O-S-Unbeaten – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 7, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – “Championships are won in November.”
It is a familiar phrase cast out each fall during the college football season. While the adage is rarely applied to winter sports, three Ohio State squads used the 11th month of 2011 to establish solid evidence toward potential championship runs well into 2012.
As the calendar flipped to December, the Ohio State men’s and women’s basketball teams each remained undefeated in the early going of their seasons, while Buckeye men’s hockey upped a recent unbeaten string to 11 games, including nine wins in a row.
Coming off an all-time best No. 2 finish in the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings in 2010-11, Ohio State has carried momentum into this athletics year.
Men’s basketball – ranked No. 2 in the latest polls – has gained significant national interest, thanks to impressive Top 10 wins over No. 8 Florida (81-74/ Nov. 15) and No. 3 (85-63/ Nov. 29) Duke at Value City Arena. In those two contests, fans across the nation took note as Thad Matta and his Buckeyes seized control and suffocated two teams expected to be heavyweights in March.
While national player of the year candidate Jared Sullinger (19.1 ppg./ 10.3 rpg.) has definitely played up to his billing so far, fellow super sophs Aaron Craft (5.5 apg./ 2.9 spg.) and Deshaun Thomas (12.9 ppg.) have those across the country expanding their conversations about the Buckeyes. Throw in decorated senior William Buford (16.0 ppg.), who is staring down the Ohio State all-time scoring record, and some prominent names in the game have offered some serious praise.
“They can score from a number of different positions,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the game Nov. 29. “They had a great crowd. They had a lot going for them and they took advantage of everything. Congratulations to them. We can be good too, we just weren’t good tonight and they had a lot to do with that. “
From the coaching sidelines to the broadcast table, the sentiments hold consistent.
“(Ohio State is) very athletic. They can shoot the ball. They have different weapons. They have inside-outside play,” ESPN’s Dick Vitale voiced during the Duke broadcast.
“I look at Craft, I think about if you are going to win a national title he becomes a very important player,” Vitale continued. “The combination of Buford and Sullinger is as good as you are going to find in America.”
The Buckeyes are off until this weekend, focusing on finals. Exams end Thursday, but an enormous test still awaits: Saturday – – Phog Allen Field House – – the Kansas Jayhawks.
KU is ranked in the Top 15 nationally and has been handed just two losses; neutral site meetings with current No. 1 Kentucky and a down-to-the-wire defeat vs. Duke in the Maui Invitational championship game.
If the men’s team emerges from its first road challenge unbeaten Saturday, it certainly will be earned.
As finals loomed for the women’s basketball team, head coach Jim Foster elected for a three-course hardcourt exam of his own for the young unit. In a matter of eight days, Ohio State welcomed and knocked off No. 20 LSU and Florida State at the Schott and then traveled to Norman to log a victory over No. 18 Oklahoma.
In all three contests Ohio State’s backcourt duo of Samantha Prahalis and Tayler Hill led the way.
Prahalis flirted with a triple-double with 28 points, eight assists and eight rebounds in the win over LSU Nov. 27. Hill complemented with 23 points of her own. The effort from the backcourt tandem was succinctly summed up by LSU player LaSondra Barrett:
“(Samantha Prahalis) and Tayler Hill pretty much killed us,” she said after the 77-68 OSU win.
Hill capped a thrilling Buckeye comeback for an overtime win over FSU Nov. 30. The junior from Minneapolis slashed through the Seminoles for a career-high 31 points as Ohio State overcame a late seven-point deficit for the 78-75 triumph.
Sunday, Hill and Prahalis netted 20 and 19 each as OSU held off Oklahoma, 69-63, for road win No. 1 in 2011-12. In the two victories over FSU and OU, Hill averaged 25.5 ppg., 4.5 rpg., 4.0 spg., 3.0 apg., and hit six 3-pointers, good enough to be named Big Ten player of the week.
“When you have veteran guards, it doesn’t matter where you play. It’s not like we haven’t played in tough venues. Our freshmen, they’re dumb enough to follow our veteran guards. That makes me happy,” Foster said with a smile after the Oklahoma win.
The scheme is new territory for this Ohio State team. For the past eight seasons, Foster has centered his attack on the blocks with all-star “bigs” Jessica Davenport (2003-06) and Jantel Lavender (2008-11), a pair that combined to win Big Ten player of the year honors in each of the last seven years.
This season, Foster’s tactics are no longer based in the paint as Hill (21.3 ppg) and Prahalis (18.3 ppg) have accounted for 44 percent of OSU’s scoring output (75.6) in seven games.
An opponent would be misguided if it overlooked the Buckeyes down low though, as sophomore Ashley Adams has established herself as a force and combined with newcomer Kalpona Beach to lead Ohio State in rebounding at 6.7 and 6.6 per game, respectively.
Ohio State has Canisius at home at noon Saturday in Value City Arena. Come out and catch the new-look Buckeyes, but get used to the same old story on the scoreboard.
Already two full months into its season, the men’s hockey team has hit quite a stride. The Buckeyes currently have skated to nine wins in a row and hold an unbeaten streak of 11 games heading into a showdown with in-state rival Miami at home Friday (7 p.m.) and in Oxford, Ohio Saturday.
Ohio State has cracked the Top 5 in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll at No. 4 this week. Sitting at 12-3-1, OSU’s streak includes a series sweep at then No. 7 Michigan Nov. 18-19, its first in Ann Arbor since 1986.
Back at home last weekend, the Buckeyes secured another pair of wins over then No. 11 Lake Superior State behind stellar net-minding by senior Cal Heeter, who is 11-1-1 on the season.
After a 58-save effort in the LSSU series, Heeter, who allowed just three goals against the Lakers, was named Central Collegiate Hockey Association Goaltender of the Week. For the season, the St. Louis product has stymied opposing skaters with a .932 save percentage to rate eighth nationally, giving up just 1.89 goals-against per game to rank ninth in the NCAA.
“We talk about growth for our team,” Mark Osiecki, second-year Ohio State head coach, said. “Coming in with a young group, we ask our guys to take the next step and continue to improve, build on what we’ve been doing. The guys are really worried about themselves, not the other team, and continue to get better.”
On the open ice, the trio of Chris Crane, Danny Dries and Ryan Dzingel has the Buckeyes up five points over second place Notre Dame in the CCHA standings heading into the rivalry with the Redhawks (8-8-2, 4-6-2 CCHA).
“It is kind of flipped this season,” Dries, a senior who leads the team with 10 goals, said. “Last year they were up in the standings and we took two from them, so they are going to come in here ready to go.”
Fans can purchase tickets to watch these three teams live as they look to “Stay Hot in The Schott” this winter at www.OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
