Nov. 4, 2009
Opponent: Walsh University
Site: Value City Arena (19,049)
Game Time: 8 p.m. ET
Television: None
Internet: bigtennetwork.com (streamed)
Radio: OSU Radio Network (60 stations)
Local Radio: WBNS FM-97.1 AM-1460
Radio Talent: Paul Keels (P-by-P)
Ron Stokes (Expert Analysis)
Buckeyes Picked 3rd in Big Ten Preseason Media poll
Evan Turner was tabbed a preseason first team All-Big Ten selection by league media at the annual media day in Chicago. Turner is the league's top returning scorer (17 ppg.). He led the Buckeyes in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals as a sophomore last year. Thad Matta's Buckeyes were selected No. 3 in the preseason media poll behind Michigan State and Purdue.
Schedule has Buckeyes playing the nation's best
Ohio State will play five of the preseason Top 10 ranked teams (ESPN/coaches poll) in the country this year. No. 2 Michigan State, No. 4 North Carolina, No. 7 Purdue, No. 9 West Virginia and No. 10 Butler all dot the Ohio State slate in 2009-10. Five Big Ten teams are ranked among the Top 20 with No. 15 Michigan, No. 18 Minnesota, and No. 17 Ohio State all slated among the top teams nationally. Ohio State also will face either No. 12 California or No. 25 Syracuse at the 2K Classic benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer in New York Nov. 20. Illinois is just outside the preseason Top 25 at No. 27.
Seven Former Buckeyes In NBA Rosters in 2009-10
Ohio State leads all Big Ten teams with seven players on current NBA rosters. The Big Ten started the season with 33 players on NBA active lists. Nine Big Ten teams have at least one player competing in the NBA. Michael Redd (Milwaukee Bucks) is the longest tenured Buckeye in the NBA. Greg Oden (Portland), Michael Conley (Memphis), Daequan Cook (Miami), Othello Hunter (Atlanta), Kosta Koufos (Utah) and B.J. Mullens (Oklahoma) represent Ohio State in the NBA.
Big Ten season starts with Buckeyes on the road
Four of the first five games of the Big Ten season will be played away from Value City Arena. The Buckeyes open the league season at Wisconsin Dec. 31 before a trip to Michigan Jan. 3. A home game vs. Indiana Jan. 6 splits road games at Minnesota (Jan. 9) and at Purdue Jan. 12. The Buckeyes face a similar stretch of road games at Indiana Feb. 10, at Illinois Feb. Illinois, home vs. Purdue Feb. 17 and away vs. Michigan State Feb. 20/21 and at Penn State Feb. 24.
Matta adds pair to roster
The Ohio State roster grew by two in late October when Thad Matta added walk-on juniors Eddie Days and Dustin Reynolds. Days is the nephew of Buckeye great Jim Cleamons, a current assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers. Reynolds is the younger brother of former Ohio State women's basketball player DiDi Reynolds. The Buckeyes now have four walk-on players on the roster. Danny Peters is a fifth-year senior and Mark Titus is in his senior campaign as well. Peters will end his career with five varsity letters, one as a manager (2006) and four as a student-athlete (2007-10).
Turner, USA Earn Bronze at World University Games
Junior Evan Turner averaged 4.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and led Team USA with 18 assists at the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia. The United States finished with a 6-1 record at the early-July event with Turner making three starts and averaging 16.3 minutes a game. He connected on 52 percent of his shots (12-23) and 4 of 5 free throws.
Buckeyes Return Veteran Squad in 2009-10
Accustomed to starting over virtually from scratch each of the last four seasons, Thad Matta, head coach of the Buckeyes, returns all five starters from a 22-11 squad in 2008-09. In addition to the five regulars that finished the season with an appearance in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, the Buckeyes also return senior Jeremie Simmons, who started 25 of 33 games last year, and junior David Lighty, who started the first seven games of the season before suffering a broken foot. Lighty, who started all 37 games as a true sophomore, received a medical-redshirt, and will have two full seasons of eligibility remaining with the Buckeyes. Leading the returning starters are juniors Evan Turner (33 starts last year), Jon Diebler (33 gs) and Dallas Lauderdale (31 gs). Sophomore William Buford (25) and senior P.J. Hill, who started the last eight games of the season, also return.
Turner Among Candidates for Preseason Honors
Evan Turner led Ohio State and the Big Ten in scoring last season with an average of 17.3 points a game. He was No. 3 in rebounding as well with 7.1 and was among the Top 10 league players in steals (4th/1.8 spg.) and assists (8th/3.97). He was a finalist for Big Ten Player of the Year honors a season ago and will be among the favorites entering his junior season. His name also will garner All-America consideration after earning a spot among the Top 15 finalists for the 2009 Oscar Robertson Award, given annually by the United States Basketball Writer's Association to the player of the year in college basketball.
Diebler Among Big Ten, Nation's Top Shooters
Jon Diebler, the all-time leading scorer in Ohio High School history, started slow in the college game from behind the arc, where he made a name for himself as a prep at Upper Sandusky High School. After shooting 29 percent from long range as a rookie (48-166), Diebler responded with a breakout sophomore season. He knocked down 96 of 231 treys for 41.6 percent accuracy. That effort was second in the Big Ten for makes and is the second-most single season 3s made in Ohio State history. He already is ninth all-time at Ohio State in 3s made in a career (144) and his eight 3s made at Northwestern last year rates No. 2 in Ohio State's record book for 3s made in a game.
Buford Excels as Rookie, Improvement Expected
William Buford was selected as the Big Ten's 2009 Freshman of the Year and a member of the league's all-freshman team. He averaged 11.3 points a game, second on the team, and demonstrated an all-around offensive game throughout his rookie campaign. Student-athletes who play for Matta typically make significant improvement between their freshman and sophomore seasons, which has the Buckeye basketball staff excited about Buford's game in 2009-10.
Lauderdale, Sarikopoulos Man the Middle for Buckeyes
Junior Dallas Lauderdale returns to the paint for Ohio State after sharing time with B.J. Mullens, a 2009 NBA First Round draft pick (24th overall pick) of the Dallas Mavericks. Mullens, later traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder, marks the fifth Buckeye first-round pick under Matta and sixth overall NBA player since taking over in 2004-05.
Lauderdale continues to improve physically and defensively. He was among the nation's top shot blockers last season, rejecting 67 shots to finish No. 2 in the Big Ten with an average of 2.03 blocks per game. Sarikopoulos, a transfer from UAB who sat out the 2008-09 season at Ohio State to satisfy NCAA transfer rules, becomes eligible this season. He adds size (7-0, 265), rebounding and post-passing skills to the Ohio State big man rotation.
Sarikopoulos played sparingly during the U19 World Championships for his native Greece. A left-knee sprain hampered his playing time during the event. He averaged 1.3 points and 0.7 rebounds as the United States defeated Greece 88-80 to claim gold. The event was held in Auckland, New Zealand in early July. Sarikopoulos played 11 minutes in the title game, scoring two points and collecting two rebounds.
Where to Point?
The point guard position rotated between Jeremie Simmons and P.J. Hill a season ago with Simmons starting the first 25 games and Hill the final eight. Simmons moved over to provide minutes at the No. 2 guard spot, his natural position, down the stretch. Evan Turner also could see some time directing traffic. He handed out 97 assists last season to lead the Buckeyes in that category while also recording 58 thefts at the defensive end.
A Summer in Canada
With nearly the entire roster returning from the 2008-09 season, Matta and the Buckeyes planned a preseason international trip to Canada. The excursion allows the Buckeyes 10 practices and a few competitions before the official start of practice Oct. 16. The Buckeyes will play three games between Aug. 27-31 in Canada vs. teams from the Windsor area. Ohio State last left the country for competition during the summer of 2001 when the squad traveled to Italy, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands.
New York, Morgantown, Indianapolis also on Travel List
The Buckeyes will again travel to New York for a pair of games in the 2009 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. After a pair of home games in Columbus vs. Florida International (Nov. 9) and James Madison (Nov. 12), the Buckeyes head to Madison Square Garden for two games Nov. 19-20 vs. North Carolina and either California or Syracuse.
Ohio State completes a home-and-home series with West Virginia in January and the final game of the four-game home-and-home series vs. Butler will take place at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the Bulldog campus in December. The 18-game Big Ten schedule features home-and-home matchups with eight teams and single matchups vs. Northwestern (home) and Michigan State (away). Big Ten legend Isiah Thomas makes his collegiate head coaching debut at FIU in the season opener vs. the Buckeyes.
Can You Spot Matta a 20?
For each of the last nine seasons, all as a head coach, Thad Matta has guided teams to at least 20 victories. Only Mark Few, among active coaches, has more consecutive 20-win seasons to start a career (10). Matta set the Ohio State record for consecutive 20-win campaigns last year with a 22-11 record, the fifth-consecutive Ohio State season with 20+ victories. The previous record was four held by the 1960-63 teams under legendary head coach Fred Taylor.
Matta also has won at least 10 Big Ten regular-season games in each of the last four seasons. A fifth double-digit effort in the win column in 2010 would tie Taylor's mark of 10+ league wins in each of the seasons from 1960-64. Those were during 14-game regular-season slates. The Big Ten played a 16-game schedule in Matta's first three seasons (8, 12, 15 league wins) and an 18-game schedule the last two (10, 10).
Speaking of Consistent #s...
Ohio State was again one of the top draws in college basketball in 2008-09. The Buckeyes drew nearly 280,000 fans to home games last season to rate No. 14 nationally in home attendance. The Buckeyes have been among the Top 20 in home attendance in each of the last 11 years, all while playing at the Jerome Schottenstein Center (19,049). Ohio State games both home and on the road drew 477,000 fans last year, No. 16 nationally. The Buckeyes have been a Top 20 draw nationally in 10 of the last 11 years and led the nation in all-game attendance in 2007. The Big Ten led the nation in attendance for the 33rd-consecutive season in 2008-09. An average of 12,519 fans attended 193 Big Ten games a season ago.
Boals Joins Staff
Matta added Jeff Boals to the staff after the departure of assistant coach Archie Miller, who left to coach alongside his brother Sean, the new University of Arizona head coach. Boals, a 1995 graduate of Ohio University, left Akron to join the Buckeyes. His tenacity as a player with the Bobcats is expected to transfer to the Ohio State roster, especially the post players.
The Next to 1,000...
Evan Turner has scored 885 points over 70 Ohio State games in his career for an average of 12.6 points a game. He needs 115 to become the 44th player in Ohio State history to reach 1,000 career points. Two others on the current roster are on pace to reach 1,000 points. Junior David Lighty has 544 career points over 83 career games. Jon Diebler has 587 points in his two seasons at Ohio State. William Buford is well on his way as well (372).
