"Turner-ing" the Page: A Look at the Revived Ohio State Buckeyes

The Ohio State Buckeyes have just put their Big Ten foes on notice: “We’re here, better than ever, and not scared of you.” The return of Evan Turner has sparked this new attitude exuding from Thad Matta’s team.

The scariest thing about the Evan Turner situation is that they look dramatically better than they did before he left with the back injury. The Buckeyes have found a silver lining in what looked like a season ender.

William Buford, who was nothing more than a role player before Turner got hurt, became a reliable scoring threat for the Buckeyes.

David Lighty was trying to find his place in Turner’s shadow, but was called upon to be the man when Turner went out for four weeks. He answered that call with a 30-point performance and now can be counted on to hit clutch shots down the stretch.

Jon Diebler benefits the most from Evan Turner being in the game. He’s scored 12 or more points in 11 games this season; in eight of those games, not only has Turner played, but also has at least two assists to Diebler.

All three of these players continue to improve their offensive production now with Turner back in the lineup; they also look more like a team than ever before. “We all have confidence in each other so it doesn’t matter who shoots the ball,” Turner said after the game.

The bad news for the rest of the Big Ten is that Turner says he’s still yet to become fully healthy. “I’m 90 percent right now no joke,” Turner stated in the post game interview. He won player of the week honors last week, as well as player of the game tonight against Northwestern.

Even Coach Matta is shocked at his star player's performance since returning. “He told me at half he wasn’t having a very good game; I told him, you're having a great game, but that’s the way he is, never satisfied with how he plays,” Matta quoted before starting the second half.

Ohio State (14-5) downed both Purdue and Wisconsin last week, getting them ranked in both the AP and USA Today polls. The Buckeyes can build on the newfound respect when they take on No. 12 West Virginia (13-3) this Saturday. 

With Ohio State, it’s a very easy equation: As Evan Turner goes, so go the Buckeyes. Unfortunately for the rest of college basketball, Turner and his teammates are playing better and more cohesively than they ever did before.