Shots from the Schott

With both JoeL and I in attendence, we thought we would share what we saw during the Northwestern Game.

Thoughts on the Game:

JoeL:

• It was nice to see a full house in our first big ten game. Look for more of these to come as word from the ticket office is there are only tickets left for 3 of the remaining home games: and those are up in the nose bleed section.
• This obviously wasn’t a very easy game for people to get to. The BTN had us as a 5:30 start, right during rush hour traffic, so there were some unhappy people as they got there mid way through the first half.
• So much for Shurna and Crawford being the top scorers in the conference. Our team defense and athleticism really shut those two guys down.
• When Matta only plays 1 guy for 30+ minutes that is a very good thing for us. Nice to see everybody get some time to run on the court. It also helps when the guy with the most minutes is also the leading scorer with a career high 28 points. Huge game from Will.
• Jordan Sibert, where have you been? Please don’t leave! That is the Sibert we are going to need to step up and knock down those 3’s.
• Seems like we have our Mojo back after what was a struggling stretch there for a couple weeks starting with Sully’s back and foot problems.
• Anyone notice the special shoes that Sully is wearing to protect his foot. Doesn’t seem to bother his playing style at all.

Eric:

• Aaron Craft has to be the smoothest pocket-picker I have ever seen; second only to having the ball-carrier hand him the basketball. What you see on TV simply does not do his skills justice.
• Buckeyes started out attacking the paint with Sullinger. Smart way to go early to establish tempo, and likely a sign that they’re comfortable with how he’s healing. Several media members remarked that if he wasn’t 100% yet, he was certainly close to it.
• Jordan Sibert drained his first long range shot of the game – hopefully something to help him get his confidence up more in the future. He ended up going 4-6 for the night. Perhaps he has turned a corner? (more on this later)
• Northwestern worked their hardest to attack the paint, primarily by finding ways to get Sullinger to leave early on. I frequently saw Buford in the paint defending a big, which is a little uncharacteristic. Not that it didn’t stop him from getting a monster block right when the Buckeyes were building a roll in the first half.
• The Bucks went on a crazy roll with some impressive deep shooting, aided by their ability to get Sullinger the ball. Things obviously slowed when Sullinger was removed from the game. Defenses just don’t respect OSU’s paint play with Sullinger out of the game. I’d like to see Evan Ravenel or Amir Williams start to change that perception. Williams may be on track to doing it.
• Part of that big run was due to Bill Carmody switching away from the man-to-man, which is not his usual defense, to a 1-3-1 zone.  He even later tried a 2-3 zone.  Not sure if he was just trying something different, or if he had a legitimate reason to switch.  Whatever the reason, switching into the zone allowed the Buckeyes better shots from the perimeter.
• The Wildcats made some excellent adjustments on defense going into the second half, allowing them to close the gap. One of the biggest was being more aggressive on Sullinger in the paint on both offense and defense. Unfortunately, the adjustments only changed the flavor of the game for a short time.
• It took a while for the Buckeyes to regain control of the game flow. They finally did using great defensive effort and continuing to clean-up on the boards.
• The Buckeyes spent a fair amount of time with Sullinger and Craft on the bench in the second half. It was a proof-of-concept that the Buckeyes could play decent basketball while their best PG and best big were in foul trouble.
• Buford played lights out basketball like we’ve been missing all season. We need to see more of this from him every game during the B1G season.
• The aggressive attack on Sully worked well, forcing Jared into 4 fouls with 6 minutes to play.  He did not return, though we certainly didn’t need him.
• Buford notched a career high 28 points, surpassing his previous high of 26.  He also notched a career high 5 threes in a game, surpassing several games where he had 4.  I have to admit that I’m surprised that Buford’s high was only 26 before tonight.  I would have expected a 30 point game from him somewhere.
• I was impressed at how good the team looked tonight.  Not only in crushing a reasonably competent foe and shutting down their top scorers, but also in how smoothly they worked together.  Like a well-oiled machine.
• Despite that, there is still a lot of room for improvement.  Too many missed plays, some due to bad luck, and some due to not having their head where it should be.
• This team could be damn near lethal if they peak at tournament time.  Just have to keep working, growing, and improving.
• All of the young Buckeyes got time on the floor tonight, including LQ Ross and Trey McDonald.  It was nice to see them get to play against a Big Ten team, even if in scrub time.  Big Ten play is a lot different than the non-conference.

Postgame Interviews

• Bill Carmody is just as soft-spoken a man as you would expect.  He’s also very sarcastic when his team has not performed to his expectations.
• Carmody commented on Matta telling him during the handshake that this was about the best OSU could play.  Bill pointed out that his team helped a lot with that.  He was very disappointed with his team’s play.  I don’t necessarily agree with Matta on this point, but perhaps he means the best they could play right now.
• This exchange happened – Carmody: “[Buford’s] a senior right now?”, Reporter: “Right”, Carmody: “Thank God”
• There is a reason why Jordan Sibert is shooting better. He mentioned that he got complacent with his shooting in the spring and summer, and that may have set him back.  He commented that he’s been practicing his shooting with a manager every night, taking 400-500 shots per session and trying to be more aggressive and confident with his shooting.  Credited that with helping his shot.
• Sullinger said that the team has been mixing up the rotation in practice, and having very intense practices.  Stated “you practice like you play”.  The extra mixing in the rotation may be why we’re seeing a bit more depth this year than we have previously.
• Sibert has an injured finger.  Claimed he had torn ligaments which Sullinger denied with a joking scoff, “Don’t listen to him, it’s a bruise.  He’s trying to be like Kobe.  That’s his favorite player.”  Matta later said that there was something wrong with the tendon in the finger, but they’re not going to fix it.
• Sibert describes his role as “lights out on D and make shots”.  Seems like he played his role well tonight.
• Matta says, “We played like we practice.  I know that was revolutionary to [the players] since I’ve been saying it every day.”
• Asked about the improved three point shooting tonight, Matta deadpanned, “We were saving it.”
• Matta commented that Northwestern had not played man-to-man all season.  They ran 2-3 in the past and all non-conference, but started out in man-to-man from the first possession.  Was a surprise to see them open with it, but was a defense they had thought might be a possibility during the game.