Buckeyes Return to Action vs. Lipscomb – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
No. 17/18 Ohio State (3-1) vs. Lipscomb (0-3)
Nov. 24, 2009
Opponent: Lipscomb (0-3)
Site: Value City Arena (19,049)
Game Time: 7 p.m. ET
Television: Big Ten Network
Talent: Dave Revsine (play-by-play)
Bill Hosket (expert analysis)
Radio: OSU Radio Network (60 stations)
Local Radio: WBNS FM-97.1 AM-1460
Radio Talent: Paul Keels (play-by-play)
Ron Stokes (expert analysis)
OHIO STATE VS. LIPSCOMB
The Buckeyes will face Lipscomb University for the first time when the teams get together tonight at Value City Arena. Ohio State is 9-0 all-time vs. teams representing the Atlantic Sun Conference the last being an 81-68 victory over Jacksonville Dec. 17, 2008 at Value City Arena. The Buckeyes own a 3-0 record vs. Stetson, 2-0 marks vs. East Tennessee State and Jacksonville and single victories vs. Belmont and Mercer. Lipscomb is one of two teams on the 2009-10 schedule facing the Buckeyes for the first time. Ohio State takes on St. Francis (Pa.) Nov. 28 in the first game of that series.
Nine Opponents in Top 25
Ohio State has nine opponents currently in the Top 25 nationally in the ESPN/USA Today Poll and eight represented in the Associated Press weekly poll. Michigan State, Purdue, West Virginia, Butler, North Carolina, Michigan, Minnesota and California are listed in the ESPN poll while all but California (RV) are in the AP poll. Another foe, Florida State, is receiving votes in both polls released Monday.
Turner recognized by league office
Ohio State’s Evan Turner collected his second-consecutive weekly laurel after recording his fourth double-double in as many outings in the Buckeyes’ two-game stint at Madison Square Garden last week. Turner began the week with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds to fuel the late comeback against North Carolina Thursday. The Chicago native added four helpers and two steals against the reigning national champions. Turner proved to be the offensive catalyst for the Buckeyes once again Friday as Ohio State rolled past No. 13 California, 76-70, to claim third place in the 2K Sports Classic. The 6-7 guard tallied a season-high 26 points while connecting on nine of 14 shots from the floor (.643) and eight of 11 (.727) from the charity stripe. He becomes the first Buckeye to open the season with four straight double-double performances since Clark Kellogg began the 1980-81 campaign with five consecutive. On the week, Turner averaged 24.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in 76 minutes of action while achieving the 20-point mark for the 14th time in his collegiate career. The Buckeye junior owns 15 career games with 10 or more rebounds and 48 with 10 or more points. Now four games deep into the 2009-10 slate, Turner leads the Scarlet and Gray in scoring (21.8), rebounding (14.8) and assists (24).
Turner streak a first since ’80-81
Evan Turner has opened the season with four-consecutive double-doubles for the first time since Clark Kellogg did so in 1980-81. Turner has reached 10 or more points and rebounds vs. Alcorn State (14/17), James Madison (24-17) and North Carolina (23/11) and California (26/14). Kellogg began the 1980-81 campaign with double doubles in five-consecutive games vs. Cleveland State (23/14), at Kentucky (12/13), Colgate (16/17), South Alabama (18/18) and at Arizona State (18/10). Terence Dials, the 2006 Big Ten Player of the Year, was the last Buckeye to post four-consecutive double-doubles with five in a row vs. Illinois (19/16), at Wisconsin (24/11), Northwestern (14/15), at Michigan State (19/10) and Michigan (22/11) from Feb. 12-25, 2006.
Torrid Pace Set Early by Turner
Evan Turner’s rebounding average of 14.8 rebounds a game is more than double the total he posted last year to lead Ohio State (7.1 rpg). He has career average of 6.2 boards a game. His .583 shooting percentage from the field (35-60) is up 80 percentage points from last year when he connected on 50.3 percent of his shots (193-384).
Ohio State vs. The Ranked
The Buckeyes have a record of 130-216 vs. ranked opponents in the Associated Press Top 25. That includes a mark of 54-111 vs. Top 10 foes. The Buckeyes are 2-4 in the last six games vs. Top 10, including an 82-70 victory vs. Michigan State last March in the Big Ten tournament.
The Next to 1,000…
Evan Turner has scored 972 points over 74 Ohio State games in his career for an average of 13.1 points a game. He needs 28 to become the 44th player in Ohio State history to reach 1,000 career points. Two others on the current roster are on pace to reach 1,000 points. Junior David Lighty has 588 career points over 87 career games. Jon Diebler has 647 points in his three seasons at Ohio State. William Buford is well on his way as well (423).
Wins follow Buckeye double-doubles
Ohio State has had a player record a double-double (10+ points, rebs, assists, steals or blocks) in 791 games. The Buckeyes are 536-255 in those contests (.678). Evan Turner has 15 career double-doubles and the Buckeyes are 9-6 in those contests, including wins in seven of his last nine games with a D-D. Turner is among the Top 25 players in OSU history with 15 double-doubles at No. 22 behind Nos. 20 Jim Cleamons (1969-71) and Wardell Jackson (1972-74) with 16.
100 Points Equates to Near Perfection
Ohio State has scored 100 or more points 67 times all-time and has a record of 66-1 in those games. The Buckeyes are 47-0 at home when reaching the century mark, 3-0 on neutral courts and 16-1 on opponent courts. The only loss was a double overtime thriller at LSU Jan. 15, 2005. The Buckeyes battled the Tigers throughout but fell 113-101.
Double Digit 3s…
Ohio State has made 10 or more 3-pointers in a game 59 times since the long range shot was instituted for the 1986-87 season. The Buckeyes are 49-10 in those games after knocking down 14 of 33 treys against Alcorn State in the season opener. Opponents have made double-digit 3s 81 times and are 33-48 in those games vs. the Buckeyes. Matta’s Ohio State teams are 34-8 when making 10 or more 3s in a game.
Matta Unbeaten in openers
Thad Matta owns a record of 10-0 in season openers as a head coach. He was 1-0 at Butler, 3-0 at Xavier and is 6-0 at Ohio State. In his 10 previous season debuts, Matta defeated Eastern Illinois (90-73) in his first game at Butler in 2000. In his first game as Xavier head coach in 2001, Matta’s squad downed Coastal Carolina 72-41. He also guided the Musketeers to season-opening wins in 2002, an 87-48 win over St. Peters in the preseason NIT, and in 2003, a 62-37 victory over Coppin State. In his first game as a Buckeye in 2004, the Buckeyes knocked off Towson University 74-53 in the opening round of the Guardians Classic in Columbus. Ohio State defeated Chicago State in the 2005 opener 81-52 and handed VMI a 107-69 defeat in the Black Coaches Association Classic in 2006. The Buckeyes started the 2007-08 campaign off with a 91-68 victory over Green Bay in the opening round of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Preseason NIT. The 2008-09 Buckeyes opened the season with a 70-42 victory over Delaware State at St. John Arena. Alcorn State fell to the Buckeyes 100-60 in the opener this season.
First Four Games part of 2K Classic
The first four games of the regular-season made up the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer event on the Ohio State schedule. Alcorn State (Nov. 9) and James Madison (Nov. 12) traveled to Columbus before the Buckeyes played at Madison Square Garden in New York vs defending national champions North Carolina Nov. 19 and California Nov. 20.
Noting the California Game
- The Buckeyes knotted the series with the Bears at 9-all with the 76-70 victory. Ohio State has won the last three in the series.
- Evan Turner continued on his hot start to the season with a game-high 26 points and 14 rebounds. He has reached 10 or more points and rebounds in each of Ohio State’s first four games.
- Ohio State is 338-99 all-time when ranked among the Associated Press Top 25 team. The Buckeyes went 1-1 in New York as the No. 15 team nationally.
- Thad Matta is 232-78 as a collegiate head coach and 130-47 as the head coach of the Buckeyes in his six seasons in Columbus.
- Dallas Lauderdale tied his career high with seven blocks vs. the Bears. He set his personal best on the same date (11/20) as a sophomore vs. Delaware State with seven rejections.
Club Tril T-shirts now available
Mark Titus, senior walk-on from Brownsburg, Ind., has been writing and publishing his blog – clubtrillion.com – for the last two years on college basketball from an “end-of-the-bench” perspective. Approaching 2,000,000 hits, the blog is somewhat popular in college basketball circles. To take advantage of the interest in the site, Titus has teamed with “A Kid Again,” a local charity for children with life-threatening illnesses, to help support the charity’s efforts. For a $25 donation fans of the blog will receive a Club Tril T-shirt. All the proceeds will then go to support “A Kid Again.” Get your shirt today by placing an order at clubtrillion.com.
Garden Party
Ohio State last played at Madison Square Garden during the 2007-08 season. The Buckeyes made two trips to the historic venue as participants in the 2007 National Invitation Tournament Preseason Tipoff and then again in the 2008 Postseason NIT. Ohio State defeated Syracuse and lost to Texas A&M in the preseason event while winning the postseason tournament with wins vs. Mississippi and Massachusetts.
Buckeyes in New York
1/9/37 W, NYU, 39-32 12/29/78 W, Duke, 90-84
3/24/44 W, Temple, 57-47 12/30/78 L, Rutgers, 96-97
3/25/44 L, Dartmouth, 53-60 3/19/79 L, Indiana, 55-64
3/22/45 W, Kentucky, 45-37 3/21/79 L, Alabama, 86-96
3/24/45 L, New York, 65-70 3/29/88 W, Colo. St., 64-62
3/21/46 W, Harvard, 46-38 3/30/88 L, UConn, 67-72
3/23/46 L, UNC, 57-60 12/27/88 W, Florida, 93-68
3/26/46 W, Cal, 63-45 12/29/88 W, St. John’s, 77-72
3/23/50 L, CCNY, 55-56 11/21/07 W, Syracuse, 79-65
3/25/50 W, Holy Cross, 72-52 11/23/07 L, Texas A&M, 47-70
12/26/56 W, Temple, 64-63 4/1/08 W, Mississippi, 81-69
12/28/56 L, Manhattan, 67-82 4/3/08 W, UMass, 92-85
12/29/56 L, BYU, 78-84 11/19/09 L, UNC, 73-77
11/20/09 W, Cal, 76-70
Turner Flirts With Triple Double in Exhibition Victory
Preseason All-Big Ten selection Evan Turner scored 15 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and handed out six assists in Ohio State’s exhibition win over Walsh Nov. 4 at Value City Arena. The junior point guard connected on 7 of 12 shots from the field and was charged with just one turnover in 24 minutes of action. William Buford tied for the game’s top scoring honor with 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting. The Buckeyes made 63 percent of their shots (37-59) from the field in the win.
Buckeyes Picked 3rd in Big Ten Preseason Media poll
Evan Turner was tabbed a preseason first team All-Big Ten selection by league media at the annual media day in Chicago. Turner is the league’s top returning scorer (17 ppg.). He led the Buckeyes in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals as a sophomore last year. Thad Matta’s Buckeyes were selected No. 3 in the preseason media poll behind Michigan State and Purdue.
Schedule has Buckeyes playing the nation’s best
Ohio State will play five of the preseason Top 10 ranked teams (ESPN/coaches poll) in the country this year. No. 2 Michigan State, No. 4 North Carolina, No. 7 Purdue, No. 9 West Virginia and No. 10 Butler all dot the Ohio State slate in 2009-10. Five Big Ten teams are ranked among the Top 20 with No. 15 Michigan, No. 18 Minnesota, and No. 17 Ohio State all slated among the top teams nationally. Ohio State also faced No. 12 California at the 2K Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer in New York, defeating the Bears 76-70. Illinois is just outside the preseason Top 25 at No. 27.
Seven Former Buckeyes In NBA Rosters in 2009-10
Ohio State leads all Big Ten teams with seven players on current NBA rosters. The Big Ten started the season with 33 players on NBA active lists. Nine Big Ten teams have at least one player competing in the NBA. Michael Redd (Milwaukee Bucks) is the longest tenured Buckeye in the NBA. Greg Oden (Portland), Michael Conley (Memphis), Daequan Cook (Miami), Othello Hunter (Atlanta), Kosta Koufos (Utah) and B.J. Mullens (Oklahoma) represent Ohio State in the NBA.
Big Ten season starts with Buckeyes on the road
Four of the first five games of the Big Ten season will be played away from Value City Arena. The Buckeyes open the league season at Wisconsin Dec. 31 before a trip to Michigan Jan. 3. A home game vs. Indiana Jan. 6 splits road games at Minnesota (Jan. 9) and at Purdue Jan. 12. The Buckeyes face a similar stretch of road games at Indiana Feb. 10, at Illinois Feb. Illinois, home vs. Purdue Feb. 17 and away vs. Michigan State Feb. 20/21 and at Penn State Feb. 24.
Matta adds pair to roster
The Ohio State roster grew by two in late October when Thad Matta added walk-on juniors Eddie Days and Dustin Reynolds. Days is the nephew of Buckeye great Jim Cleamons, a current assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers. Reynolds is the younger brother of former Ohio State women’s basketball player DiDi Reynolds. Dustin will sit out the 2009-10 season to satisfy NCAA transfer rules. Days is expected to be in uniform in January. The Buckeyes now have four walk-on players on the roster. Danny Peters is a fifth-year senior and Mark Titus is in his senior campaign as well. Peters will end his career with five varsity letters, one as a manager (2006) and four as a student-athlete (2007-10).
Turner, USA Earn Bronze at World University Games
Junior Evan Turner averaged 4.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and led Team USA with 18 assists at the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia. The United States finished with a 6-1 record at the early-July event with Turner making three starts and averaging 16.3 minutes a game. He connected on 52 percent of his shots (12-23) and 4 of 5 free throws.
Buckeyes Return Veteran Squad
Accustomed to starting over virtually from scratch each of the last four seasons, Thad Matta, head coach of the Buckeyes, returns all five starters from a 22-11 squad in 2008-09. In addition to the five regulars that finished the season with an appearance in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, the Buckeyes also return senior Jeremie Simmons, who started 25 of 33 games last year, and junior David Lighty, who started the first seven games of the season before suffering a broken foot. Lighty, who started all 37 games as a true sophomore, received a medical-redshirt, and will have two full seasons of eligibility remaining with the Buckeyes. Leading the returning starters are juniors Evan Turner (33 starts last year), Jon Diebler (33 gs) and Dallas Lauderdale (31 gs). Sophomore William Buford (25) and senior P.J. Hill, who started the last eight games of the season, also return.
Turner Among Candidates for Preseason Honors
Evan Turner led Ohio State and the Big Ten in scoring last season with an average of 17.3 points a game. He was No. 3 in rebounding as well with 7.1 and was among the Top 10 league players in steals (4th/1.8 spg.) and assists (8th/3.97). He was a finalist for Big Ten Player of the Year honors a season ago and will be among the favorites entering his junior season. His name has also garnered All-America consideration after earning a spot among the Top 15 finalists for the 2009 Oscar Robertson Award, given annually by the United States Basketball Writer’s Association to the player of the year in college basketball.
Diebler Among Big Ten, Nation’s Top Shooters
Jon Diebler, the all-time leading scorer in Ohio High School history, started slow in the college game from behind the arc, where he made a name for himself as a prep at Upper Sandusky High School. After shooting 29 percent from long range as a rookie (48-166), Diebler responded with a breakout sophomore season. He knocked down 96 of 231 treys for 41.6 percent accuracy. That effort was second in the Big Ten for makes and is the second-most single season 3s made in Ohio State history. He already is fourth all-time at Ohio State in 3s made in a career (151) and his eight 3s made at Northwestern last year rates No. 2 in Ohio State’s record book for 3s made in a game.
Buford Excels as Rookie, Improvement Expected
William Buford was selected as the Big Ten’s 2009 Freshman of the Year and a member of the league’s all-freshman team. He averaged 11.3 points a game, second on the team, and demonstrated an all-around offensive game throughout his rookie campaign. Student-athletes who play for Matta typically make significant improvement between their freshman and sophomore seasons, which has the Buckeye basketball staff excited about Buford’s game in 2009-10.
Where to Point?
The point guard position rotated between Jeremie Simmons and P.J. Hill a season ago with Simmons starting the first 25 games and Hill the final eight. Simmons moved over to provide minutes at the No. 2 guard spot, his natural position, down the stretch. Evan Turner also will see some time directing traffic. He handed out 97 assists last season to lead the Buckeyes in that category while also recording 58 thefts at the defensive end.
A Summer in Canada
With nearly the entire roster returning from the 2008-09 season, Matta and the Buckeyes took a preseason international trip to Canada. The excursion allowed the Buckeyes 10 practices and a few competitions before the official start of practice Oct. 16. The Buckeyes played three games between Aug. 27-31 in Canada vs. teams from the Windsor area. Ohio State last left the country for competition during the summer of 2001 when the squad traveled to Italy, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands.
New York, Morgantown, Indianapolis also on Travel List
After traveling to New York for a pair of games in the 2009 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, Ohio State has two more trips for non-conference games remaining on its schedule. The Buckeyes complete a home-and-home series with West Virginia in January and the final game of the four-game home-and-home series vs. Butler will take place at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the Bulldog campus in December. The 18-game Big Ten schedule features home-and-home matchups with eight teams and single matchups vs. Northwestern (home) and Michigan State (away).
Can You Spot Matta a 20?
For each of the last nine seasons, all as a head coach, Thad Matta has guided teams to at least 20 victories. Only Mark Few, among active coaches, has more consecutive 20-win seasons to start a career (10). Matta set the Ohio State record for consecutive 20-win campaigns last year with a 22-11 record, the fifth-consecutive Ohio State season with 20+ victories. The previous record was four held by the 1960-63 teams under legendary head coach Fred Taylor.
Matta also has won at least 10 Big Ten regular-season games in each of the last four seasons. A fifth double-digit effort in the win column in 2010 would tie Taylor’s mark of 10+ league wins in each of the seasons from 1960-64. Those were during 14-game regular-season slates. The Big Ten played a 16-game schedule in Matta’s first three seasons (8, 12, 15 league wins) and an 18-game schedule the last two (10, 10).
Speaking of Consistent #s…
Ohio State was again one of the top draws in college basketball in 2008-09. The Buckeyes drew nearly 280,000 fans to home games last season to rate No. 14 nationally in home attendance. The Buckeyes have been among the Top 20 in home attendance in each of the last 11 years, all while playing at the Jerome Schottenstein Center (19,049). Ohio State games both home and on the road drew 477,000 fans last year, No. 16 nationally. The Buckeyes have been a Top 20 draw nationally in 10 of the last 11 years and led the nation in all-game attendance in 2007. The Big Ten led the nation in attendance for the 33rd-consecutive season in 2008-09. An average of 12,519 fans attended 193 Big Ten games a season ago.
Boals Joins Staff
Matta added Jeff Boals to the staff after the departure of assistant coach Archie Miller, who left to coach alongside his brother Sean, the new University of Arizona head coach. Boals, a 1995 graduate of Ohio University, left Akron to join the Buckeyes. His tenacity as a player with the Bobcats is expected to transfer to the Ohio State roster, especially the post players.
