POSTGAME NOTES No. 2 Ohio State (29-7) 73, No. 7 Gonzaga (26-7) 66 March 17, 2012 Consol Energy Center – Pittsburgh, Pa.
Team
This is the fourth-consecutive season Ohio State has participated in the NCAA tournament.
The win marked the third season in a row Ohio State has won its second game in the tournament.
The game vs. Gonzaga was the first ever between the two schools.
Mark Few and Thad Matta are the only two active coaches in Division I that have had at least 20 wins in each season they have been head coach.
The Buckeyes are now 7-5 vs. schools from the West Coast Conference (WCC).
The 29 wins this season are tied the third most in Ohio State history (35 in 2006-07, 34 in 2010-11 and 29 in 2009-10).
Against the East Regional Bracket, Ohio State is now 121-84.
Against the tournament field, Ohio State is now 553-486.
Ohio State is participating in its 24th NCAA tournament.
Ohio State is 43-22 all-time in NCAA tournament play.
As a ranked team, Ohio State is 424-116 overall and when ranked in the AP Top 10, the Buckeyes are 303-66.
As the Associated Press No. 7 team, Ohio State is 29-9 overall.
The Buckeyes move to 22-1 this season and 181-21 all-time vs. unranked opponents under Matta.
Ohio State has had a player record a double-double in 843 games. The Buckeyes are 582-261 in those contests. Aaron Craft (17 points, 10 assists) had his first career double-double in the game vs. Gonzaga.
This is the 298th-consecutive game Ohio State has made at least one 3-point field goal (1/10/04 vs. Penn State was the last game with zero made).
The starting lineup of Buford, Craft, Smith, Jr., Sullinger and Thomas is 27-6 this season.
Ohio State has three players score at least 500 points in a season for the first time in team history. (Sullinger – 592, Thomas – 572, Buford – 530).
The start was Buford’s 134th donning the Scarlet and Gray, the most by any Buckeye in history.
Buford has been a part of 114 of Coach Matta’s 219 career wins at Ohio State.
The game is the 142nd that Buford has played in, which is third all-time at Ohio State in games played.
Buford has been a part of 114 wins at Ohio State, which is second all-time by senior class.
Buford is just the fourth Buckeye in recorded history to reach 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists. Buford’s current totals are 1,954/645/357.
Buford scored 13 points for the Buckeyes, improving his career total to 1,954, 36 behind Jerry Lucas (1,990) for third place in Ohio State history.
Buford had five rebounds to push his career total to 645. He is one of 17 former Buckeyes in the prestigious 1,500 point and 500 rebound club.
Buford became the fifth player in Ohio State history to join the 400 (made field goals) and 4,000 (minutes played) Club. After the Gonzaga game, Buford has now tallied 734 made field goals and 4,623 minutes played in 142 career games (J. Diebler, D. Lighty, J. Butler and H. Williams are the other Buckeyes to achieve this feat).
Buford had one assists in the game for a career total of 357.
With four made field goals, Buford now has 734 for his career, the fifth most in Ohio State history.
Sullinger had 18 points for the Buckeyes. It is the 31st time this season and 64th time in his career he has scored in double figures. He has 594 points this season.
With 18 points, Sullinger added to his 1,000 point club total (1,227). He is one of seven total players in Ohio State history to score at 1,000 or more points in two years.
Sullinger had four rebounds to push his career total to 688. That is good for 15th place all-time in Ohio State history.
Sullinger passed John Havlicek (1,223) for 31st place in Ohio State career scoring.
Sullinger needs eight points to have back-to-back 600 point seasons.
Deshaun Thomas finished with 18 points. It is the 43rd time in his career he has scored in double figures and 32nd time this season. He now has 850 points in his two-year career.
Thomas has scored in double figures in 32 of the Buckeyes 36 games this season.
Craft tied a season high with 17 points (Duke, 11/29/11). He now has 574 in his career.
Craft had a season high 10 assists to push his season total to 169 and his career total to 346.
With 17 points and 10 assists, Craft earned his first career double-double.
Craft had three steals. He has 161 for his career. He has had at least one steal in 34 of 36 games this season.
Craft’s season total of 88 thefts is the most all-time in a single season (Mike Conley, Jr. – 87 in 2007). Craft is just the second Buckeye to reach 80 steals in a single season.
