Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Rip Robert Morris
By John Porentas
Ohio State wasted little time in setting the tempo against
visiting Robert Morris, jumping out to a 14-2 lead just over five
minutes into the game, then built a 24 point half time lead to effectively
put away the Colonials in the first half of play. OSU went on to an
easy 82-50 win. The Buckeyes shot 53.2% from the field in the game
while limiting Robert Morris to 32.2%.
"I thought we came out of the gate tonight with
good focus with what we wanted to do," said OSU Head Coach Thad
Matta.
The Buckeyes used a balanced scoring attack that was
led by junior forward/guard J. J. Sullinger's 15
points. Guard Je'Kel Foster and forward
Matt Sylvester each scored 11 points off the bench. Starting center
Terence Dials also added 10.
"We didn't expect them to shoot
the way they shot," said Robert Morris Head Coach Mark Schmidt.
"Their perimeter guys shot the ball
really well, eight-for-21 for threes. When they have a guy like Dials
inside and we put so much (defensive) emphasis on him, and they shoot
the ball the way they did, it's hard to beat them."
OSU seems to be a better ball handling team and is
getting better ball movement under first-year head coach Thad Matta.
Against Robert Morris the Buckeyes had their second consecutive game
with less-than 10 turnovers while registering 18 assists to score
33 field goals.
"That's what we want. That's what we hope to continue
to build on," said Matta.
"They're getting better," said Schmidt. "They
played better than they did last night. They shot the ball extremely
well, especially in the first half."
"Defensively, their half-court defense is solid.
They're playing well together this year," Schmidt added.
Matta agreed, his team is getting better, but added
there is still plenty of room for improvement.
"I think we're not where we were yesterday, but
we're still not where we want to be," said Matta.
The only negatives in the win were the injury to starting
senior point guard Brandon Fuss-Cheatham early in the first half and
a lack of rebounding at times against the smaller Colonials. Fuss-Cheatham
sprained his right ankle early in the game and did not return to action
against Robert Morris.
"We're thinking he'll be OK and ready to go by
Friday," said Matta. "He just sprained his ankle."
Matta was not so ready to dismiss OSU's disappointing
rebounding against the smaller Colonials. Robert Morris was able to
gather 16 offensive rebounds in their total of 32. OSU had 35 rebounds,
led by six each by Sullinger and forward Ivan Harris.
"It's an area of concern," said Matta.
"They got nine-of-22 misses in the first half.
That's pretty close to 45%. We can't give up 45% offensive rebounds,"
Matta said.
"As I told them tonight (after the game), they
shot 59 times tonight. There's got to be 59 block outs times five
going on. Right now we're standing and watching a little to much.
We're thinking about running to the other end before we get the ball."
OSU's bench was very productive in the
game. Ohio State's bench outscored Robert Morris' bench by a 38-6
tally. The Buckeyes also dominated in the paint, outscoring the Colonials
34-20.
"I was happy with the guys that
came off the bench," said Matta. "I thought that they came
in and provided the spark that we needed."
Box
Score
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