Ohio State Dominates Gators, Makes Early National Title Statement

THE Ohio State Buckeyes walked into the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida today with a mission: to prove to the nation that the 2010-2011 Ohio State basketball team was not only for real, but ready to contend for a national title. When the Buckeyes left the floor tonight, they had done just that, dismantling the ninth ranked Florida Gators, 93-75, on their own home court.

Highly touted freshman Jared Sullinger led the Buckeyes with his second straight double-double in as many games, scoring 26 points (13-17 from the field), with ten rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Senior leader David Lighty matched Sullinger's 26 points, while adding three rebounds and three assists, and shooting 6 for 7 from the charity stripe.  Fellow senior William Buford poured in 16 points, while dishing out eight assists, to go with three steals of his own.  Both Lighty and Buford went two for four from behind the arc, in creating an inside/outside nightmare for the overmatched Gators.

The game started out interesting, as Florida was able to take advantage of their size match-ups underneath to outrebound the Buckeyes early on.  The Buckeyes also seem a bit disinterested in defense, allowing Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker and Chandler Parsons lanes to the basket. Florida walked into the locker room holding a three-point lead.  Florida actually held a 41-34 lead with 1:53 left in the first half, before a stingy Buckeyes defense kept it close before the buzzer.


How well did these two teams shoot the ball tonight?  Florida shot 61 percent overall, while shooting 43 percent from behind the arc (6 for 14).  The Buckeyes still outshot the Gators, making 63 percent of their shots, while matching their 43 percent from the three-point line (9 for 21). 

They also outrebounded the Buckeyes overall, 26 to 17.  The Buckeye defense began forcing the issue, forcing the Gators into 18 turnovers, compared to only eight for the Buckeyes.

Jared Sullinger is clearly one of the top five players in the country.  While his game is far from perfect, Sullinger plays in a zone that few understand.  No, he's not the greatest player to wear hightops, but he plays at his own speed.  He's not ever rushed, he always seems to know what he's going to do next, but more importantly, he seems to know what everyone else is doing as well.  Sullinger did run into some issues early on in the first half, with Florida's rough-and-tumble Vernon Macklin knocking him around a bit underneath.  Still, Sullinger never seemed bothered by getting bodied up, or the lack of calls going his way when there were obvious fouls.  He just played his game, like he knew something that nobody else did.

David Lighty has always been a player that seemed to have more than he was showing over the years.  He's blessed with an impressive skill set, and while he's not the best shooter, passer or defender on the team, he's above average in all areas.  Tonight, he showcased that talent, by being everywhere when it counted. 

Not only did Lighty shoot 50 percent from the three, and almost 90 percent from the three point line, but he played lights out defense, and was able to penetrate for easy shots within ten feet.

William Buford is a player of interest for this year's Naismith award, and while I don't doubt his talent, I firmly believe he's going to be overshadowed and underrated on this team.  He scored 16 points, but nobody noticed them, and he dished out eight assists as the starting point guard.  Again, it was easy to overlook, because everybody and their brothers are talking about pure point guard Aaron Craft eventually taking over that roll.  While I agree that Craft should end up the starting point, don't overlook Buford, who at 6'5", is a match-up dilemma for every team on the schedule.

Not even mentioned yet is Jon Diebler, who I still picture scoring 200 a game while a high school prepster in Ohio.  Talk about getting overshadowed.  The only thing Diebler did was score 14 points on four for seven shooting from behind the arc.  With the Buckeyes down 50-48 with 14:20 left, he hit his second three pointer of the game, to give the Buckeyes the lead.  Then, two minutes later, Diebler drilled another three with the Buckeyes down 57-56, for a two point lead.  It was a lead they would never relinquish.

Aaron Craft was a factor as well, playing 29 minutes.  He scored seven points and dished out five more assists.  He was also looking for his shot a bit more, hitting a three, as well as a nice runner in the paint.  You can see that as he becomes more comfortable at the college level, that he's going to be deadly.  Craft was the valedictorian of his class in high school, as well as the starting quarterback.

I also believe he's the best defender on this team, although it does get him into foul trouble (9 fouls in two games).  The kid is obviously incredibly smart, and will give this team energy as the season progresses.

The Buckeyes played this game at a level you normally don't see until after New Year's.  Obviously, teams with a bunch of big men are going to give them a bit of trouble.  Ohio State doesn't have the bigs to go up against them, and Dallas Lauderdale proved again tonight that he's about as consistent as oatmeal.  Still, the Buckeyes chewed up Florida's full court press, and made a bunch of adjustments coming out of the locker room that wore down the Gators when it counted.

With a cupcake schedule coming up over the next few weeks, look for the Buckeyes to get more of their freshman involved in their game plan.  Deshaun Thomas, their opening night scoring leader, played only eight minutes tonight, scoring only two points, to match Lauderdale's less than stellar effort. 

With the returning four caretaking, Jared Sullinger dominating, and the rest of the freshman class learning, this year's Buckeyes could be the team to beat in 2011.  And let's be honest...it felt pretty good beating the Gators senseless on their own home court, didn't it.

Don't forget...we aren't done with Florida yet.  Amir Williams, a highly touted high school senior from Detroit will be choosing between the Buckeyes and the Gators tomorrow.  Hopefully tonight's win let Williams know how much we need him underneath, especially when Sullinger heads off to the pros after only one season.

Tune in tomorrow for the latest report on Williams!

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