Hoops Preview: Ohio State vs. Butler

Right: Gordon Hayward, a 6-foot-8 sophomore swingman, leads the Bulldogs in scoring and rebounding. (AP Photo)

The 13th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes travel to Indianapolis to take on No. 22 Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse, Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 12:03 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on ESPN with Sean McDonough and Jay Bilas.

As always, you can hear the game all across the state on the 60-station Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Network with “Big Daddy” Paul Keels and former Buckeye Ron Stokes. WBNS outlets 97.1 FM and 1460 AM are the flagship stations in Columbus.

Ohio State, though, will be without arguably the nation’s best player as Evan Turner is out for at least seven more weeks with a transverse process fracture on the second and third lumbar vertebra of his spine. He suffered the injury on a dunk attempt last Saturday against Eastern Michigan.

No word on who will replace Turner in the starting lineup, but my best guess is it will be point guard P.J. Hill with Jeremie Simmons coming off the bench.

Yes, it’s going to be hard to fill Turner’s shoes in terms of scoring, since he was averaging 20.6 points per game before his injury. The biggest question is, who will take up the slack in rebounding? Who will replace the 12.9 rebounds per game?

Ohio State head coach Thad Matta has always like playing just one post player, but as former high school coach I am going to have to assume that he’s going to have to go with a bigger lineup, which means 6-foot-8 Dallas Lauderdale and 6-foot-9 Kyle Madsen will be on the floor at the same time. It also should mean that Zisis Sarikopoulos gets some playing time, too.

The Bulldogs enter Saturday’s game with a record of 6-3. All three of Butler’s losses have come against ranked teams: No. 22 Minnesota (82-73), No. 19 Clemson (70-69), and No. 15 Georgetown (72-69). The six wins have come against Davidson (73-62), Northwestern (67-54) , Evansville (64-60), UCLA (69-67), Ball State (59-38) and Valparaiso (84-67).

Butler’s top player is 6-foot-8 sophomore swingman Gordon Hayward, who is averaging 16.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, and both stats top the Bulldogs’ roster. 6-foot-3 guard Shelvin Mack is second in scoring averaging 14.8 points per contest.

Probable Starters
No. 22 Butler Bulldogs (6-3, 1-0 Horizon)	No. 17 Ohio State Buckeyes (7-1, 0-0 Big Ten)

P No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. PPG F 54 Kurt Hoffman 6-8 230 Jr. 11.6 Averages 5.1 rebounds per game F 20 Gordon Hayward 6-8 200 So. 16.3 Leads the team in scoring and rebounding (8.2) G 1 Shelvin Mack 6-3 214 So. 14.8 Leads the team in 3PT shooting at 38.8% G 21 Willie Veasley 6-3 204 Sr. 8.2 Averaging 3.0 rpg and 1.4 apg G 5 Ronald Norad 6-0 178 So. 2.8 Second on the team averaging 2.8 apg Off the Bench: G 3 Zach Hahn 6-1 170 Jr. 5.3 Leads the team in FT shooting at 90.0%

P No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. PPG C 15 Dallas Lauderdale 6-8 255 Jr. 6.9 Averages a team-high 3.4 blocks per game F 23 David Lighty 6-5 225 Jr. 11.9 Averages a team-high 2.2 steals per game G 44 William Buford 6-5 200 So. 11.8 Shooting just 35.6% from the field G 33 Jon Diebler 6-6 210 Jr. 15.0 Second on the team in 3FGs at 52.2% G 21 P.J. Hill 6-1 165 Sr. 5.0 Fifth on the team avg. 1.6 assists per game Off the Bench: G 2 Jeremie Simmons 6-2 170 Sr. 7.2 Leads team in 3PTFG% 53.6