Last fall, a green Ohio State men’s basketball team featuring lots of newcomers unveiled itself in an exhibition with Ashland and the Buckeyes showed some of their inexperience as well as a measure of promise in an 88-59 blowout win.
It was the second tune-up, however, that made more of an impression.
On Nov. 6, 2007, OSU suffered a somewhat embarrassing 70-68 defeat at the hands of another in-state foe from the lower level – Findlay – and it could be argued the Buckeyes spent the next several months looking for an identity.
Coincidentally or not the OSU coaches have scheduled only one public exhibition game prior to this season and that dress rehearsal will arrive just after 7 p.m. tomorrow at Value City Arena when tiny Walsh University steps onto the court to face off with the Buckeyes. The game is not close to a sellout and will not be broadcast on television (it can be found streamed on line on bigtennetwork.com and www.wcer.us) but could be interesting to say the least.
The Buckeyes scrimmaged against MAC power Miami of Ohio on. Nov. 2 in Oxford and by all accounts the players have reason to be grateful that warm-up was staged with no bright lights, no cameras, no fans and no reporters. OSU was outclassed by the RedHawks not unlike the slip up against Division II Findlay.
OSU could be in for another eye-opener against Walsh, which actually already has a 2-0 record on the regular season and recently took Akron to the wire in an exhibition, losing 83-81.
“I think it’s kind of similar to last year as far as how young we were and how much talent we had but we really didn’t know how to use it,” OSU sophomore guard Evan Turner said of the impending showcase with the Cavaliers. “Our freshmen are still learning and new players are still learning how to play hard on every possession and how to come focused every single day, and I think the exhibition game will serve us well and show us how high the competition level is.
“You guys talk about upsets that have occurred but I think it just shows how much more talented the collegiate level has gotten. And it’s not about what players you have, it’s about how you use those players and how hard they play. Walsh is coming in here trying to beat us. If they beat us they won’t think it’s an upset. If we beat them, we won’t think it’s an upset. You’ve got to be mentally ready and mentally tough, and I think whoever does that is going to win tomorrow.”
A 6-7 off-guard, Turner is one of six returnees to an OSU squad that claimed the NIT title, posted a 24-13 record and waved goodbye to seniors Jamar Butler, Othello Hunter and Matt Terwilliger; freshman Kosta Koufos, who bolted for the NBA draft; and freshman Eric Wallace, who also left for greener pastures by transferring to DePaul in search of more playing time.
Along with Turner, OSU now features six veterans in fellow sophomores Jon Diebler and Dallas Lauderdale and juniors David Lighty, P.J. Hill and Kyle Madsen. The six newcomers eligible to play this season are freshmen B.J. Mullens, William Buford, Anthony “Noopy” Crater and Walter Offutt and JUCO transfers Jeremie Simmons and Nikola Kecman, although Kecman has been suspended for the first 12 games of the regular season due to his time on a semi-professional team overseas. The roster also includes 7-foot transfer Zisis Sarikopoulos, who has to sit out this season, and walk-ons Mark Titus, Danny Peters and J.J. Grycko.
A product of Chicago, Turner now finds himself lending advice to newcomers just one year after the game with Findlay that served as his baptism into college basketball.
“I had no clue, to tell you the truth,” he admitted when asked about that fateful exhibition. “I really had no clue at all. Findlay, they really came in and competed and showed they can play. You can’t take anything from that. They played hard and they made us look like little kids at certain points by how they physically out-toughed us. They kind of taught us a lesson. It was a good wake-up call early.”
Added Diebler, a 6-6 guard who arrived from Upper Sandusky last year a prep phenom and the state’s all-time leading scorer, “I was kind of the same as Evan, although I’m sure he didn’t know much about Findlay not being from Ohio. I knew a couple guys on the team. Every team that we play, especially the in-state teams, are going to come after us because we’re the biggest school in the state. I think our mind-set this year is a lot different from last year.
“Us three up here (him, Turner and Lighty) and Dallas and the guys that have come back from last year have kind of already set the stage for the newcomers that this is a big game. Walsh is going to come in here and we know that they are going to play extremely hard and come ready to play. We have to bring a proper mind-set like this is a game against Michigan State or Purdue.”
Lighty said he also is trying to convey the message to the newbies.
“Most of them probably never heard of (Walsh) before,” he said. “That’s something that we’re working on right now, trying to make sure that everyone knows that every game is a big game.”
Ranked No. 11 in NAIA, Walsh recorded back-to-back road wins at the University of Maine this past weekend. The Cavs lost 87-62 to OSU in an exhibition two years ago but that Buckeye team went on to play in the Division I national championship game. Plus, Walsh has even more firepower it would appear.
It opened the season with an 83-52 win over the University of Maine-Fort Kent on Saturday. Sophomore Lamar Skeeter, a 6-0 guard from Kettering, Ohio, led the Cavs with 24 points, hitting 8 of 10 shots from the floor, including 3 of 3 from three-point range. He also grabbed six rebounds, handed out three assists and had three steals.
Skeeter had 25 points in the two-point loss at Akron and 6-10 Kyelce Cescato added 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Sophomore point guard Jeremy Shardo hinted at his ability to run the offense with 12 points, 10 assists and only one turnover.
Walsh also ripped St. Thomas College 111-56 win on Sunday. Shardo had 17 points in that contest.
But why are tiny schools such as Walsh able to scare the dickens out of major programs like Ohio State?
“No. 1, the level of team that we’re playing is pretty good,” OSU head coach Thad Matta said. “Obviously coaching in Ohio I’ve known Jeff Young for a while now and he does a tremendous job. The other factor is a team like Walsh comes in here with absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain. They’ve played three games and a scrimmage so they are well advanced where we’re … honestly I hope the layup lines go well tomorrow night before the game starts.”
Entering his fifth season at Ohio State, Matta was asked what his goal is for the game. His answer was filled with question marks.
“There’s so many things I want to see them do,” he said. “I guess an overview of that would be how we execute both offensively and defensively. Do we play together? Do we play off of each other? How hard do we play? How do we handle adversity? Are we able to have some resiliency to us? Walsh is a very good basketball team. If they hit six or eight points (in a row) on us, where do we go from there? Who takes charge at that point and says, ‘This is what we need’? Those are the things I’d like to see – and just guys doing what they are supposed to do.”
Now the most experienced member of the team by far, the 6-5 Lighty was asked if he believes the exhibition is more about forming a style of play or simply finding the best combinations on the floor and competing.
“I think it’s a little bit of both because you want to stay within your offense but you also have to work on things and find things that will work for the team better,” he said.
“It would be nice to find (an identity) early but I don’t think it’s a big thing if we don’t have one early. Just going out there and playing hard should be our identity right now.”
Perhaps OSU’s most impressive player in preseason camp, the 6-8 Lauderdale, will not suit up. He slightly separated his left shoulder in the scrimmage against Miami and is not yet cleared to play.
“Dallas has probably done the best job I’ve ever seen of being injured and staying involved,” Matta said. “I mean he’s been tremendous, from his cardio work to film sessions to the weight room to shooting – it’s his left shoulder, so he can shoot – all those things.”
Matta is able to play Kecman but said he’s not sure if he will do that, most likely since the team is trying to get ready for the Nov. 20 opener with Delaware State and will not be able to play Kecman in a regular-season game until Jan. 6.
That most likely paves the way for Lighty logging a lot of time at power forward with the 7-0 Mullens expected to open at center.
“I’ll probably play a lot of it tomorrow because we don’t have a four right now,” Lighty said. “I’m used to it. I played the four some my freshman year. I started the first seven games of my career at the four. It’s nothing new to me. I’m just going out there to play.
“It’s not like I’m a big man down there trying to post up all the time and things like that. I’m still out there on the wing and using my strengths and my skills.”
Turner and Diebler are favored to be in the starting lineup at the wing positions while point guard is a toss-up right now. Simmons and Crater, both in the 6-2 range, should duke it out for the majority of playing time with Hill mixing into the equation.
Matta said all three will view for time up top.
“Jeremie has a little bit more experience from the standpoint of two years of junior college, two national championships, but I’ll be interested to see how they all do,” he said.
Matta said he will give his guards free reign to run the fast break when available.
“I want to play Ohio State basketball and obviously get the ball moving and get it up and down the floor as much as we can,” he said. “Walsh is averaging over 90 points a game. They had 81 on Akron so obviously they are a team that will get up and down.
“I think the big thing is taking good shots and taking care of the ball.”
Added Lighty, “It’s game time now, and every game we need to go 100 percent.”
