Jared Sullinger had another career day for the Buckeyes on Saturday afternoon as Ohio State (10-0) routed the South Carolina Gamecocks 79-57.

Nine days after he posted a career high (and freshman record) 40 points against IUPUI, Sullinger recorded another personal best as he grabbed 19 rebounds to go along with 30 points. 14 of the 19 were defensive rebounds, another freshman record set by Sullinger. It was an impressive performance against one of the nations best rebounding teams. The Gamecocks came into this contest averaging over 42 rebounds a game, which is sixth best in the nation.

“I key in on rebounding. If I’m not rebounding, I’m not playing hard,” Sullinger said. “Nineteen rebounds, I was really into the game.” His effort on the boards helped Ohio State out-rebound South Carolina 44-35.

Ohio State’s defense was key in this game. They Buckeyes absolutely suffocated the Gamecocks offense in the first half, holding them to just six points through 10 minutes of play. The Gamecocks missed 10 of their first 12 shots and were never able to find a rhythm offensively. Going into the game, Lighty knew that was going to be important, “Defense was the main key; it was our main focus. We wanted to come out and hit them first. We executed the game plan to a T. Defense is important to everyone but especially for me. The better we are defensively, the better we are overall.”

Meanwhile, the Buckeyes were giving the ball to Sullinger and letting him produce. The freshman forward was aggressive with his play early, getting to the line five times in the first eight minutes. After a four minute rest, Sullinger came back in the game and picked up right where he left off. After 20 minutes of play, he already had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. His last three points were the most exciting as he banked in a 30 foot 3-pointer as the first half buzzer went off. The crowd exploded as the Buckeyes doubled up the Gamecocks, taking a 42-21 lead into intermission.

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Once again it’s bowl season, and once again it’s time to preview each and every one of the 35 bowl games that will be played in December and January. That’s at least 15 bowls too many- or 35 too many if you’re partial to a Tournament system- but there will be some games worth watching amid the detritus. There always are.

Part I of my Bowl Preview covers the 22 games played prior to New Year’s Day. Enjoy:

Saturday, December 18

New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque, NM, 2:00 PM): Brigham Young (6-6) vs. Texas-El Paso (6-6)

The season’s first bowl is Exhibit A for the “too many bowls” argument, as a pair of .500 teams square off in what won’t exactly be must-see-TV. UTEP in particular looks weak, having lost five of their last six to finish with a losing record (3-5) in Conference USA. BYU was 2-5 until rallying back into bowl consideration with four straight wins before a narrow Holy War loss to Utah. The Cougars and Miners were conference rivals for thirty years in the WAC, until the former left for the newly formed Mountain West in 1999.

Whack Predict-O: Brigham Young 42, Texas-El Paso 17

Fun Fact: The only victory for the dismal 1985 UTEP Miners came, improbably, over a BYU team that finished 11-3.

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Senior guard John Diebler had the best game of his career last night, helping Ohio State (9-0) notch an easy 83-55 victory over the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles.

Diebler connected on nine 3-point field goals in the game, tying an Ohio State record that was set 22 years ago by Jay Burson. He scored 29 points total in the game, a career high, with only two of those points coming from non 3-pointers (two made free throws). The Senior hit on nine of his first 11 attempts, and finished the game 9/14. He actually went on a streak where he made nine straight three’s after missing his first two.

“I knew I missed the first two and I got ready and got my feet set and it happened for me,” Diebler said after the game. “Everyone did a great job of getting the ball to me. It was one of those where I was just feeling good. Everyone has one of those nights sometimes.”

The Buckeyes needed Diebler’s hot shooting early. Ohio State shot the ball poorly to start the game, missing 11 of their first 14 field goal attempts. Through six minutes, the Buckeyes had only scored seven points despite six turnovers by the Eagles in that time span. But at the 13 minute mark, Aaron Craft connected on a three pointer of his own that seemed to shake the Buckeyes out of their funk. Ohio State closed out the half strong, shooting 59% (13/22) from the field and scoring 34 points. Diebler hit five of his 3-pointers during the stretch.

While the Buckeyes were torching the nets, they continued their strong play defensively, holding the Eagles to 16 points through 20 minutes of play. FGCU, who averages 18 turnovers a game, committed 14 of them in the first half alone. The Buckeyes turned in 16 points off of those turnovers while building a 26 point half time lead.

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After a close game against over-matched IUPUI this past Thursday, Ohio State (8-0) made quick work of the Western Carolina Catamounts with an 85-60 victory Sunday afternoon.

The game started out with each team trading baskets before the Buckeyes put their foot on the gas and raced out to an 18-4 lead. Head coach Thad Matta knew that a good start was going to be important for the Buckeyes, “We came out with a little more intensity on defense to start this game, and we shared the ball well on offense, especially in the first half.”

Ohio State did share the ball well, assisting on 19 of their 28 made field goals in the game. The Buckeyes used a balanced attack on offense to dissect Western Carolina’s man-to-man defense. Five Ohio State players reached double digit scoring outputs. Sullinger again led the Buckeyes with 17, Buford, Lauderdale and Deshaun Thomas each scored 13 and Diebler added 10.

The Buckeyes hosted the game in St. John Arena, the old basketball facility that was home to Ohio State teams before Value City Arena (the Schottenstein Center) was built. It’s always special when current teams can experience playing in the building because it doesn’t happen very often. Unfortunately, the bad weather prevented a lot of fans from traveling to the game, but the players still enjoyed it, namely Jared Sullinger.

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