#8 Ohio State 76, Purdue 57 (Final)

[BuckeyeR0B]

I'm so happy!!

Now that we've won 3 conference titles in the same year, how 'bout we win 3 national championships next year.

I like the sounds of that

 

[JiMuzik]

Bucky, my favorite part of the speech was: "I asked these guys to help lay the foundation for the future of this program. It looks pretty damned good to me right now."

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

scout.com (free)

3/6/06

Pics of the win and celebration by BN.......great stuff.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

A couple of pics from the game.....

J.J. Sullinger and the Ohio State men’s basketball team had a pretty good day Sunday. Sullinger scored 16 points, including a monstrous second-half dunk (above) as the Buckeyes blitzed Purdue, 76-57, in their regular-season finale.
​

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

PlainDealer

3/6/06

COLLEGE BASKETBALL #9 OHIO ST. 76PURDUE 57
Big Ten title is theirs and theirs alone


Monday, March 06, 2006

Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus -- They snipped the net, hugged coach Thad Matta two and three times, and danced with the student section.

It had been 14 years since Ohio State claimed a Big Ten men's basketball title all to itself, since Randy Ayers and Jim Jackson, and the 2006 Buckeyes, chants in their ears, stiff caps on their heads, savored their moments Sunday.

After their 76-57 win over Purdue left them alone at 12-4 atop what Matta everyday refers to as the best conference in the country, the Buckeyes' four seniors climbed a postgame podium to talk of their title.

J.J. Sullinger grasp ing the golden confer ence trophy. Matt Sylvester hauling around his aching back, fresh off a spinal injection days ago. Je'Kel Foster dragging his 2-for-15 shooting day, hitting just 23.7 percent of his shots the last six games.

Terence Dials, who had been knocked down and out of the game three times, with an ice pack wrapped on his hyperextended left elbow.

The No. 9 team in the country, picked in the bottom half of its own conference before the season, stuck with its recent theme of disrespect.

"No one gave us a chance," Dials said. "People across the country forgot about the Buckeyes."

They should take this as a sign of respect then - dwelling not on the 18th conference title in school history, the 11th to be won outright, but what comes next for a team entering this week's Big Ten Tournament as the No. l seed, with an outside shot at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

"We've kind of flown under the radar a little bit up to this point," said Sullinger, "but you've got to mention Ohio State when you think about [national] contenders."

"I want to enjoy this," Matta said. "Our second season just ended. The first was nonconference, which they went undefeated. The second thing was to win the Big Ten championship, and they got that done. Now we need to take a deep breath.

"But going into the tournament is all about being on a run. You've got to go in there with guns blazing. And I think we can."

The Buckeyes (23-4) commence season three at noon Friday against the winner of Thursday's Northwestern-Penn State game. Dials, who led OSU with 20 points, said his elbow should be fine.

But first comes some needed time off. When Matta pulled his starters, the appearance of neglected backups Sylvester Mayes, Brayden Bell and Samuel Payne illustrated just how much Ohio State leans on its top six players.

"We need some rest," Matta said. "Guys are banged up. We were limping around out there, limping to the finish line."

It showed. The disappearance of their 3-point shooting - 16.7 percent on Sunday, 21.2 percent in the last three games - must be because, at least in part, of tired legs. Yet, Matta wouldn't let the idea of a break linger for long.

"We told them we have to keep the pedal to the floor and find areas we can make improvements in."

Already, they've come long way. Sunday was to be appreciated.
Said Sullinger: "It's a good day to be a Buckeye and better day to be a senior."

And a day to ask how far this season can go.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

[email protected], 216-999-4748

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

3/6/06

NO. 9 OHIO STATE 76 | PURDUE 57

Crowning achievement

Men’s basketball joins OSU women, football as Big Ten champions

Monday, March 06, 2006

Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

NEAL C . LAURON | DISPATCH PHOTOS Ohio State’s Je’Kel Foster relishes the moment during the Big Ten championship trophy presentation in Value City Arena.


If they didn’t see the games Saturday, they surely saw the results.

Duke lost at home in its final game of the regular season. So did Michigan State. So did Michigan.

"I found myself feeling bad for those guys, guys who have had such great careers, then they go and lose on Senior Day," Matt Sylvester said.

Just in case Sylvester was the only member of the Ohio State men’s basketball team on whom it dawned, coach Thad Matta made a point to mention it before the game against Purdue yesterday in Value City Arena.

"He just reminded us of how bad a feeling that must be," Sylvester said. "It really opened our eyes, like, ‘This is a game we have to get.’ "

The Buckeyes awakened slowly but eventually did get it, trophy and all. Four points ahead of the last-place Boilermakers at halftime, OSU started the second half with a 14-2 run. Then it was just a matter of time before the Buckeyes finished off a 76-57 victory and celebrated the program’s first undisputed Big Ten championship in 14 years.

"It was a good day to be a Buckeye," J.J. Sullinger said. "It was an even better day to be a senior."

The victory gives Ohio State Big Ten championships in men’s basketball, women’s basketball and football in the same school year — a conference first.

The seniors — Sullinger, Sylvester, Terence Dials and Je’Kel Foster — made their last game in Value City Arena an afternoon to remember for a sellout crowd, the fourth in a row at home for a team that captured the fans’ fancy by winning eight of their last nine Big Ten games to claim an improbable title.

Ninth-ranked Ohio State (23-4, 12-4), picked in preseason to finish in the middle of the conference, instead finished one game ahead of Illinois and Iowa and claimed the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament this week in Indianapolis. The Buckeyes play at noon Friday against the winner of a firstround game Thursday between Penn State and Northwestern.

"Being the champion of the No. 1 conference in the country (in the Rating Percentage Index) says a lot," Sullinger said. "We should take a lot of pride in that but also know we’ve got a lot more basketball to play and we can’t be content, can’t be satisfied."

Dials led the Buckeyes with 20 points, Sullinger had 16 points and eight rebounds, and Jamar Butler had 15 points and five assists.

Foster continued to struggle with his shot — 2 of 15 from the field, including 1 of 9 behind the three-point arc — but it didn’t matter. He had eight rebounds, five assists and five steals and established an energy level on defense that took the game from Purdue (9-18, 3-13) in the first five minutes of the second half.

"He didn’t shoot the ball well, but he probably played one of the best defensive games I’ve seen him play all year," Matta said. "That becomes contagious."

Purdue had five turnovers on its first seven possessions of the half and a 35-31 Ohio State lead became 49-33. The margin was not less than 12 points after that.

Gary Ware led the Boilermakers with 25 points.

Ohio State, which had clinched a share of the title by winning at Northwestern on Wednesday, won it outright for the first time since 1992 and for only the second time since 1971.

The Buckeyes’ last championship had been in 2002, when it finished in a four-way tie for first place. That was Dials’ freshman year. Since then, he has endured a stress fracture in his back, a losing season, the firing of former coach Jim O’Brien, and the pain of an NCAA investigation that resulted in the university banning the team from the NCAA Tournament last year, when it finished 20-12.

"It’s a joyous moment right now (considering) all the things not just myself but the program have been through," Dials said. "To be back on top of the Big Ten is a special moment."

[email protected]

Monday, March 06, 2006

Monday, March 06, 2006

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Here are some additional pics of the game....

Ohio State head coach Thad Matta, right, is greeted by his father Jim Matta on the court after the Buckeyes beat Purdue to win the Big Ten title during a college basketball game, Sunday, March 5, 2006, in Columbus, Ohio.

Ohio State's Terence Dials celebrates after the Buckeyes beat Purdue, 76-57, during a college basketball game, Sunday, March 5, 2006, in Columbus, Ohio.
(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

Purdue's Gary Ware, front, drives to the basket as Ohio State's Terence Dials, rear, defends during the first half of a college basketball game, Sunday, March 5, 2006, in Columbus, Ohio.
(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

Ohio State's Jamar Butler, center, is fouled as he drives to the basket past Purdue's Matt Kiefer (42) and Gary Ware, right, during the first half of a college basketball game, Sunday, March 5, 2006, in Columbus, Ohio.
(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

Ohio State's Terence Dials shoots over Purdue's Gary Ware (33) during the first half of a college basketball game, Sunday, March 5, 2006, in Columbus, Ohio.
(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

Ohio State's Je'Kel Foster (23) chases down a loose ball in front of Purdue's Chris Lutz (4) during the first half of a college basketball game, Sunday, March 5, 2006, in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State's Ron Lewis (12) looks on in the background.
(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

 

[BuckeyeR0B]

very nice pic's buckeyenuts