Ohio State overcame a football-fueled Michigan crowd to stay undefeated with its third road win in Big Ten play.
View full sizeOhio State's Aaron Craft ties up Michigan's Stu Douglass to earn a change of possession during the second half of the Buckeyes' win over the Wolverines Wednesday night in Ann Arbor.ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- This was about the best Michigan could offer -- making 3-pointers, harassing Ohio State star Jared Sullinger with double teams, chanting the name of the new football coach -- and so once again, the Buckeyes were happy for a Big Ten road win any way they could get it Wednesday night.
After a 68-64 win over the Wolverines, No. 2 Ohio State (17-0, 4-0 Big Ten) moved to 3-0 on the road in conference play, albeit against three teams in Indiana, Iowa and Michigan that aren't expected to contend for the league title.
But as OSU coach Thad Matta mentioned afterward, the Buckeyes started 1-3 in Big Ten play last year, including three road losses, so everyone in scarlet grabbed the victory without complaint.
"Coach Matta said he was proud to be our coach, because we handled so much adversity and so much energy that was in this gym," Sullinger said. "If this was another team, Coach Matta felt like [Michigan] would have won."
The Wolverines (11-6, 1-3) double-teamed Sullinger from the baseline, something the freshman hadn't seen before, and in the end, UM coach John Beilein liked the defense that held Sullinger to 12 points and seven rebounds. Sullinger wound up fouling out, and had a moment where he popped the ball from a Michigan player's hands after a stoppage and got a talking to from an official as the Michigan crowd complained.
"That was a bonehead play on my part, and I apologize for it," Sullinger said. "But it was just an emotional game."
A lot of that came from the high level of play, with the teams combining to shoot 52 percent despite some pretty good defense. Some of it was football-fueled, with new coach Brady Hoke and resident quarterback Denard Robinson both introduced to the crowd. If Michigan had won, it may have counted as Hoke's first win.
"I wanted to turn around and look," Beilein said of the Hoke intro, "but I thought I should probably do my job."
The Buckeyes did their jobs, though David Lighty was angry at himself for making only six of 13 foul shots. To combat Michigan's outside shooting, Matta played his smaller lineup almost the entire game, with point guard Aaron Craft playing 32 minutes while center Dallas Lauderdale played only seven.
A 12-0 run in the second half that pushed Ohio State's lead to 53-41, fueled by good defense and 3-pointers from Jon Diebler (who played through a hyper-extended left elbow suffered in the first half) and Craft, as well as a Sullinger dunk, gave the Buckeyes the cushion they needed.
William Buford, who scored a game-high 19 points, and Craft each hit two free throws in the final 20 seconds to ice the win after Michigan twice pulled within two points.
"I feel like I always want to take the big shot," Buford said. "Today I was fortunate to knock them down."
Both schools wound up having pretty good days. Michigan, with a young basketball team, got another building block after Sunday's overtime loss to No. 3 Kansas, and a football coach. Ohio State, the best team in the Big Ten, got another win.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2011/01/ohio_state_remains_perfect_on.html
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