No. 5 Ohio State Hands Michigan 88-67 Loss – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/6/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2000
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By HARRY ATKINS
%^$AP Sports Writer%^$
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) – Ohio State coach Jim O’Brien wanted George Reese to%^$be more aggressive. Reese took him seriously.%^$
Reese, thriving in his role as sixth man, scored a career-high 25 points,%^$and the Buckeyes rolled to their eighth straight win, 88-67 over%^$Michigan on Sunday.%^$
“I’m very, very happy with our team,” O’Brien said. “This is one of our%^$better efforts, offensively. The thing I’m most pleased with was how efficient%^$we were on offense. I thought we did a good job of exploiting matchup%^$problems.”%^$
One of those matchups had Michigan freshman LaVell Blanchard guarding Reese,%^$a senior.%^$
“He’s as big as Reese, but I think Reese had a little edge with his%^$experience,” O’Brien said.%^$
Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe agreed that putting a freshman on Reese was%^$asking a lot.%^$
“We knew how good he is,” Ellerbe said. “I think he’s probably the most%^$improved player in the league. It’s just a tough matchup.”%^$
Michael Redd also scored 25 points, 20 in the first half when the No. 5%^$Buckeyes (16-3, 7-1 Big Ten) raced to a 47-32 lead, thanks in large part to 12%^$first-half Michigan turnovers and six Ohio State steals.%^$
“We wanted to come out and jump on them early,” Redd said. “Our defense%^$was doing a nice job and that opened up a few shots for me.”%^$
The Wolverines (12-7, 3-5), who lost their fourth straight, finished with 16%^$turnovers and had the ball stolen nine times.%^$
“Our defense came up big,” said Scoonie Penn, who had 13 points and five%^$assists for the Buckeyes. “That’s been a priority for us all season. Our%^$defense got our offense going.”%^$
Blanchard scored 21 points and Josh Asselin added 15 for Michigan.%^$
The Wolverines were playing their second straight game without freshman%^$guard Jamal Crawford – their leading scorer – who was hit with a six-game%^$suspension by the NCAA for his living arrangements while in high school.%^$
“We’re going to have to focus on playing without him,” said freshman Kevin%^$Gaines, who managed just six points filling in at the point for Crawford. “We%^$miss him. He’s our leading scorer and it puts a lot of responsibility on other%^$guys to score.”%^$
O’Brien said Crawford’s absence was a plus for the Buckeyes.%^$
‘It affects them greatly,” O’Brien said. “We would be hard-pressed to take%^$one of our leading scorers away. It was definitely to our advantage that he%^$didn’t play.%^$
“For their sake, I hope it goes away. They’ve got a good program. I wish%^$they could get down to playing, instead of dealing with this stuff.”%^$
The game was tied at 14 when a dunk by Reese triggered a 15-4 Ohio State%^$burst. Reese, who had six points during the run, gave the Buckeyes a 29-18 lead%^$on a layup with 7:06 left in the half.%^$
The predominately freshmen Wolverines, coming off an 82-62 loss Tuesday%^$night to Michigan State, never were in synch during the first 20 minutes. Just%^$bringing the ball up the court became a chore for Michigan, despite only a%^$moderate press by the Buckeyes.%^$
The second half was more of the same.%^$
Ohio State opened with successive 3-pointers by Brian Brown and Redd,%^$triggering a 20-7 run. A soft hook shot by Ken Johnson gave the Buckeyes a%^$67-39 lead with 13:48 remaining.%^$
Ellerbe said he liked the Buckeyes chances of making a repeat trip to the%^$Final Four.%^$
“Obviously, Penn and Redd are very good players and Ken Johnson is a factor%^$defensively,” Ellerbe said. “But I’m equally impressed with Brian Brown and%^$George Reese.%^$
“They have a really good team with a lot of good parts, and they could go%^$really far.”
