Game Notes From Ohio State vs. Massachusetts – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/10/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2000
Recap| Box Score| Quotes
Attendance: 17,258
A limited number of tickets for the Ohio State vs. St. John’sgame Wednesday (12/13) will go on sale at 8 a.m. Monday at the OhioState Ticket Office or by calling 1-800-GO-BUCKS. Ohio State headcoach Jim O’Brien now has 298 career wins in 19 seasons as a headcoach. He is 63-40 at Ohio State in four seasons. This was thefirst meeting between Massachusetts and Ohio State. Ohio State is17-11 vs. teams representing the Atlantic 10 Conference. TheBuckeye defense held the Minutemen scoreless until the 14:42 markof the first half after the Buckeyes were up 8-0. Ohio State led atthe half 26-13 after holding UMass to 5-of-30 shooting (.167) afterthe first 20 minutes. Ohio State is 5-0 this season when leading atthe half. Ken Johnson failed to record a block vs. Denver (12/7/00)but had seven in the first half and nine for the game vs.Massachusetts. Johnson has blocked eight or more shots in a gameseven times in his Ohio State career. The last was an eight-blockeffort vs. Minnesota (3/4/00). Johnson has blocked nine or more ina contest three times. A Buckeye player has blocked nine or moreshots just five times in history. Brad Sellers and Herb Williamseach rejected nine shots once in their careers at Ohio State.Johnson’s nine blocks are the most ever by a UMass opposing playerbreaking the record of eight held by former University of Texascenter Chris Mihm. Ken Johnson tied a season high with 16 pointsvs. the Minutemen. The 13 points in the first half are the fewestscored by a Bruiser Flint-coached team at UMass. The Minutemenmanaged 16 in a half vs. Texas last season. Ohio State has heldfour opponents this season to less than 20 points in the firsthalf, including its last three foes. Yale scored 18 first-halfpoints in the season opener. Eastern Kentucky (16), Denver (16) andU Mass (13) all failed to reach 20 points in the first half. OhioState extended its streak of consecutive games with at least one3-point field goal made when Sean Connolly connected from longrange early in the second half. Ohio State has made at least one3-pointer in 257-consecutive games. Ohio State is 8-6 in gamesdecided by 3 or fewer points in O’Brien’s four years. OSU’sthree-point shooting percentage of .143 was its lowest of theseason. The previous low was the .150 percentage it shot againstSyracuse (11/24/00) at the Great Alaska Shootout.Quotes
