Ohio State Men's Basketball: Fun at No. 1: Buckeyes Pound Iowa

1 - 19 - 11     vs. Iowa     W, 70-48     19 - 0


     A number 1 ranking can often cause a team to stumble, but Ohio State had no such problems in its easy win over Iowa.  The Buckeyes raced out to a 40-23 halftime lead and never let the Hawkeyes sniff a comeback in the 2nd half. 

     David Lighty led the way with a game-high 18 points, 10 of which came after the intermission to help OSU pull away.

     The story of the night was Ohio State's suffocating defense.  Not only did the Buckeyes hold Iowa below 50 points, but they also held Jarryd Cole and Eric May, two of the Hawks' better players, scoreless.     



David Lighty scores 2 of his 18 points

     Aaron Craft's defense was simply ridiculous.  The freshman guard recorded an astounding 7 steals, and the rest of the team fed off of his impressive performance.

     Jared Sullinger added 13 points to go along with 9 rebounds while his frontcourt teammate, Dallas Lauderdale, contributed 9 points, including a couple of highlight-reel dunks.      

     Even though the final result was gratifying, the Bucks did not play a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination.  Ohio State somehow managed to turn the basketball over 20 times, much to the chagrin of head coach Thad Matta.  Iowa, however, committed 22 turnovers in what was obviously a very messy 40 minutes of action.