Postgame Notes From No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Georgetown – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/31/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 31, 2007
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National Semifinal
Georgia Dome – Atlanta
Ohio State improved its record to 35-3 this season with its67-60 win over Georgetown Saturday. The 35 wins extend theprogram’s single-season record for victories. The previous mark of27 had been shared by the 1961 and 1991 teams. The Buckeyes havenow won 22 games in a row. The school record of 32 was set by the1960 (five wins to close out the season) and 1961 teams (27 wins tostart the season before losing to Cincinnati in the nationalchampionship game). The 22-game win streak equals Ohio State’s22-game run in the 1961-62 season, when the Buckeyes also droppedthe national final to Cincinnati.
The current streak began with a 68-66 win over Tennessee Jan. 13 in Columbus.
The Buckeyes made their first appearance the Final FourSaturday since 1968 and the ninth time overall. Ohio State playedin the first NCAA finals in 1939 and finished as runners-up toOregon. With the win Saturday, Ohio State will make its fifthappearance in the national championship game and first sincelosing, 71-59, to Cincinnati in the 1962 title contest. Ohio Stateis 4-5 all-time vs. UCLA and 32-34 against members of the Pacific10 Conference. The Buckeyes traveled to Florida earlier this yearand fell to the Gators 86-60. Ohio State is 5-3 in the series withFlorida and 27-23 vs. current members of the SoutheasternConference. The Buckeyes downed Tennessee twice in 2006-07.Freshmen Mike Conley Jr. and Greg Oden will appear in their fourthconsecutive championship game Monday. The pair led Lawrence NorthHigh School in Indianapolis to three consecutive Indiana statechampionship games. The Buckeyes now are 37-18 in NCAA tournamentgames and 10-2 as a No. 1 seed. Ohio State has appeared in 20 NCAATournaments since 1939. The Buckeyes are 3-2 vs. Georgetown in theall-time series and 68-46 vs. current members of the Big EastConference. Ohio State defeated Cincinnati earlier this season inIndianapolis at the Wooden Tradition. Following Georgetown centerRoy Hibbert’s fourth foul with 8:50 to play, Ohio State went on a10-2 run to take a 54-46 lead. That run included a 6-0 advantagewith Hibbert on the bench from 8:50 to 6:37. The Buckeyes heldGeorgetown’s Jeff Green, the 2007 Big East Player of the Year,scoreless for the first 16:44 of the game. Green finished with ninepoints, just his second game with less than 10 points in his last22 contest. His season average was 14.4 coming into the game. OhioState now is 60-4 overall when ranked No. 1 in the polls. TheBuckeyes held a 27-23 lead at halftime Saturday. With the victory,the Buckeyes improved to 32-1 when holding the halftime lead. TheBuckeyes now are 31-0 when leading at the 5-minute mark. Ohio Stateoutrebouded Georgetown, 37-30 Saturday. The Buckeyes are 22-0 thisseason when outrebounding its opponents.
Four Buckeyes had at least five rebounds in the game. Oden finished with nine, Ivan Harris had seven and Ron Lewis and Mike Conley Jr. had five each.
Conley and Jamar Butler combined for 10 assists Saturdayagainst just one turnover. Conley had six assists and one miscueand Butler handed out four helpers without a turnover. Thad Matta’srecord with the Buckeyes now stands at 81-21 in three seasons inColumbus. His overall record in seven seasons is 183-52. The gameSaturday was his first appearance in the Final Four. Each ofMatta’s seven teams have won at least 20 games. This is his first30-win season. Matta has taken all six of his eligible teams to theNCAA tournament. His record in the tourney now stands at 12-5. RonLewis has scored 117 career points in NCAA tournament play,including 96 points in the five games this year. His NCAAtournament scoring total is the sixth-most in Ohio State history.Jerry Lucas (1960-62) owns the record with 266 points. He isfollowed by John Havlicek (156/1960-62), Michael Redd(133/1999-2000), Scoonie Penn (123/1999-2000) and Jim Jackson(121/1990-92). Lewis missed his first free throw of the NCAAtournament on his fourth attempt of the first half and finished 7-8from the FT line Saturday. In the NCAA tournament this season, heis 28-29 and is 36-39 from the charity stripe in seven career NCAAtournament game appearances. Freshman Mike Conley Jr. led theBuckeyes with 15 points Saturday. He has posted double digits in 10of his last 11 games. Conley played 39 minutes Saturday. He hasplayed at least 34 minutes in four of five NCAA tournament gamesthis season.
Conley tallied six assists for the 21st time this season. Ohio State is 19-2 in those games. Conley owns the Ohio State single-season records for both steals (83) and assists (232).
Conley is the 15th player in Big Ten history to record at least 350 points, 150 assists, 100 rebounds and 50 steals. Scoonie Penn (1998-99) is the only other Ohio State player to do so.
Freshman Oden scored all 13 of his points Saturday in thesecond half. He went 6-11 Saturday, with all of his attempts comingin the second half. He had one blocked shot Saturday and now has101 blocked shots on the season. He is just the second Ohio Stateplayer (first freshman) to block 100 shots in a season. KenJohnson, the Buckeyes’ career leader in that department with 444rejections, did it three times. Butler finished the game Saturdaywith 10 points Saturday, marking his fourth double-figure game inthe five NCAA tournament contests this season. David Lighty hadfive points and three rebounds Saturday in 25 minutes of play, hismost since a 26-minute game vs. Youngstown State Nov. 24. TheBuckeyes made 13-19 free throws Saturday, including a 9-11 mark inthe second half. Ohio State committed just eight turnovers Saturdayand forced Georgetown into 14 mistakes. The Buckeye held a 22-10advantage over Georgetown in points off turnovers. The Buckeyes hada 13-1 lead in points off turnovers in the first half. With four3-pointers vs. Georgetown, the Buckeyes added to their schoolsingle-season record for made 3s (283). Their 771 attempts is alsoan OSU record.
