When all hell broke loose at Ohio State last Spring, it wasn't surprising that eventually stories would get written that would be less than flattering of former head coach Jim Tressel, even if lightly sourced and highly speculative.  He was fair game, after all, because he had admittedly failed to disclose potential violations of NCAA regulations to his boss, athletic director Gene Smith.  When he signed an affidavit indicating he was unaware of any potential violations that pretty much made him a piece of raw meat to any writer with a grudge.

Those stories that did get written, like the Sports Illustrated hit job, were lightly sourced and highly speculative but mostly revealed nothing new nor did anything to cause people to re-assess all they ever thought about him.  Tressel didn't get a pass but his reputation didn't take any more hits.

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The Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0) used strong contributions from all five of its starters, highlighted by 27 points and 13 rebounds from Jared Sullinger, to beat the North Florida Ospreys 85-50 on Monday night.

Deshaun Thomas had 16 points and six rebounds while Buford added 13 points, five rebounds and four assists. With Sullinger, Thomas and Buford handling the offense, Lenzelle Smith Jr. and Aaron Craft wreaked havoc on the defensive end by notching three steals each, an effort that led to 23 North Florida turnovers throughout the game. The victory extended Ohio State’s home winning streak to 26, a stretch that reaches back to February, 2010.

The Buckeyes started the game a bit sluggishly, a recurring trend that confounds head coach Thad Matta. Ohio State missed their first three shots and all four of its first free-throw attempts, allowing the Ospreys to hang around. Sullinger was also held scoreless midway through the first half as North Florida trailed just 14-17 through 10 minutes of play.

“We didn’t come out with any juice, any energy or any intensity., “ Sullinger said. “We came out expecting to win because we are Ohio State. We realized this team wasn’t scared to play and obviously it showed in the first half.”

At the 10 minute mark, the light flipped on for Sullinger. The preseason All-American big man for the Buckeyes rattled off 16 points to close the first half, fueling a 20-2 run that all but sealed the game for Ohio State. Deshaun Thomas was able to get going early as well, scoring 13 of his 16 points in the first half as Ohio State took a 45-26 lead into the locker room.

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Stephfon Green ran for two first half touchdowns to help Penn State to a 20-14 halftime lead, and the Nittany Lions’ defense held on through a scoreless second half to beat the Buckeyes in Ohio State’s final home game of the season. Braxton Miller ran for one touchdown and threw for another, but his 4th-down run came up just short on the potential game-winning drive in the 4th quarter, and the Nittany Lions wrapped up a victory that clinched a share of the Leaders Division title of the Big Ten.

Ohio State’s already slim chances to stay alive in the conference race died before their kickoff when Wisconsin beat Illinois in a noon game in Champaign. Next week’s Penn St.-Wisconsin winner will go in Indianapolis to face Michigan State in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game. Luke Fickell’s Buckeyes fell to 6-5 on the season, and the coach had to dodge questions about his rumored successor Urban Meyer in his postgame meeting with the media.

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The No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes notched their fifth straight victory of the season after shooting 67% from the field in a 107-74 rout of the Virginia Military Keydets Wednesday night.

William Buford led all scorers with 23 points while also collecting six assists and three rebounds. Jared Sullinger added 17 points and 12 rebounds (his third double-double of the season), Aaron Craft had 13 points and eight assists, Deshaun Thomas scored 11 points and J.D. Weatherspoon chipped in 10 points off the bench. The Buckeyes connected on 46 of their 68 shots while racking up 30 assists in the game, resulting in the best offensive performance so far this season.

For those not familiar with VMI’s style of play, the final score might be a surprise. They Keydets like to push the ball and score as many points as possible with their strategy leaning more toward offensive production than defensive stops. That translated on the court in Columbus Wednesday night when VMI had success scoring the basketball but failed to produce any consistency on defense.

“They are a really good team,” Buford said after the game. “At times we couldn’t really stop them, but we just had to keep pushing our offense. I’m just trying to find my way and take good shots.”

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