The Buckeyes entered their brand new season this evening, facing off against the North Carolina A&T Aggies. The game was the first division 1 action for the freshmen on the team which ended with a 102-61 Ohio State win. Deshaun Thomas led all scorers with 24 points and 6 rebounds, while Lauderdale was arguably the player of the game with what was nearly a triple double, and was his first double double of his career. Dallas put up 12 points, 13 rebounds and 8 blocks for the game.
The starting lineups were identical to the exhibition game against Walsh: Craft remained on the bench while Buford, Diebler, Lighty, Lauderdale and Sullinger took the court. There’s a chance that Lauderdale will start most of the games this season as he’s an effective player to secure the tip with his wingspan.
The Buckeyes started out of the gate with power down low. Buford and Lighty were both fouled down low on the first two possessions for OSU. The strategy was not too surprising with Ohio State’s significant size advantage at nearly every position. On their end of the court, the Aggies are very much a shooting team, trying to use the three to negate the size of their opponents.
It was clear early which team was the dominant one. Ohio State basically did whatever they wanted despite the best efforts of A&T. The Bucks were completely out rebounding the Aggies, sometimes having as many as 3 or 4 white shirts in the vicinity of the ball off the boards. Ohio State were completely fearless going down low as well, with even the guards making appearances amongst the trees.
Aaron Craft and Deshaun Thomas both saw their first real action of the season after the first TV timeout. On their first possession, Craft notched his first assist on a pass to Thomas for his first 3 point jumper. The switch had Lauderdale and Lighty on the bench and seemed to provide a spark to the team. The Buckeyes were suddenly playing quicker which immediately threw the Aggies off their game and into a number of early turnovers.
Swatterdale decided to live up to his name early. Dallas legitimately blocked 4 shots in the first 5 minutes of the game, but only 2 counted due to fouls called before the shot. His powerful play down low was making it impossible for the Aggies to score. The tough Buckeye defense limited A&T to only 2 points in their first 5 minutes of play.
Matta continued his subbing strategy from the exhibition game. Eight different Buckeyes saw action before the second TV timeout. Only JD Weatherspoon missed out on the early action from the nine that played against Walsh. Ohio State used many different lineups on the court, clearly unafraid to allow any group of five to play together. That kind of versatility will only help down the stretch as the Buckeyes can easily match any look their opponents give them on the fly. Even better, the likelihood of any one player having to shoulder a big quantity of the load is almost nonexistant.
Admittedly, it’s a joy to see Sullinger working to make certain that the Bucks get the best shot opportunity possible. On one play that Sullinger was triple teamed deep under the basket in no position to score, he quickly dished the ball off to Deshaun Thomas who was in better position under the basket. This is the sort of play good centers make to give their team the best possible chance to win.
Ohio State is surprisingly good at breaking down the full court press this year. That was a bit of a concern last season as the team would be guaranteed to cough up the ball once or twice to the defensive set. This year the players seem much better practiced at using the pass to advance the ball down the court. That’s a very basic, but critically important skill for a basketball team.
North Carolina A&T began to climb back into the game after going down big early. A couple of easy turnovers and a few good shots from outside and they were suddenly within hailing distance of making it a game. The run was helped out by some sloppy play from the Bucks, leading to several of the turnovers, and poor shooting (but good shot selection) on the offensive end. Some of the switch in dominance came due to an offensive strategy change. The Buckeyes stopped attacking down low, instead choosing to shoot from the outside which resulted in a few tough misses.
It was Aaron Craft who spurred the rally. It started with an impressive drive through the Aggie defense to hit an incredible left handed layup. On the next drive, Craft found Jon Diebler who allowed his defender to overshoot on the shot defense before draining a three. The Bucks sped up in response to the A&T full court press allowing them to put together the 15-2 rally.
Deshaun Thomas is very impressive cleaning up inside on offense. During the first half, he secured 4 offensive rebounds and scored a game high 15 points. His 6-9 shooting included a 3 pointer and a long two pointer that was just shy of three point range. His incredible play on the floor vastly overshadowed Sullinger’s 3 points and 0 rebounds in the half. This sort of play is exactly what makes this team so highly ranked coming into the season. It’s a complete question mark who will take control, but any single player on the court can do so and will do so if given the opportunity.
Sullinger’s lack of production was partially cause by the Aggie defense focusing primarily on him, and the fact that he sat out the majority of the half with 2 fouls. With A&T collapsing on Sullinger, Thomas was able to slip by unnoticed and have his big effect on the half. Also impressive was Dallas Lauderdale’s 8 first half rebounds (4 offensive) and 8 points. The only similar production for the Aggies was Simpson, the A&T three point master, who scored 8 points including 2-4 from three point range.
In the first half, the Buckeyes as a team outrebounded the Aggies a disgusting 23 to 6, including a 12-2 imbalance on the offensive glass. Ohio State shot 19-36 (52.8%) from the floor, but a surprisingly pathetic 3-9 (33.3%) from three. Happily, the Bucks didn’t need their three’s to fall as the Aggies were only shooting 9-24 (37.5%) from the floor with an identical 3-9 from beyond the arc.
The Bucks came out of the gate in the second half with the same starting lineup as the beginning of the game. The look was similar to the start of the game as well, as they put together an 10-0 run. The streak saw a healthy mix of inside and outside game to try to keep the defense off balance. Ohio State was also very aggressive on the defensive end, forcing A&T into numerous mistakes. It was clearly very frustrating for the Aggies to try to do anything on offense.
Sullinger made a big difference in the second half after riding the pine. He made a number of good plays on both end of the courts, including taking several charging fouls in the paint. His decision making was clearly much improved over the first half, possibly simply a result of him calming down and letting the game come to him. Jared was quickly able to score 8 points and get into double digits along with pulling down a number of rebounds early in the half.
The Aggie coach did a pathetic job controlling his fouls. It’s possible he didn’t particularly care in this game, knowing it was better to have his top players on the court for as long as possible. However, it seems short sighted to not approach this game like any other. 2 A&T players went into halftime with 4 fouls, and one – Henry – fouled out with the majority of the second half left to play.
It was great to see Lenzelle Smith see the floor, despite him being expected not to play. He didn’t particularly stuff the stat sheet, but he did nail his first collegiate basket. I can’t wait to see more of him out on the court this year. Along with Smith, Weatherspoon found a bit of time and scored a couple points as well.
Swatterdale continued his blocking antics in the second half. For the game, Dallas had 7 blocks, a couple of which lead to fast breaks for the Buckeyes. He has to be the only shot-blocker I’ve ever seen that uses his talent as a way to drive offense. To go with his blocks, Lauderdale also picked up his first career double double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Admittedly, it’s a surprise that Dallas hadn’t secured a double double to this point in his career with how often he was near double figures in either scoring or rebounding last season.
Another player to secure a double double tonight was Jared Sullinger. Sullinger is the first freshman since Herb Williams in 1977 to earn a double double in his first game. That’s a particularly surprising statistic given how many great freshman the Buckeyes have had roll through in the last couple years. Sullinger earned the double double with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
The Buckeyes shot a very impressive 37-79 (46.8%) from the floor. Unfortunately, the three point shooting was extremely low with only 5-22 (22.7%) falling. A&T was much better from three percentage wise, hitting 5-14 (35.7%), while hitting a similar 21-54 (38.9%) from the floor. The Bucks outrebounded the Aggies 51-17.
Double digit scorers for the Bucks included Deshaun Thomas with a game high 24, Sullinger with 19, and Lauderdale’s 12. Buford and Lighty rounded it out with 11 and 10 respectively. A&T’s Hill and Simpson both had 14 as the only Aggies to break into double figures.
The Buckeyes next face #11 Florida in Gainesville on Tuesday, November 16th. That game will appear on ESPN at 6 pm Eastern Time. Make sure to stop by that night to join in our Liveblog for that game!
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