Written by David Regimbal

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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.

You could tell early that the coaching staff had stressed ball movement in practice leading up to this game. FGCU plays mainly in a zone defense, and after some pretty lackluster performances against teams that play zone, head coach Thad Matta knew that passing was going to be important, “Coming into the game, we told the team that they had to move the ball a lot in this game because they’re a team that will try to force turnovers.” The message was well received as Ohio State assisted on 23 of their 32 made field goals.

The Buckeyes came out sluggish in the second half just as they had in the first. Although the game was already out of hand for the Eagles, they were able to outscore the Buckeyes 19-12 coming out of intermission. When the Buckeyes needed a timely bucket to stop the bleeding, they went to the hot hand and set up a play for Diebler to get an open shot. He rewarded that decision by connecting on his seventh 3-pointer of the night, putting Ohio State up 59-35 while completely killing the Eagles momentum.

Diebler wasn’t the only one to hit a landmark against FGCU. William Buford, the Junior guard from Toledo, notched his 1,000 career point against the Eagles. He’s the third player on the current roster to record 1,000 career points, joining teammates David Lighty and John Diebler. Buford was excited about the accomplishment, “It’s a real honor. You look at the record books before games and see the names. The people who reach 1,000 - those are the greats, so it’s a real honor.”

Meanwhile, star freshman Jared Sullinger had a mediocre night. Saddled with foul trouble in the first half, combined with Ohio State’s fantastic perimeter play, Sullinger only had 11 points and three rebounds. That’s the difficulty in preparing for this Ohio State team -- any player can explode offensively. FGCU coach Dave Balza talked about that in his postgame remarks, stating that it’s hard to game-plan when a guy like Sullinger can go for 40 points one night and 11 the other without much of a difference in the final outcome.

The question is -- how long can all of those weapons keep Ohio State unbeaten?

Who’s Next?

The Buckeyes will host the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday, December 18. The game will be carried by CBS and will tip-off at 2:00 PM EST.

You can follow David on Twitter @davidreg412.