Without Sullinger, OSU falls to Kansas

Associated Press

LAWRENCE, Kan.

Ohio State coach Thad Matta gave Kansas coach Bill Self an early Christmas present Saturday.

The Buckeyes were without preseason All-American Jared Sullinger, who missed his second consecutive game because of back spasms. It wasn’t until that point that Matta finally disclosed that Sullinger wouldn’t be able to play against the Jayhawks in a marquee non-conference showdown.

With Sullinger in street clothes, Deshaun Thomas played all 40 minutes for the second-ranked Buckeyes, scoring 15 of his 19 points in the first half in a 78-67 loss to the No. 13 Jayhawks.

“As I told Coach Self when we shook hands before the game, ‘Merry Christmas early,”’ Matta said.

“I don’t think his exact words were, ‘Merry Christmas,”’ Self said with a grin. “I think there were some other words in there, maybe describing the holiday.”

Matta didn’t want to jeopardize Sullinger’s future because of a game in December. If it was the NCAA tournament, though, Matta said there’s little doubt he would have played.

“When we came back in off the floor, I had a long talk with the trainer, ‘What do you say, we just roll him out there,”’ Matta joked.

William Buford led the Buckeyes with 21 points, 17 coming in the second half. He said playing without Sullinger is a tremendous change because he’s the best big man in the country.

“When you’re missing out on that, you’re going to have difficulties and have to make some adjustments,” Buford said.

Kansas wanted Sullinger to play.

“I don’t think you put an asterisk with the win,” Self said. “Ohio State can certainly say, and rightfully so, Jared didn’t play. And we know he didn’t play, and they’re a much better team with him. But just because he plays doesn’t guarantee anything.”

Thomas Robinson scored 21 points and Elijah Johnson added 15 for Kansas, which led for all but 23 seconds. Coming into Lawrence, Ohio State had trailed for 19 minutes, 34 seconds all season, and led the entire way in its victory over Duke.

Newcomer forward Kevin Young came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points, and Tyshawn Taylor had nine points and a career-best 13 assists for the Jayhawks (6-2).