Dallas Lauderdale said the Buckeyes have lacked intensity at the start of the second half, and that not letting it happen again was at the root of their 11-2 run after Minnesota had closed within five points in the first 63 seconds of the second half.
"We always come out and give a team hope and give a team time to get back in the game," he said. "We didn?t want to do that today, so we just came out strong."
Lauderdale scored eight of his 10 points in the first four minutes of the second half as Minnesota went with man-to-man defense after its zone had held Ohio State to 10 points the last eight minutes of the first half.
Smith didn't say why he chose to open with man-to-man -- only why he did not revert to the zone after he did.
"We made some bad decisions about when to trap and when we were trying to switch," he said. "Then when you get behind, it?s hard to go to the zone. They went on a run there . . . then you're in retreat mode."
The switches the Gophers messed up gave Lauderdale his scoring opportunities.
"It looked like he got behind the defense there and guys did a pretty good job getting inside and finding him there," Matta said.
