Ohio State visited the Florida State Seminoles on Tuesday night as part of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge and came away with another good road win for the season. It was a scrappy, defensive-oriented game against a tough Florida State opponent, but the Buckeyes prevailed in the end to move to 6-0 for the year.
William Buford got Ohio State started with a deep three to launch a 7-0 run for the Buckeyes to begin the game. Two straight baskets from Florida State’s Derwin Kitchen brought the score to 7-4, but it became clear early that scoring was not the Seminoles’ strength. The first half continued in a rather disjointed manner, with Florida State applying great pressure to the Buckeyes but failing to get any consistent offensive production. Ohio State struggled with the defensive pressure, but was able to match Florida State’s intensity by getting to loose balls and coming down with rebounds. Big put-back baskets from Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas allowed us to maintain the lead.
Florida State’s defensive pressure pushed to another level around the 10:00 mark of the first half, forcing additional turnovers. Fortunately the Buckeyes were able to balance the scoring, getting another basket from Thomas and following it up with a Dallas Lauderdale lay-in and David Lighty runner. Jon Diebler finally got in on the action with 3:00 left in the first, putting him at 1-6 on three’s for the game.
In the first half the Buckeyes only used two players off the bench (Thomas and Craft) while Florida State utilized a total of 10 players. Thomas had a hard fall to the floor on a layup with 30 seconds left in the half, and Dallas Lauderdale was forced to shoot the free throws in his place. Dallas was able to knock down both, giving us a 28-17 lead going into halftime.
Jon Dielber started the second half for us with another three, only to be followed by a layup from Xavier Gibson for the Seminoles. FSU had a mini-run at around 16:00 in the second off of sloppy play from Ohio State and continued defensive pressure. The Seminoles effectively shut down Ohio State’s inside game with Sullinger, double-teaming and blocking shots on many trips down the floor. The defensive play of Chris Singleton was especially outstanding for Florida State. As the Seminoles pulled within 10 on a quick drive from Luke Louks, Thad called a timeout to regain focus.
Continuing on in the half, Aaron Craft hit a big three to once again push Ohio State’s margin. The Buckeyes’ depth suffered further as Buford had a bad stretch in which he was called for a push in the back, stepped out of bounds, and then was called for an offensive foul, resulting in him fouling out with around eight minutes remaining in the game. Thomas’ fall in the first half must have put him out of commission, as he did not return in the second, causing Ohio State to play with only five heading down the stretch.
Jared Sullinger was finally able to get open for a turnaround hook on the baseline, but a three-pointer from Deividas Dulkys on the other end brought Florida State to within seven with four minutes left. The Buckeye lead then was pushed back to 11, capped off by a breakaway steal and layup from Diebler. David Lighty made a nice drive to the hoop for two shortly after, and clutch free throws in the closing two minutes sealed the deal.
Overall it was a hard game to watch for Buckeye fans, as Florida State’s defense made it very difficult to get anything consistent on the offensive end. We were helped by the Seminoles’ inability to score points for themselves, but our own defense could also be credited for keeping up the intensity. Our early lead proved to be very important, as it never dipped too far throughout the game despite our inability to truly extend it. The fact that it seemed like Florida State was playing better than us in stretches was likely due to fresher legs, as Ohio State again went with a seven-man lineup.
For the game, Jon Diebler led the Buckeye scoring with 12 points, and Sullinger picked up another double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. We only shot 32% on field goals, but our free throw shooting came through for us, which is a great sign going forward in the season. FSU was led by Ian Miller off the bench with 11 points, but Singleton was clearly the player of the game for the opponent with his defense inside and on the perimeter. Hopefully there will be a good report on Thomas later, and hopefully the Big Ten can pick up a few more wins to claim victory in the Challenge for the second year in a row.
Ohio State next plays IUPUI on December 9th at 7:00pm in Columbus.
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