OSU begins quest for title tonight

By Bob Baptist

The Columbus Dispatch

PITTSBURGH

Less than three weeks ago, Ohio State’s February flop from national championship contender to Big Ten also-ran was almost complete.

An unsightly final minute against Wisconsin saddled the Buckeyes with their third loss in five games, and their second in a row at home after they had won 39 in a row.

Their hopes of winning a third straight conference championship hung by a net cord. They trailed first-place Michigan State by two games with two to play.

“We weren’t together for the whole 40 minutes,” guard William Buford lamented after the loss. “Sometimes we went off on our own, doing our own thing.”

That seemed destined to be the epitaph on Ohio State’s season.

And then everything changed.

“It definitely wasn’t as easy as flipping a switch,” coach Thad Matta said.

Maybe not. But the lights seem to have come on for the Buckeyes as they begin their quest for an NCAA championship tonight with renewed confidence.

Ohio State (27-7), the No. 2 seed in the East Regional, plays 15th-seeded Loyola (Md.) in a second-round game in the Consol Energy Center. The winner advances to play Gonzaga or West Virginia on Saturday for a spot in the Sweet 16 next week in Boston.

Wins at Northwestern and Michigan State in the final week of the regular season netted the Buckeyes a share of the Big Ten title. Wins over Purdue and Michigan last week put them in the Big Ten tournament championship game for the fourth consecutive year. A hard-fought loss to Michigan State in the final did not discourage them for long.

“We were all upset and frustrated — but we had to move on,” guard Aaron Craft said. “I think we did a great job of learning from [the loss] and coming out with the same fire and intensity in practice, understanding that the way we practice is the way we play.”

Center Jared Sullinger said practices before the Big Ten tournament were the team’s best of the season. Craft said this week’s were good, too.

“Hopefully it carries over,” he said.

Matta said the improved performance might be due to the Buckeyes being “thrust into a position where our backs were definitely against a wall.”

“Maybe [the players] had a better understanding of the little things we needed to do to win basketball games at that particular juncture,” he said.