Indianapolis — Senior forward J.J. Sullinger tallied 19 points and added 13 rebounds as No. 7 Ohio State (25-4) avenged its first regular season loss with a 52-51 victory against the Indiana Hoosiers (18-11) Saturday at the Conseco Fieldhouse.
The game followed suit with most of the other Big Ten tournament games by being a low-scoring affair. Neither team shot the ball well as the the Buckeyes and Hoosiers shot 32.8 and 33.3 percent from the field respectively.
“That was a trmendously hard-fought game by both teams,” said OSU coach Thad Matta. “Honestly, it’s a shame anybody had to lose that game. It was a game of runs. As I told the guys at halftime and during the time outs, I thought we were getting some incredibly open shots and they wouldn’t go in.”
With the win, OSU proved for the second day in a row that it can win close games without an effective 3-point game. The Buckeyes shot a dismal 18.5 percent from downtown on just 5 of 29 shooting. Senior guard Je’Kel Foster did not hit any triples in the game and moved to 0-14 from behind the 3-point arc for the tournament.
“As I told Je’Kel (Foster), I don’t care if he goes 0-100 tomorrow (in the championship game), I’m going to ride him. Fortunately for us, we got a flow going again and knocked (our shots) down,” Matta said.
The biggest difference in this game and the first match up between the teams was how OSU handled Indiana’s leading scorer, senior forward Marco Killingsworth. Killingsworth had 10 points. OSU utilized a team performance to neutralize Killingsworth as senior center Terence Dials and senior forward Matt Sylvester and J.J. Sullinger took turns protecting the paint.
“It was a team effort. We all know (Killingsworth) is a great player down in the post,” Dials said. “In order to stop him, you need a total team effort. I had a lot of help from the other guys today. When (Indiana’s) best player shoots 5-of-18, you have a great chance of winning the game.”
The first half was a slugfest that typified the Big Ten conference this season. There were nine lead changes throughout, with most coming toward the end of the period.
The Buckeyes began the game on a hot streak as they opened an 8-0 lead against Indiana. Junior guard Roderick Wilmot answered by scoring eight points in-a-row for the Hoosiers to even it up. From there, the lead fluctuated but never reached more than four points for either team. Indiana led at the half 26-25.
Sullinger fueled OSU to a quick start in the second. He scored the first 13 points for the Buckeyes as they retook the lead at 38-30 with under 14 minutes to play and matched their largest advantage of the game to that point.
“JJ. is a warrior. He’s a banger,” Sylvester said. “(Indiana’s ) guards were a little smaller and not as strong. He was able to rebound the ball and he just did a great job. He is competitive and that really showed today. He was the player of the game in my mind.”
With the lack of 3-point shooting for OSU, the team switched its style and relied more heavily on the inside game. Points in the paint played a huge role in the second half for the Buckeyes.
“The 3s weren’t falling. We’re the type of team where if one thing isn’t working then we’re going to go to something else,” Sylvester said. “We’re not a one-dimensional offense and Terence was hitting his shots down low. When some of the outside shots weren’t falling, we took it to the rim. It just seemed like common sense to us.”
The OSU lead grew to as many as nine before Indiana crept back within striking distance. IU kept pace with the Buckeyes and made a 13-3 run to regain the lead with less than two minutes in regulation. It was Indiana’s first lead since the beginning of the second half.
OSU scored the last bucket of the game with 36 seconds to go. It was on a play that saw the ball go to Dials, who drew his defender away from the basket and found Sylvester with a dish inside.
Sylvester banked the lay-up off the glass to give OSU the one-point lead.
“It was a play that had multiple options,” Sylvester said. “They got switched up a little bit then (Dials) found me under the basket. I told him, ‘I’ve been giving you assists for five years’, so it’s about time he gave me one. It was a hard-fought game. Indiana is a really great team.”
The Hoosiers had the last posession but were unable to connect. IU found Killingsworth down low, but he missed the short shot.
Indiana got the offensive rebound and Wilmot put the ball back, but it was no good and the Buckeyes escaped.
“We were well-prepared for the last play,” Dials said. “We knew they were going to go inside. (Killingsworth) is their best player. You definitely want your best player taking the last shot. I just tried to push him off the block as far has possible. He still got a good look and luckily it didn’t drop.”
OSU takes on the No. 20 Iowa Hawkeyes (24-8) — who knocked-off Michigan State (22-11) in the other semi-final game — in the conference chamionship on Sunday. With the win over Indiana, Iowa represents the only team that the Buckeyes have played and not beaten this season. It is a contest of the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the tournament.
“It will be a tough match up,” Dials said. “We’ve only played (Iowa) once and it was at Iowa City. They played a great game and got the victory. Watching the Michigan State game today, they’re going to come out and play hard and play great defense. We are just going to have to come out as hard, match their intensity level and hopefully it should be a great game.”
