This team was a lot like the 2007 Ohio State squad, but Ron Lewis made his last-second shot, and William Buford missed his.
Kentucky's Josh Harrellson stuffs the shot attempt of Ohio State's Jared Sullinger.1. Ron Lewis made his shot. William Buford didn't make his.
We all judge Ohio State by the final result, which is the way it works, and the 2007 freshman class with Greg Oden and Mike Conley reached the national championship game and the 2011 class with Jared Sullinger and Aaron Craft lost in the Sweet 16.
Both wound up living or losing on a 3-point try by a veteran.
With the game in the balance Friday night, Buford missed a tough 3-pointer that would have won the game for the Buckeyes in the last second, while the miss allowed Kentucky to pull out a 62-60 win. Four years ago, Lewis drained a long 3-pointer with four seconds to play that forced overtime against Xavier in the second round of the tournament.
Buford's shot was better-defended. Lewis' shot was longer. Both were pretty good looks given the circumstances, and an inch or two is what made the difference between a tournament that continued and one that ended.
If Lewis had missed that shot, we would have been talking all season about that 2007 team, how it only made the second round of the tournament, and what did Sullinger's team have to do to avoid a similar fate? Instead, the 2007 team did what the 2011 team couldn't.
2. Before the game, I thought either Brandon Knight or Terrence Jones, Kentucky's two leading scorers as freshmen, would need a huge game to give the Wildcats a chance. Instead, Knight was held to nine points on 3-of-10 shooting and Jones was limited to eight points on 3-of-10 shooting as well.
It was the FIRST time this season that both freshmen were held to single digits in a game, and yet Kentucky still won. Jones only had five previous games of fewer than 10 points, and Knight had just two. They were averaging a combined 33.5 points per game and scored just over half that.
"Most definitely," Ohio State's David Lighty said when asked if he liked the Buckeyes' defense in the game. "But they made plays when they needed it."
3. One of Kentucky's best plays was a pick-and-roll with big man Josh Harrellson, and you could see OSU point guard Aaron Craft overplayed that just a bit as Harrellson set a high screen on Kentucky's final possession. Instead of using the screen, Knight dribbled the other way, getting one step on Craft, who still played very good defense to take away Knight's ability to drive to the basket, forcing him into a pullup jumper with Craft's hand in his face.
Buford was 2-for-15 from the field when he released Ohio State's final shot, and he finished 2-for-16.
Knight in that moment wasn't much better. He was 2-for-9 when he took the shot, and 3-for-10 when it went in.
Kentucky's Brandon Knight hits the game-winning shot over Ohio State's Aaron Craft."We didn't get the stop we needed," Craft said. "I didn't guard him the way I needed to. He made a good shot. It's devastating the way it ended."
"He made a heck of a shot," OSU coach Thad Matta said. "Aaron, you know he is a tremendous defender. He had his hand in his face and he just rose up and made a great shot. And, you know, those are the type of shots that we said we wanted them to make, were challenged twos. To his credit, he made a big-time play."
4. OSU big man Jared Sullinger said it of Harrellson.
"He's the reason why they won," Sullinger said.
Harrellson led Kentucky with 17 points, as one of only two players in double figures, and he worked that pick-and-roll, hit the offensive boards (reaching over Sullinger to grab at least two of those rebounds, which almost never happened this season) and playing good defense to prevent Sullinger from getting to his spots on offense.
That really showed up on Ohio State's possession with 1:09 to play and the Buckeyes down by a point. With the shot clock ticking down, Harrellson wouldn't let Sullinger get deep post position and after Sullinger the got the ball further out of the lane, he spun baseline and was forced into a jumper that hit the side of the backboard.
"He got in pretty good position," Matta said. "And we have seen him score well down there on that block. And the guy did a great job bodying him up and preventing him from getting the ball to the follow-through."
I didn't think Harrellson would be able to handle Sullinger as effectively one-on-one as he did, and he truly did win the game for the Wildcats.
"I think Harrellson is probably the most underrated player in college basketball," Matta said. "He's a tremendous player and knows his role and does it well."
5. Sullinger finished with 21 points and 16 rebounds, his 10th game of the year with at least 20 points, his 19th game with at least 10 rebounds and his 18th double-double. But he was not dominant offensively. However, he was dominant on the offensive boards.
He tied his season-high with eight offensive rebounds, and he scored 11 of his 21 points directly off those rebounds - four baskets and three free throws after getting fouled following the rebounds.
Take away those made putbacks, many of which were dunks, and Sullinger was 3 of 10 from the field. It's hard to argue with a freshman putting up 21 and 16 in a Sweet 16 game during his freshman year, but Harrellson deserves a lot of credit for defending Sullinger on his own much of the night and not letting Sullinger do more damage.
6. Length, again, was an issue, as it was against Tennessee in the Buckeyes' Sweet 16 loss last season. Kentucky blocked 11 OSU shots, the most blocks against the Buckeyes this season, and that had an effect. A lot of the shots the Buckeyes missed, and they missed 39 of the 58 they took, went back to that length, with the big Wildcat wing players offering Ohio State something they didn't see every week in the Big Ten. Just the threat of a block changed some shots.
"They're pretty long and they were blocking some of the shots we usually get off on teams," Buford said.
7. That's true, but the Buckeyes have to get over that. They have skilled offensive players who should be able to deal with tall, long defenders. Really, the shooting came down to two players - Buford (2 of 16) and Craft (0 of 5). They shot a combined 9.5 percent from the field. The rest of the Buckeyes combined (17 of 37) shot 45.9 percent.
Ohio State's David Lighty walks off the court for the last time Friday after the Buckeyes' loss to Kentucky. 8. Still, I am shocked the Buckeyes went down shooting that way. In only two games out of 37 had the Buckeyes had a lower shooting percentage, going 19 for 59 against both Northwestern and Florida State, while they were 19 of 58 on Friday.
Buford had four other games in which he made less than 30 percent of his shots: 3 for 11 against Minnesota on Jan. 9; 2 for 8 at Illinois on Jan. 22; 1 for 5 at Purdue on Feb. 20; and 3 for 14 against Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on March 11.
9. Sullinger and Buford both said they'll be back next season, though Buford also told some other reporters, when asked the same question, that he needed to evaluate things.
I stood in the locker room after the national title game loss to Florida four years ago and heard Mike Conley Jr. promise to return, and then he went pro, with good reason, chosen as the No. 4 pick in the draft. I am always very skeptical of what players and parents say during, or right after, a season when it comes to discussing their futures. But I will say I believe Sullinger this time. I will be very surprised if he goes out, even though he'd be a top three or top five pick. I'd guess Buford will be back, too, but I think there's a greater chance he changes his mind.
10. What were Matta's words to his team after the loss?
"It was more of a thank you," Matta said. "Thanking the guys for everything they have given to the program. It's life. It doesn't always go the way you want it to. The hard part is this is one of the great runs Ohio State has ever had and it's over."
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2011/03/the_last_shot_kentuckys_length.html
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