My apologies for not being around to preview this game. As I said, I'm traveling for the holidays, and I just never got a chance to get up a post about it.
And maybe that was for the best. While I could have written about my hopes that we might put up a fight against the second-ranked Buckeyes, what happened was what was to be expected: we got manhandled by a superior team, 79-57. Unlike the Michigan St. game, this one was never really close, with Ohio St. building a sizeable lead by the mid-point in the first half and never looking back. Jared Sullinger lead the way for OSU with 30 points, while Sam Muldrow lead Carolina with 14.
A few quick thoughts on the game. I note that I didn't watch the game, so these are based mainly on reading on the box score and watching some highlights.
- Scanning the box score, two individual lines jump out at you: Sullinger scored 30 points on 10-17 FG shooting and a solid night at the FT line, while Bruce Ellington scored six points on 3-15 FG shooting and 0-5 from beyond the arc. OSU's star stepped up for the Bucks and delivered a huge game, while Ellington had a bad night in front of the hostile Columbus crowd. We needed our star to get hot to keep this game close. It didn't happen. Ellington will learn from it, though, and have tougher nerves next time.
- Sullinger's dominance deserves a couple more comments. I had hoped that the Wofford performance indicated that we were ready to step it up a bit on the front line, but that's apparently not the case, or least not against elite competition. Sullinger dominated us, and other than Muldrow, none of our big men returned the favor. Developing the guys we have and / or recruiting a top-flight big man needs to be priority numero uno for Horn.
That's a wrap on this one. Next up is Furman.