Dayton, Ohio – The No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes ran into a wall Sunday evening – literally.
Despite 19 points from Big Ten Player of the Year, senior center Terence Dials, OSU (26-6) – the No. 2 seed in the Minneapolis region of the NCAA tournament – fell victim to No. 23 Georgetown as the Buckeyes lost 70-52 to the No.7 seed.
“One of our biggest nightmares came true,” said OSU coach Thad Matta. ” …Size is something we didn’t like to see.”
The Hoyas’ (23-9) starting line up featured a front court that consisted of a pair of 6-foot-9 forwards in sophomore Jeff Green and senior Brandon Bowman and a 7-2 center in sophomore Roy Hibbert.
“Their size definitely mattered today,” said OSU senior guard J.J. Sullinger who finished the game with four points, eight rebounds and three blocks. “It’s always in the back of your head when you’re driving through the lane (that) there’s a 7-foot-2 guy, ways 283 pounds who can move.”
Georgetown used its size advantage to out rebound the Buckeyes 37-24 – including a 12-3 differential on the offensive glass – and force 11 OSU turnovers which led to 12 points. The Hoyas outscored the Buckeyes 12-2 in points off turnovers.
“When you have a college front line of 6-9, 6-9, 7-2, it’s definitely going to cause some problems for a lot of college teams,” Dials said “You know, I think today just the rebounding aspect of a lot of things (wore the team down). They got a lot of offensive rebounds, a lot of long range-type rebounds, where you know, a normal team wouldn’t have got.”
Georgetown was also successful in locking down OSU’s 3-point shooting by holding the Buckeyes to 5 of 16 (31.1 percent) from behind the arc.
“When you’re a team who relies so much on shooting the basketball as well as we did all season, you know, you can kind of get bit in the butt,” Dials said. “I think today was, I don’t think so much how we played, I think Georgetown just played a lot better.”
Dials and the rest of the Buckeyes were unable to contain Hibbert who finished with a game high 20 points and 14 rebounds. Hibbert also had three blocks.
“We knew he was going to be a handful, he’s obviously a good player,” Sullinger said. “He is the biggest player we’ve seen all year. He might be the biggest player I’ve seen my college career.”
The Buckeyes were able to stay with the Hoyas for the first four minutes and fifty-five seconds of the game before a 10-2 Georgetown run put OSU down 20-10.
Senior guard Je’Kel Foster (11 points) was able to connect from 3-point range on the next three OSU possessions to bring the Buckeyes within three at 22-19.
After Foster’s third 3-pointer, with 6:59 remaining in the half, the Hoyas locked down their defense and went on a 16-6 run to lead 38-25 at the half. Foster would not make another basket.
“I told our guys don’t leave (Foster),” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “He’s been in a shooting slump, but he’s a terrific shooter. I told our guys don’t listen to radio, don’t listen to television when they say a guy’s in a shooting slump because with our luck he’s going to come out of it against us and he did. We just reminded them that this is one of the best shooters in the country and you have to be tentative to where he is and I think after that they did a pretty good job.”
The second half was more of the same story for the Buckeyes as they watched the Hoyas maintain their dominance. OSU was only able to put together 27 points in the second half – 25 of which came from Dials and sophomore guard Jamar Butler – and were never able to come within six points of the lead. All 12 of Butler’s points came in the second half.
The loss was the final chapter in the careers of four Buckeye seniors, Dials, Sullinger, Foster and forward Matt Sylvester.
“I’ve watched Ohio State basketball ever since I can remember what basketball was,” Sullinger said. “To come back and play for the Buckeyes has been a dream come true. I had a lot of fun doing it and it’s always going to be something I hold especially close to my heart.”
In a season that saw the Buckeyes surprise the conference by winning the Big Ten regular season championship, finish second in the conference tournament and be awarded a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, the mood of the last press conference was bittersweet.
“I’ve never been more proud of a basketball team than I am of these eleven guys,” Matta said. “It’s hard because it’s been such a tremendous season; we never lost two games in a row, we had some incredible win streaks and the ride has been really one of the most incredible rides I’ve ever been on as a coach, which is a credit to the kids. And it’s hard to accept that it’s over because it’s been so much fun.”
With that being said Matta was not afraid to reference next season and the incoming blue chip recruiting class that includes 7-foot center Greg Oden – an addition which should help the Buckeyes if they ever play against Georgetown again.
“I think you’re going to see a little more length when we take the court next year,” Matta said jokingly.
