This was the bargain of youth coach Thad Matta entered.
Sure, there would be plentiful displays of dazzle and glitz from a freshman class brimming with promise, but there might be even more moments where every bit of that inexperience would frustratingly shine through. In Saturday’s second half at a sold-out Schottenstein Center, OSU looked to be staging a careless charity seminar in the face of Tennessee’s press.
So on the brink of a dispiriting loss, they turned to an old hand in Ron Lewis when it mattered most.
With 11.2 seconds left and seventh-ranked OSU trailing by one, the senior guard came off a screen at the top of the arc to hit the game-winning three to give the Buckeyes a 68-66 win.
“Ron’s a senior and a leader,” guard Mike Conley Jr. said. “We were trying to get him the ball.”
Asked what play he was looking for, Matta said, “You saw it.”
No matter that Lewis was just one of four to this point, the Buckeyes were struggling mightily from the outside and Greg Oden was enjoying a career day inside. He was the man, the cocksure veteran singularly focused on this final moment.
“I just thought about winning,” Lewis said. “I didn’t even know how many. I just knew we needed a bucket to win.”
So as No. 16 Tennessee (13-4) Rocky toppled, the Buckeyes (14-3, 2-1 Big Ten) topped a ranked opponent for the first time this year, imbuing OSU with an air of assurance that this team can do more than simply hang with the nation’s elite.
“I hope this win gets us back on track and headed in the right direction,” Matta said. “Not that I thought we weren’t. But like I told (the players), what we needed was a top 20 home win, and we were able to do that.”
What OSU also needed was a big showing from Oden. The seven-footer had scored just 35 points over the past three games as his teammates struggled to work him into the half-court offense.
“We need to get the big man a lot of touches,” Conley said before the game.
They did and Oden delivered. Facing a Volunteers starting line whose tallest man was 6-foot-7, Oden had his way inside Saturday, finishing with a career-high 24 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks.
Just how overpowering was he? His seven dunks served as sufficient evidence.
“I haven’t seen that in a while. He was unstoppable,” said Conley, Oden’s high school teammate, who added 16 points.
“Once he gets that ball inside, you can’t stop him,” UT forward Duke Crews said.
Which might explain why Tennessee was left resorting to some unorthodox methods in defending him, including… well, let Oden explain:
“I think somebody even grabbed my shorts. I think my butt was out for a second,” Oden said. “I’m dead serious too. I felt a little wind.”
Oden, at least when he was sporting those shorts, even saved his team from a Volunteers press that looked to be OSU’s undoing. As the Buckeyes built a 49-39 lead early in the second half, Tennessee went to work on a press that engulfed 11 of the Buckeyes’ 20 turnovers and allowed for the thrilling finish.
It was only when OSU began to lob the inbounds pass into Oden’s outstretched hands – “throw the ball up and I’ll get it,” is how the big man described the brilliant tactic – that the pressure finally relaxed.
And OSU, after a back-and-forth final minutes, could emerge with that elusive win over a big-time opponent.
“This does a lot for our confidence,” Conley said. “We proved to ourselves that we can play tough and pull these out.”
David Briggs can be reached at [email protected].
