The #8 Ohio State Buckeyes (21-4, 10-4)
at
The Northwestern Wildcats (13-13, 5-9)
_____
Wednesday, March 1 - 8:00 p.m.
<p><img align=right width=180 height=180 src="http://www.buckeyeplanet.com/gallery/files/3/transnorthwestern3ss.gif">NORTHWESTERN -
Official Site of Northwestern Athletics - I'm not going to artificially aggrandize this game.
Clash of the Titans it is not. However, the Wildcats proved to us two Saturdays ago that they reserve the right to bust us up if we don't come to play. I mentioned in my comments prior to the rousing win in East Lansing that the team, at least against Northwestern, seemed to have lost its swagger. Double digit victories against the two schools from that state up north and the emergence/resurgence of Terence Dials would suggest that said swagger is back. As a fan, I look at the final two regular season games and (assuming we catch the one seed in the B10 Tourney) our first game in the conference tournament, and I have a difficult time retaining that intensity/excitement that came so easily in the marquee match-ups. The good news, of course, is that the people who matter (the players and coaches) should have little to no trouble getting cranked for the stretch run. This is a road game after all, and if Iowa and Wisconsin can lose in Evanston, then I'm betting we could find a way too, if we tried hard enough. Our first taste of an outright lead in the conference should provide proper motivation to get us through the next ten days or so, just in case the first game vs. Northwestern didn't [censored] us off enough. Carmody's defensive schemes and the hustle of a couple key players gave us fits that day, and the absence of Matt Sylvester exposed the rest of the team's inability to get the ball in to Dials (something they did a much better job of versus Michigan). Sylvester, as I understand it, is going to gut out these last two games before receiving some more serious treatment leading up to tournament time, and his presence Wednesday night should prove plenty valuable. Now, a lot of people have been saying that this one has 'trap game' written all over it, and I'm not saying it shouldn't. Even so, I imagine you'd have to wake up pretty early in the morning (like, say, last Thursday) to pull one over on Thad Matta. Frankly, I think if the 'Cats were going to steal one from us, February 18th was their chance. I expect our guys to stomp into Welsh-Ryan Arena tomorrow night and put on a clinic. Now, the Northwestern players:
<p><img align=left width=75 height=105 src="http://www.buckeyeplanet.com/gallery/files/3/NU_vukusic.jpeg" border="1" Hspace="12" Vspace="1">Vedran Vukusic has spent pretty much the entire season leading the Big Ten in scoring (19.6 ppg going into tomorrow's game). It's true that many of those points came during a soft-as-pie non-conference run (the highlight of which was probably a mini-tournament match-up against UNC-Charlotte), but the guy's talent is irrefutable. His 15 points at Penn State put him at 1,538 for his career, making the 1600 mark very attainable--a number that not a great deal of players reach. While he doesn't do just a ton of things for you (his rebounding and block numbers are pretty low for a guy who's 6'8", 245), what he does do he does very well. In Northwestern's key win over Iowa, Vedran was 9-16 for 26 points, including 5-9 from three point range. To that he added eight boards, three blocks and a pair of steals. The guy will have off nights, like everyone else (see his 1-14 performance vs. Illinois), but he remains their biggest weapon on offense.
Vukusic's line in Game 1: 36 min, 8-18 FG, 1-7 3PT, 17 pts, 6 reb, 3 blk, 5 TOs
<p><img align=left width=75 height=105 src="http://www.buckeyeplanet.com/gallery/files/3/NU_hachad.jpeg" border="1" Hspace="12" Vspace="1">Mohamed Hachad, a native of Montreal, is having a solid senior campaign. You'll probably remember him as the guy that had something like twelve unchallenged break-away layups against us in the second half of Game 1. At 6'4" and 200 pounds, he's pretty athletic and plays a bit bigger than his size. The most notable improvement #14 has made is his offensive efficiency. Just a 43.7% shooter coming into this season, Hachad's field goal percentage has taken the biggest jump of his career, going from 48% a year ago to 55.3% in '05-'06. It's easy to overlook a guy like this (and I think we did) when he plays for a team that is a perennial conference cupcake. Despite Northwestern's woes, however, he has proven multiple times this year that he is capable of stepping up and leading his team to big wins. Just five days ago, Hachad poured in a career-high 25 points, going 11-17 from the floor, and was absolutely clutch down the stretch on NU's way to taking down the now 25th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers. Now, he did follow that up with a 6 point, 6 rebound, 5 turnover performance against Penn State--a game they lost by 13 points. But against us...
Hachad's line in Game 1: 36 min, 9-15 FG, 19 pts, 9 reb, 2 stl, 1 TO
#0, junior guard Tim Doyle (6-5, 215) and #20, freshman guard Craig Moore (6-4, 185) are the remaining regulars for Carmody's squad. Doyle, who looks about as much like a Division I basketball player as I do like a snapping turtle, is reasonably proficient as NU's lead guard. He's one of nine guys in the conference averaging four assists or more per game, and his 8.3 points per game are good for third on the team. Craig Moore had five double-digit scoring outings to his credit, though his oh-fer in the PSU loss opened the door for Evan Seacat to step up and make a play for a spot in the lineup. Seacat has actually started three games this season, and the fact that he scored just one fewer point (18) in his last game than he had the other fifteen games in which he played may be reason enough to give the senior guard some increased burn down the stretch. We'll likely see some more of junior forward Bernard Cote (6-8, 230) and senior walk-on guard Michael Jenkins (5-9, 180), mostly because playing four-on-five just isn't smart basketball.
There's no doubt that this team had me sweating bullets in the Schott, picturing horrific headlines that read, "Shocker!" and "Bucks Finally Crumble." But we took their best shot on the chin, manned up and pulled that win out in the end. They played us tough, I can't deny that. But there were times - and I'm not talking just a few - when I looked at them and found it difficult to believe that they were a major conference college basketball team. I give Bill Carmody all due credit for bamboozling us with that 1-3-1 zone, and I definitely like the hustle of Hachad paired up with the versatile scoring of Vukusic. That said, we have proven ourselves on the road before, and we have earned every bit of our #8/9 national rank. As much as any game against an opponent like Northwestern can be, this one is an opportunity to make yet another important statement. I want to win, and do so convincingly. To show the nation that we have no Achilles' Heel, that we cannot be beaten by gimmicks, and that we cannot be out-hustled. On to Evanston.
Projected starters:
Ohio State
F - Matt Sylvester
F - Terence Dials
G - J.J. Sullinger
G - Je'Kel Foster
G - Jamar Butler
Northwestern
F - Bernard Cote
F - Vedran Vukusic
G - Mohamed Hachad
G - Evan Seacat
G - Tim Doyle
My prediction:
OSU 73 - NU 59
Up next, Senior Day and the regular season closer, Purdue...
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