A gritty effort
Sullinger sits, Buckeyes lose, but they don’t go down without a fight against Jayhawks
William Buford tries to gain control of a loose ball against Travis Releford, left, and Elijah Johnson of Kansas. Buford scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half.
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Jared Sullinger did not play even a second in the game. But even with Sullinger on the bench in street clothes, Ohio State coach Thad Matta saw, on the court, what his All-America center means to the team.
“Jared’s a winner,” Matta said. “That has rubbed off on some of our guys. I saw some fire in our guys’ eyes that I wanted to see on the road.”
The second-ranked Buckeyes lost for the first time yesterday, 78-67 to No. 13 Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse in their first test away from home.
But not all was lost. Sullinger will be back. In the meantime, the short-handed Buckeyes didn’t cave in playing in a hostile venue where Kansas has lost just once in the past five seasons.
The Buckeyes never led, but after trailing by 10 points on five occasions in the first half and by 12 with less than 12 minutes to play, they fought back to as close as four points with 5:39 left and trailed by only six with 1:56 remaining.
“We could never get over the hump,” guard Aaron Craft said. “But I think we showed some toughness, not giving up.”
William Buford, frigid from the perimeter in the first half, moved his game closer to the basket in the second and scored 17 of his 21 points to lead Ohio State (8-1).
Deshaun Thomas added 19 points but was held to four in the second half by Kansas junior Kevin Young, who also scored 14 points off the bench.
“Kevin Young gets the game ball. He was the difference in the game,” Matta said.
Thomas Robinson led Kansas (7-2) with 21 points, scoring 14 in the last 12:02 when the Jayhawks held off the Buckeyes, who were playing their second straight game without Sullinger as he recovers from back spasms he experienced during the game against Duke on Nov. 29.
“He’s doing much better,” Matta said, “but we just want to see how he feels the next day after he practices (which he hasn’t). I’m never going to jeopardize one of my players’ futures.”
Although Matta said he made the decision yesterday morning, Craft said the players “knew Jared wasn’t going to play probably at the beginning of the week.”
“We took it as a challenge,” Craft said. “It was an opportunity for a lot of guys to step up.”
Thomas stepped up in the first half, making three three-pointers and scoring 15 points while helping to hold Robinson to seven points and no rebounds.
“In the first half, we were going to make Thomas make shots (so as to) keep Craft out of the paint, and he made us pay,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “The second half, our game plan was the same, but we subbed early and put Young in, and Young did a much better job because he’s quicker and more of a perimeter defender.”
That opened the door for Buford, who missed nine of his first 10 shots before driving the lane for a floater with 13:27 left. He scored 14 of Ohio State’s 17 points in a seven-minute span as the Buckeyes inched closer.
“I told (assistant coach Chris Jent) I wanted to start posting a little bit so I could try to get easier baskets,” Buford said. “He was able to call the calls, and my teammates were able to get me the ball where I could be successful.”
But the Buckeyes committed five turnovers in the last 7:19 and failed to get the defensive stops they needed. Kansas scored on nine of its last 12 possessions and shot 58.3 percent in the game to offset its 18 turnovers. Ohio State had limited its first eight opponents to 38.2 percent shooting.
The Jayhawks also made 9 of 17 three-point attempts.
“That was probably the difference for us. Our defense wasn’t at the level (it has been),” Matta said. “We couldn’t make the play to get the momentum back on our side.”
bbaptist@dispatch.com
