Photo: Associated Press

After all the Buckeyes had been through in the last two days, including a buzzer-beater from 40 feet by Evan Turner to beat Michigan and a gusty, surviving performance against Illinois that took 2 overtimes, they seem determined and focused to finish the job against the sixth-seed Minnesota, who had taken down Michigan State and Purdue on back-to-back days. Evan Turner was once again brilliant, but it was David Lighty and Jon Diebler that helped the Bucks run away with a big lead in the second half, outscore the Gophers 57-31, and clinch the Big Ten conference tournament championship, their third since the Big Ten started the conference tourney in 1998. It set up the Buckeyes for a number 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Slow start for both: This game resembled the Big Ten style early as both teams kept the score low. Minnesota had a five and a half minute scoring drought after their first basket of the game, while the Bucks hit just 1 of their first 8 shots. The turnovers were occurring at a record pace for both teams at the outset, with each team having six in the first ten minutes. The Buckeyes had each of their starters pick up a foul in the first ten minutes, and Dallas Lauderdale picked up foul number two at the 7:03 mark, causing him to sit the rest of the half.

Crashing the boards: Ohio State hit the glass hard from the outset against the large frontcourt of Colton Iverson (6'10") and Ralph Sampson III (6'11") for Minnesota. The Bucks won the rebounding margin 33-22, and they rebounded 9 of their 24 misses on the offensive end. The bigs (Madsen and Lauderdale) combined for 7 rebounds, but the key to the Buckeyes' success is their guard rebounding with their four-guard lineup. Evan Turner led the team with 12, and David Lighty had 8 boards. William Buford had only 3, but his rebounding has been very strong all season long. Against bigger teams from here on out, the Bucks will have some issues, but they can help equalize those with strong guard rebounding.

Halftime stats: Things were pretty even at the break, with the Buckeyes holding just a three point lead after a buzzer-beating three by the Gophers' Devoe Joseph. The teams each had 15 boards and 6 assists, but the Bucks shot 48% compared to Minnesota's 39%. Diebler had 10 at the break to lead the Bucks, followed by Evan Turner with 9 and 8 boards. For Minnesota, Lawrence Westbrook posted 9 points on 3-of-7 shooting.

Stretching it out, then closing it up: Ohio State came out of the gate at halftime with an 8-0 start to increase their lead to 11, but Minnesota quickly answered with a 10-1 stretch of their own off two Damian Johnson layups and another Joseph three followed by a three from Devron Bostick. That made it 42-40 OSU with 13:42 to go in the game, and that proved to be as close as Minnesota would get for the rest of the afternoon. From that point on, Ohio State could barely miss.

Mr. End-to-end(-to-end-to-end): David Lighty pulled off one of the more impressive spurts of basketball that I've seen in the college game in a while when he pulled down two straight rebounds and took them both coast-to-coast for a tough layup in transition. That's right rebound, layup, rebound, layup in a span of about 22 seconds. Add in his two point jumper on the next possession and he had 6 points in a 42 second span. The fourth-year junior had 14 points in the second half and 20 on the game. He added 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1 steal to his effort. Lighty has the experience of going deep into the tourney, and that's something the Buckeyes missed on the floor last year in their first-round loss to Siena in the 8-9 game. He's also a gigantic X-factor for this team. When he plays well on both ends like he did today, the Buckeyes are that much more difficult to play. Diebler's shot can falter from time to time, and Buford can disappear for stretches, but Lighty can give a consistent effort when called upon throughout a tournament setting.

Making their move: Lighty started it, but the rest of the team continued the run that split this game wide open. Over the last 13 minutes of the game, the Buckeyes made a stunning 18-of-20 shots for 90%. This is the type of offensive firepower the Bucks, who shoot over 49% as a team on the season, are capable of for stints. Evan Turner had 22 in the second half, and Lighty had 14 as mentioned before. Also, Diebler hit three second-half triples to boost his point total to 19, including 5-of-11 on three pointers.  Combined with their ability to create defensive pressure, this is the type of team that absolutely nobody should want to matchup against over the next few weeks.

Unnecessary temper: One hiccup the Bucks had in the second half was after a couple of quick team fouls when sophomore William Buford was barking a little too much for his own good. Official Ed Hightower humorously told Buford, as seen on CBS's replay, "You better shut your mouth before I shut it for you." William didn't, and Hightower gave him a technical, his second foul in a matter of moments. It was his fourth foul, but by that point, the Buckeyes pretty much had things wrapped up. Buford's behavior, ability to disappear offensively, and immaturity could be the downfall of this team. There is no doubting Buford's talent, but sometimes he does too much yapping for his own good. It's up to Turner and Lighty to keep him in control and allow him to flourish as the second or third option on this team.

Game ball goes to: David Lighty, Evan Turner, and Jon Diebler. These three accounted for 45 of the team's 57 points in the second half. Turner had 31 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 blocks with 12-of-18 shooting. Lighty had 20 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1 steal. Diebler hit 5-of-11 threes on his way to 19 points, 2 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal. All three played 39 of the 40 minutes in the game. The final minute total for the four Buckeye guards in the last three days, you ask (out of a possible 130)? Buford (129), Lighty (129), Turner (128), and Diebler (119).

Team Grade: A

Ohio State shot 58% including an unbelievable 90% in the last 13 minutes. They hit 12-of-22 threes, and won the battle of the boards 33-22. They had only 10 turnovers, including just 4 in the final thirty minutes. This was an all-around strong team effort in blowing away one of the hottest teams out there.

What next? How about a #2 seed in the Midwest region, where they will take on the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, who are 20-9. The downer is that the Buckeyes ended up in the flatout toughest regional with top overall seed Kansas in their way to the Final Four along with third-seed Georgetown and fourth-seeded Maryland, who won the regular season ACC with Duke. After their first game, the tourney committee did them no favors, but it's up to them. This team has the talent to make a deep tournament run and beat the most talented team in the Jayhawks in a one-game scenario. After all, they've got the best player in the tourney.

Let's go dancing, Bucks!

Kirk

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