Ohio State Crushes Northwestern in Big Ten Opener

Northwestern had a two point lead over Ohio State that lasted 18 seconds early in the first half at Value City Arena Wednesday night.

Unfortunately that was their high point as the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (13-1) destroyed the Wildcats 87-54 in what was the Big Ten season opener for each team.

Buford was the star of the game, scoring a career high 28 points against the Wildcats. The only senior on the team went 5-7 from behind the arch (9-14 overall) while adding nine rebounds and four assists. Three other players reached double-digits as Jared Sullinger scored 17, Deshaun Thomas 16 and Jordan Sibert added 12 points off four 3-pointers. Sullinger also had 11 rebounds, giving him his seventh double-double of the season.

Buford talked about his big performance after the game, “I was just shooting the ball. I was fortunate to be knocking them down and my teammates just kept telling me to shoot.”

With respect to Ohio State’s performance against Duke -- this may have been Ohio State’s most complete, well-rounded game of the season. The Buckeyes seemingly did no wrong against the Wildcats as they dissected a usually solid defense with balance on offense. Ohio State did everything from scoring in the paint (26 points) while shooting lights out on the perimeter -- finishing the game shooting 10-20 from behind the arch. Add a dominant night on the glass where the Buckeyes outrebounded Northwestern 49-30 (15 of which were offensive rebounds), and it resulted in Ohio State’s first double-digit win over the Wildcats since the 2009-10 season.

“I felt we executed the things we felt were important coming into the game,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. “We’ve had some very good practices this week and we played the way we practiced.”

Ohio State - Northwestern games don’t usually get out of hand because the Wildcats like to slow things down and limit possessions. Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody decided to speed things up against the Buckeyes, but it didn’t work out as he had planned, “I didn't want to [play a slower pace] tonight, but we took bad shots and ill-advised shots."

Everything went right for Ohio State in the first half. The Buckeyes got Sullinger going early, and the big man looked as good as he has all season. Sullinger started the game with two nice buckets down low and came away with four rebounds in as many minutes. After Northwestern took a brief 10-8 lead, it was all Ohio State. The Buckeyes blitzed the Wildcats with a 25-5 run, fueled by Sullinger (who scored nine of Ohio State’s first 13 points) and a strong performance from Ohio State behind the arch. The Buckeyes connected on seven 3-pointers in the first half, three of which came from Jordan Sibert. That shooting from Sibert was huge for the Buckeyes -- a team that could become nearly unguardable with a consistent threat on the perimeter. Sibert came into the game shooting just 8-31 from behind the arch, but a performance like this could be what sets him off the rest of the season.

Northwestern didn’t know who to guard in the first half as Buford went off for 13 while both Sullinger and Sibert added nine through 20 minutes. On the other side, the Big Ten’s two leading scorers struggled mightily against Ohio State’s defense. John Shurna and Drew Crawford, a duo that has averaged nearly 40 points a game for Northwestern coming into the contest, combined for just 10 points on 4-18 shooting in the first half. With all the momentum flowing toward the Buckeyes, the home team was able to take a 41-26 lead into the locker room at half time.

The second half wasn’t much different than the first. The Wildcats were able toe keep pace with the Buckeyes early, even trimming Ohio State’s lead to 12 at one point, but the Buckeyes responded with a 19-6 run that effectively ended the game. Northwestern was never able to get any traction on offense shooting just 32% from the field. The Wildcats also struggled from the 3-point line, a good indicator of how this team plays on a game-to-game basis, as they shot just 7-20 (35%) from three.

Who’s Next?

The Buckeyes travel to Indiana to play the Hoosiers this Saturday, December 31. The game will tip-off at 6:00 pm EST and be televised by ESPN2.

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