Post Game Notes From Ohio State vs. Eastern Illinois – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 23, 2003
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Attendance: 13,180
Ohio State vs. Eastern Illinois Game Notes
The starting line-up combination of Nick Dials, Ugo Nwankwo,Velimir Radinovic, Shaun Smith and Matt Marinchick made their firstappearance this season Tuesday night against Eastern Illinois. ForDials, Nwankwo, Smith and Marinchick, the game marked their firstcareer starts. Ohio State held Eastern Illinois to 50 points in thegame, which marks the fewest points OSU has allowed by an opponentthis season.
Ohio State held Eastern Illinois to 21 points in the first half, which marked the fewest points the Buckeyes have allowed in the first half this season. The previous low of 24 points was scored by Villanova (Nov. 26) and Virginia Tech (Dec. 6).
The 19-point win was Ohio State’s largest margin victory thisseason. The Buckeyes continue to have a perfect record, 5-0, whenthey lead their opponents at the half. OSU also is 5-0 when itleads with five minutes remaining in the game. The Buckeyes shutoutEastern Illinois’ leading scorer Josh Gomes in the game Tuesdaynight. Gomes was averaging 10.0 ppg. The lowest points Gomes postedthis season previously was seven. Ohio State outscored EasternIllinois in the paint 32-20. The Buckeyes also held a 24-4advantage in points off turnovers. Ohio State turned the ball over10 times, which tied a season-low, while forcing 18 by thePanthers, which marked the most turnovers caused by the Buckeyesthis season. The previous high by an opponent was 16 by CentralMichigan (Nov. 25), Samford (Dec. 13) and Furman (Dec. 17). Withthe victory, Ohio State improved to 2-0 against Eastern Illinois.The first Buckeye win was Dec. 22, 2001 at Value City Arena inwhich OSU defeated EIU, 72-59. In addition, Ohio State improved itsperfect record to 15-0 against teams representing the Ohio ValleyConference. Ohio State is 13-8 in games played on Dec. 23, whichincludes victories in eight of the last nine games played on thisdate. In their sixth season in Value City Arena, the Buckeyes nowown a 72-14 (.837) record. The Buckeyes now are 3-1 at home thisseason. At the first timeout of the game (15:30), the Buckeyes were4-of-7 from the field and 2-of-2 from the 3-point line. Ohio Statetallied four assists in the first 4:30 minutes of the game, thesame number of assists the team recorded as a whole against SetonHall Dec. 20.
Ohio State Player Notes
Senior captain Velimir Radinovic led all scorers with 16points. It is the third time this season he scored in doublefigures as well as the third time he has led the team in points.Freshman Nick Dials surpassed his previous career-high of sevenpoints (Seton Hall, Dec. 20) with nine points against EasternIllinois. In addition to his first career start, Dials played acareer-high 19 minutes and tied a career-high with two assists. Hisprevious high was seven minutes against Seton Hall. In addition tohis first career start, junior guard Ugo Nwankwo set severalcareer-highs against Eastern Illinois – points (5), assist (3) and3-pointers (1-1). Nwankwo played 12 minutes, which marks the mostminutes he has played in his Buckeye career. Nwankwo’s previoushighs were points (2), assists (0), minutes (9). Senior guard ShaunSmith played a career-high 13 minutes against Eastern Illinois. Hisprevious high of eight minutes was set against Robert Morris Dec.12, 2000.
Eastern Illinois Notes
The Panthers loss drops them to 0-2 against Big Ten opponentsthis season. EIU fell to then-No. 15 Wisconsin, 47-81, Nov. 25. ThePanthers face their third and final Big Ten opponent Iowa Dec. 30in Iowa City, Iowa. The 69-50 loss marks the third-consecutive lossfor Eastern Illinois. The Panthers have fallen in seven of itseight games this season. Aaron Patterson led all Panther scorerswith 15 points. This is only the second time this season he has ledthe team in points.
