National Championship Showdown; Ohio State Faces Florida – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
April 1, 2007
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Ohio State enters the national title game with 35 victories, the most wins in the nation this season and sixth most in NCAA history. Th e Buckeyes, who will be playing for the first time in the month of April, have won the most games since Illinois won 37 games in 2005, the same season Ohio State ended the Illini’s bid for an undefeated regular season with a 65-64 victory over No. 1 Illinois in Ohio State’s fi nal regular season game that year.
The Buckeyes are 1-3 in national title games winning in 1960 and dropping the championship game in 1939, 1961 and 1962.
With the No. 1 ranking in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls entering the 2007 NCAA Tournament, Ohio State is vying to become the fi rst team since Duke (2001) to run the table in the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 ranked team. Ohio State is 9-0 as the No. 1 ranked team this season.
Ohio State’s current winning streak of 22 games is the longest in the nation. The Buckeyes played before a crowd of 53,510, the largest crowd ever to see a game involving the Ohio State men’s basketball team.
NOTING THE GEORGETOWN GAME
Ohio State improved its record to 35-3 this season with its67-60 win over Georgetown Saturday. Th e 35 wins extend theprogram’s single-season record for victories. Th e previous mark of27 had been shared by the 1961 and 1991 teams. Th e Buckeyes havenow won 22 games in a row. Th e school record of 32 was set by the1960 (fi ve wins to close out the season) and 1961 teams (27 winsto start the season before losing to Cincinnati in the nationalchampionship game). Th e 22- game win streak equals Ohio State’s22-game run in the 1961-62 season, when the Buckeyes also droppedthe national fi nal to Cincinnati. Th e current streak began with a68-66 win over Tennessee Jan. 13 in Columbus. Th e Buckeyes madetheir fi rst appearance in the Final Four Saturday since 1968 andthe ninth time overall. Ohio State played in the fi rst NCAA finals in 1939 and fi nished as runners-up to Oregon. With the winSaturday, Ohio State will make its fi fth appearance in thenational championship game and fi rst since losing, 71-59, toCincinnati in the 1962 title contest. Th e Buckeyes traveled toFlorida earlier this year and fell to the Gators 86-60. Ohio Stateis 5-3 in the series with Florida and 27-23 vs. current members ofthe Southeastern Conference. Th e Buckeyes downed Tennessee twicein 2006-07. Freshmen Mike Conley Jr. and Greg Oden will appear intheir fourth-consecutive championship game Monday. Th e pair ledLawrence North High School in Indianapolis to three-consecutiveIndiana state championship games (2004, 2005, 2006). Th e Buckeyesnow are 37-18 in NCAA tournament games and 10-2 as a No. 1 seed.Ohio State has appeared in 20 NCAA Tournaments since 1939. Th eBuckeyes are 3-2 vs. Georgetown in the alltime series and 68-46 vs.current members of the Big East Conference. Ohio State defeatedCincinnati earlier this season in Indianapolis at the WoodenTradition. Following Georgetown center Roy Hibbert’s fourth foulwith 8:50 to play, Ohio State went on a 10-2 run to take a 54-46lead. Th at run included a 6-0 advantage with Hibbert on the benchfrom 8:50 to 6:37. Th e Buckeyes held Georgetown’s Jeff Green, the2007 Big East Player of the Year, scoreless for the fi rst 16:44 ofthe game. Green fi nished with nine points, just his second gamewith less than 10 points in his last 22 contests. His seasonaverage was 14.4 coming into the game. Ohio State now is 60-4overall when ranked No. 1 in the polls. Th e Buckeyes held a 27-23lead at halftime Saturday. With the victory, the Buckeyes improvedto 32-1 when holding the halftime lead. Th e Buckeyes now are 31-0when leading at the 5-minute mark of the second half. Ohio Stateoutrebounded Georgetown, 37-30 Saturday. Th e Buckeyes are 22-0this season when outrebounding its opponents. Four Buckeyes had atleast fi ve rebounds in the game. Oden fi nished with nine, IvanHarris had seven and Ron Lewis and Mike Conley Jr. had fi ve each.Conley and Jamar Butler combined for 10 assists Saturday againstjust one turnover. Conley had six assists and one miscue and Butlerhanded out four helpers without a turnover. Th ad Matta’s recordwith the Buckeyes now stands at 81-21 in three seasons in Columbus.His overall record in seven seasons is 183-52. Th e game Saturdaywas his fi rst appearance in the Final Four. Each of Matta’s seventeams have won at least 20 games. Th is is his fi rst 30-winseason. Matta has taken all six of his eligible teams to the NCAAtournament. His record in the tourney now stands at 12-5. Ron Lewishas scored 117 career points in NCAA tournament play, including 96points in the fi ve games this year. His NCAA tournament scoringtotal is the sixth-most in Ohio State history. Jerry Lucas(1960-62) owns the record with 266 points. He is followed by JohnHavlicek (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 NCAA tournament on his fourth attempt of thefi rst half and fi nished 7-8 from the FT line Saturday. In theNCAA tournament this season, he is 28-29 and is 36-39 from thecharity stripe in seven career NCAA tournament game appearances.Freshman Mike Conley Jr. led the Buckeyes with 15 points Saturday.He has posted double digits in 10 of his last 11 games. Conleyplayed 39 minutes Saturday. He has played at least 34 minutes infour of fi ve NCAA tournament games this season. Conley tallied sixassists for the 21st time this season. Ohio State is 19-2 in thosegames. Conley owns the Ohio State single-season records for bothsteals (83) and assists (232). Conley is the 15th player in Big Tenhistory to record at least 350 points, 150 assists, 100 reboundsand 50 steals. Scoonie Penn (1998-99) is the only other Ohio Stateplayer to do so. Freshman Greg Oden scored all 13 of his pointsSaturday in the second half. He went 6-11 Saturday, with all of hisattempts coming in the second half. He had one blocked shotSaturday and now has 101 blocked shots on the season. He is justthe second Ohio State player (fi rst freshman) to block 100 shotsin a season. Ken Johnson, the Buckeyes’ career leader in thatdepartment with 444 rejections, did it three times. Butler finished the game Saturday with 10 points Saturday, marking hisfourth double-fi gure game in the fi ve NCAA tournament conteststhis season. David Lighty had fi ve points and three reboundsSaturday in 25 minutes of play, his most since a 26-minute game vs.Youngstown State Nov. 24. Th e Buckeyes made 13-19 free throwsSaturday, including a 9-11 mark in the second half. Ohio Statecommitted just eight turnovers Saturday and forced Georgetown into14 mistakes. Th e Buckeye held a 22-10 advantage over Georgetown inpoints off turnovers. Th e Buckeyes had a 13-1 lead in points offturnovers in the fi rst half. With four 3-pointers vs. Georgetown,the Buckeyes added to their school single-season record for made 3s(283). Th eir 771 attempts is also an OSU record.
