younger guys made some poor decisions on offense passing the ball, allowing Walsh to pick up some easy turnovers. That obviously translated to points on the other end on the fast break. The most impressive player for Walsh was Kenny Kornowski, who was able to show great range on his shot, and great play under the basket for most of the game.
The Buckeye defense was solid most of the day, with a few lapses here and there that will get cleaned up in the early season. Matta is continuing to run with his preferred man-to-man style defense. He’s clearly comfortable enough with the younger guys playing it this season that he doesn’t want to teach the zone. The younger guys have some apparent issues with their man-to-man defense, but overall their effort and hustle were impressive most of the game.
Of the freshmen who played, the guy who had the best game was Sam Thompson. Stated to be the most athletic player Matta has ever coached in the preseason, Thompson proved it on the court today. Beyond that, though, he really impressed me with his basketball IQ. He really knew where he needed to be on the court, and clearly has a good idea of what his role is on this team.
Coming out of the half the Buckeyes went back to their starting lineup and really started to run away with the game. Impressively, the defensive intensity continued despite the Buckeyes having a huge lead on the Cavaliers. That is a very important trait for a basketball team, as they won’t likely allow a team to come back once they’ve built a lead. We’ll see if that bears out during the regular season, but it’s a promising sign for now.
One of the biggest concerns for this team right now is the free throw shooting. While rebounding, defense and scoring are clearly there, the team seems to struggle with putting shots down from the charity stripe. They shot a measly 50.0% (12-24) from the stripe, including 2-6 from Ravenel and 1-3 from Thomas. The big guys absolutely have to be able to put these shots down if the Buckeyes are going to be a well-rounded team this season.
The stat-lines for the game were particularly impressive. Sullinger ended with 15 points and 6 rebounds in 23 minutes. Buford responded with a game high 17 points in 21 minutes on 5-11 shooting, 3-6 from three. JD Weatherspoon and Jordan Sibert also broke double figures with 15 and 12 points respectively. Walsh had only two players break the 10 point mark, Ryan Burrell and Brad DuPont with 10 and 13 respectively. Surprisingly, Kenny Kornowski scored only nine against OSU while he scored 30 against Dayton a week ago. That’s yet another sign of the great defense from the Buckeyes.
Overall, the Buckeyes shot 60.7% (37-61) from the floor and 47.4% (9-19) from three, compared to Walsh’s 35.1% (20-57) and 36.4% (8-32) respectively. Ohio State also out-rebounded an excellent rebounding team in Walsh 46-22.
The Buckeyes next face Wright State in Value City Arena on Friday, November 11th. You’ll be able to see that game on the Big Ten Network.
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