Buckeyes demolish George Mason, advance to Newark and Sweet Sixteen

Preparing to write about this game, I had to take a moment to take a deep breath and calm down. With my graduation from The Ohio State University today, I have a lot of Buckeye pride and love flowing through me today. But, regardless of how much scarlet and gray is coursing through my veins, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Ohio State made a big statement today and that absolutely no team left in the tournament wants any part of them. The Buckeyes, after a slow start that had them behind 11-2, basically named their own shots on the floor in absolutely dismantling a shorthanded George Mason 98-66. The Patriots were a squad that many had pegged as a possible Cinderella team, and the Buckeyes certainly didn’t take them lightly.

George Mason got off to a solid start, including a lucky high-bounce three pointer that gave them to a 11-2 lead four minutes into the game. But, just as he has for a good portion of his five years in Columbus, the Cleveland native David Lighty was a calming influence and a powerful leader. Lighty’s three pointer from the left wing cut the deficit to 11-5 but more importantly started a surreal 50-15 run that spanned the rest of the first half. The Patriot defense continued to sag off of Lighty around the arc, and the fifth-year senior scorched them repeatedly with a perfect 7-for-7 effort from three point range to go with his 9-of-10 overall shooting performance, 25 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. This further proves the fact that on any given night, the Buckeyes can be led in scoring by six different players. Do you want to talk about unselfishness? I mentioned Lighty made all of his seven three point attempts, and he had five of those in the first half. Not once did he force a bad shot in that stretch, only taking triples where he was painfully wide open. The way that he was shooting today, the solid but not overwhelming three point stroke of Lighty could have challenged Diebler’s school record of 10 three point makes.  It clearly wasn’t important to Lighty, I venture to say Diebler would have gladly fed the ball to Lighty to break his own record, and that’s all you really need to know about the teamwork woven into this group of guys.

Lighty started the fire, but the rest of the Buckeyes kept it burning. Jon Diebler, Jared Sullinger, and William Buford all took their turns in providing scoring binges of their own. Diebler chipped in 13 points and four three pointers, including yet another halftime dagger. As for Sullinger, it was the same story as with most mid-majors, no one could handle his size 1-on-1. That caused Coach Larranaga to call for the double teams on the big man, and that opened up everything else. William Buford got into the zone as well, pulling up for two three-pointers that weren’t really in the flow of the offense early in the shot clock. Normally, they wouldn’t have been great decisions, but on this day, you name a shot, Ohio State attempted it and they sunk it.

It’s taken me this long to get to Aaron Craft, and I feel that’s pretty fitting. Craft’s flown under the radar for most of the season, and his performance today was overshadowed by the impressive scoring displays by Lighty, Buford, and Sullinger. All Craft did was set an Ohio State record with 15 assists, none better than his from-his-behind skip pass to Diebler who converted a three while getting fouled, later converting the four point play. Craft added 6 points and 6 rebounds in his 34 minutes.

Buried in all of this unbelievably efficient and unselfish offense was an improved bench strategy by Thad Matta. In the first half, Matta stole minutes on defense for Jared Sullinger, who had 1 foul, with Dallas Lauderdale. Matta even gave Sullinger a two minute breather in the middle of the first half. This kept Sullinger rested and prevented him from picking up his second personal until less than two minutes to go in the first half. Secondly, Lauderdale was able to stay fresh instead of getting cold on the bench for forty-five minutes or so until his regular second appearance mid-second half. Deshaun Thomas was also worked in for a four minute stretch. I feel that Matta doesn’t have much of a dropoff with his top seven, and rotating them frequently only helps the cause.

The Patriots were unfortunately hit by the flu bug before today’s tipoff. Their third leading scorer Luke Hancock (10.9 ppg) missed today’s game as he battled flulike symptoms and was on an IV. You hate to see guys not get their opportunity to shine on the big stage, whether it’s injury, sickness, or foul trouble. It no doubt hurt the Patriot cause not having Hancock, but let’s face it, no “dream” pre-game speech from Jim Larranaga was going to coax the Buckeyes out of their shooting inferno. Top scorer Cam Long led the Patriots with 16 points and George Mason hit eight three pointers of their own, but they came too late after a drought of exactly ten minutes where George Mason did not make a field goal.

The final damage report? The Buckeyes shot 61% as a team, 62% from beyond the arc (16-for-26), and they assisted on 23 of their 36 field goals. This year’s Buckeyes now have the two highest assist totals in Buckeye NCAA tournament history including 26 on their 29 field goals in the first game against UTSA, breaking the previous record of 21.

Next up for the Buckeyes is Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight, and the fourth-seeded Kentucky Wildcats in Newark. The freshman-led Wildcats can score in bunches, so the Buckeyes will have their first true test in the Round of 16.

My final thought is this: The Buckeyes won’t shoot this well again in the tournament, but the way they executed in this game was no fluke. In several games this season, the Buckeyes have shot north of fifty percent from behind the three point line, and their unselfish execution has been there all season long. When they’re clicking like this, there’s no stopping them.

(Photo: Tony Dejak/Associated Press)