Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | General
Jan. 4, 2006
Athletes of the Week
Troy Smith was named the Offensive Most Valuable Player afterleading the Buckeyes to an OSU bowl record 617 yards in totaloffense in the 34-20 Fiesta Bowl win over No. 5/6 Notre Dame. With342 yards passing, Smith set a career high and became the firstOhio State quarterback to pass for more than 2,000 yards and rushfor more than 500 yards in the same season. Smith ended the gamewith 408 yards in total offense, the most-ever for a Buckeye in abowl game, surpassing the 330 yards by Steve Bellisariagainst South Carolina in the 2002 Outback Bowl. Terence Dialsmoved to the No. 25 spot in career scoring at Ohio State with 47points last week in two Ohio State home wins. Dials averaged 23.5points and 8.5 rebounds while connecting on 62 percent of his fieldgoals (18-29) and 85 percent of his foul shots (11-13). He averaged29 minutes and had just one turnover last week. Dials has scored1,225 career points after his efforts last week.
Athletics Good Stuff
The undefeated men’s basketball team begins Big Ten Conferenceplay at 8 p.m. Thursday (WBNS 10 TV) against Penn State. The 10-0Buckeyes are undefeated after 10 games for the first time since the1990-91 season when the squad began 17-0. Ohio State is led bysenior Je’Kel Foster with 16.5 points a game with classmate TerenceDials close behind at 14.7 ppg. Junior Ron Lewis adds 12.4 pointsoff the bench. The Buckeyes are on a four-game winning streak vs.the Nittany Lions and are 18-13 all-time vs. PSU. Ohio State willbe looking for win No. 100 at Value City Arena Thursday. TheBuckeyes are 5-1 at VCA vs. the Nittany Lions. The women’sgymnastics teams travels to Ball State Saturday for its 2006 seasonopener. The Buckeyes, led by captain Emily Sineway and returningall-region competitors Kaylin Schlecht and Karley Walek, have atotal of 12 returning gymnasts under the direction of second-yearhead coach Carey Fagan. Following the meet Saturday, Ohio Statehosts back-to-back meets, including the All-Ohio Championships Jan.14 and Michigan State Jan. 21. Senior Jason Rogers of the fencingteam is now the No. 1 ranked senior men’s sabre fencer in theUnited States and joins 12 other Buckeyes in the national rankings.In addition to Rogers, seven of those are ranked in the Top 10,including freshman Andras Horanyi, who is No. 4 in senior men’sfoil and No. 1 in the junior men’s foil. The No. 15/16 men’s hockeyteam went 1-0-1 in the Ohio Hockey Classic Dec. 29-30 in NationwideArena. The Buckeyes downed Holy Cross, 4-0, with Dave Caruso making14 saves for his third shutout of the season and junior defensemenMatt Waddell and Sean Collins each chipping in a goal and anassist. In the championship game, the Buckeyes tied Miami, 1-1, butlost the tournament title when they were defeated by the RedHawksin a shootout, 3-1. Waddell scored the Buckeyes’ goal vs. Miami andwas named CCHA Defenseman of the Week after leading the team withthree points in the tournament and earning all-tournament teamaccolades. Caruso, who had 30 saves against Miami, was named thetournament MVP.
The Buckeyes (10-6-3, 6-4-1 CCHA) return to CCHA action with a home-and-home series with Bowling Green (7-11-1, 4-8-1 CCHA) this weekend. The teams will meet at 7:05 p.m. Friday in Value City Arena in Columbus and at 7:05 p.m. Saturday in the BGSU Ice Arena in Bowling Green, Ohio. The game Saturday will be televised live on FSN Ohio and FSN Detroit.
The No. 21 men’s swimming and diving team return from theholiday break for their first meet on the road this season. TheBuckeyes travel to Bloomington, Ind., to face the No. 11 IndianaHoosiers on Jan. 7 at noon. The team hopes to improve their 4-0record. The last time the Buckeyes competed was the Ohio StateSwimming and Diving Invitational Dec. 2-4, when the men’s teamfinished second with 845 points. Last season the Buckeyes defeatedthe then-ranked No. 13 Hoosiers 129-114. The women’s basketballteam (9-2, 1-1 Big Ten) opened up league play last week bysplitting two games against Penn State at home and at Purdue.Thursday, the Buckeyes scored their largest win in the serieshistory with Penn State with a 74-53 home win. Jessica Davenportled all scorers with 19 points, while Debbie Merrill and MarscillaPacker added 10 each. Kim Wilburn fronted an attacking defensiveeffort against the Lady Lions, accounting for four steals. She alsofinished the game with a season-best seven assists.
Ohio State traveled to No. 18/17 Purdue on New Year’s Day and dropped a tight 61-59 contest in West Lafayette, Ind. The Buckeyes held a 33-24 lead at half, but relinquished their lead in the second half and could not recover. Packer led the Buckeyes with a career-high 19 points on 5-of-6 3-point shooting and Davenport scored her sixth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Ohio State remains on the road for its next game at Northwestern at 8 p.m. Thursday.
The men’s gymnastics team continues to prepare for its seasonopener Jan. 14 at the Windy City Invitational in Chicago, with theVarsity Exhibition at 2 p.m. Jan. 7 in the Steelwood AthleticFacility. The pistol team returns to action Saturday at the AirSectionals held in North Olmstead, Ohio. Men’s volleyball opens the2006 season beginning a five-match home stand by hosting St.Francis at 7 p.m. Friday and D’Youville at 3 p.m. Sunday in St.John Arena. The Buckeyes were 24-8 last season, winning the MIVATournament Championship and advancing to the NCAA Championshipsemifinals. Six Buckeye wrestlers placed in the Top 8 at the 2005Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, N.C., to help Ohio State finishfifth in the event. It is the team’s best tournament finish sinceplacing 12th at Midlands in 2004.
J Jaggers (Fr., Bedford, Ohio/St. Peter Chanel) led OSU with a second-place standing at 149. Reece Humphrey (Fr., Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North)(133) and Steve Sommer (Sr., West Carrollton, Ohio/Dayton Carroll) (157) finished fourth in their respective weight classes, while Kirk Nail (So., Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) was fifth at heavyweight. T.J. Enright (So., Galloway, Ohio/Westland) was sixth at 141 and Alex Picazo (Jr., Columbus, Ohio/Grandview) was eighth at 184.
The 2006 Buckeye schedule begins Thursday, as the team welcomes Pittsburgh to St. John Arena at 7 p.m. for Ohio State’s first home dual meet of the season. Two days later (Saturday), the Scarlet and Gray will compete in two dual meets, first traveling to Kent, Ohio, for a 1 p.m. match up against Kent State and then heading north to Cleveland to take on Cleveland State at 7 p.m.
After a three-week hiatus, the women’s hockey team (8-8-2,5-7-2 WCHA) opens this second half of the season with a seriesagainst conference foe No. 8 Minnesota State Jan. 6-7 in Mankato,Minn. The games will be played at 7:07 p.m. (CT) Friday and 3:07p.m. Saturday at All Seasons Arena. Both teams have not playedsince Dec. 9-10, 2005. The Mavericks are 9-7-2 overall with a even6-6-2 mark in the WCHA. MSU has 14 points in the conference to rankfourth, two points ahead of Ohio State in fifth place with 12. Theseries against Minnesota State is the final of three-consecutiveseries in the state of Minnesota (Nov. 25-26 at Bemidji State andDec. 9-10 at St. Cloud State).
Ohio State Athletics Schedule
Thursday, Jan. 5 – Wednesday, Jan. 11
Thursday, Jan. 5
Wrestling vs. Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
St. John Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Men’s Basketball vs. Penn State, 8 p.m.
Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Women’s Basketball at Northwestern, 8 p.m.
Evanston, Ill.
Friday, Jan. 6
Men’s Volleyball vs. St. Francis, 7 p.m.
St. John Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Men’s Hockey vs. Bowling Green, 7:05 p.m.
Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Women’s Ice Hockey at Minnesota State, 8:07 p.m.
Mankato, Minn.
Saturday, Jan. 7
Men’s Gymnastics Varsity Exhibition
Steelwood Athletic Facility, Columbus, Ohio
Men’s Swimming at Indiana, Noon
Bloomington, Ind.
Wrestling at Kent State, 1 p.m.
Kent, Ohio
Women’s Ice Hockey at Minnesota State, 4:07 p.m.
Mankato, Minn.
Men’s Basketball at Indiana, 4 p.m.
Bloomington, Ind.
Women’s Gymnastics at Ball State, 7 p.m.
Muncie, Ind.
Wrestling at Cleveland State, 1 p.m.
Kent, Ohio
Men’s Hockey at Bowling Green, 7:05 p.m.
Bowling Green, Ohio
Pistol at Air Sectionals
North Olmstead, Ohio
Men’s Tennis at Tampa Futures
Tampa, Fla.
Sunday, Jan. 8
Men’s Volleyball vs. D’Youville, 3 p.m.
St. John Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Men’s Tennis at Tampa Futures
Tampa, Fla.
Monday, Jan. 9
Women’s Basketball vs. Oklahoma, 7 p.m.
Value City Arena
Men’s Tennis at Tampa Futures
Tampa, Fla.
Tuesday, Jan. 10
Men’s Hockey vs. Miami, 7:05 p.m.
Value City Arena
Wednesday, Jan. 11
Men’s Volleyball vs. Rutgers-Newark, 7 p.m.
St. John Arena
Men’s Basketball at Purdue, 8 p.m.
West Lafayette, Ind.
