Seriously. Aaron Craft sprinted the length of the floor to chase down a ball that everyone else had given up on. He grabbed it, beat two defenders for a reverse layup +1 on the foul. Michigan State had thrown the ball away into the back court and the Spartans were conceding the over and back violation. From the far baseline came Craft, like Value City Arena was the Salt Flats. Talk about an intangible that makes all of the difference.
The Buckeyes bounced back and won the game that they had to. If they hold serve, they'll get their AP #1 back. On a night where Jared Sullinger was limited by a physical MSU interior, William Buford led the parade. The team simply has too many weapons to overcome on the offensive end. Their perimeter defense faltered against Wisconsin, but I doubt Michael Jordan and Gary Payton could have put the cuffs on Jordan Taylor in the last 12 minutes. From a first half during which the official seemed dead set against calling any sort of foul on the opponent, OSU got back off of the mat to outscore Sparty 23-6 on the line. The team has grit, the team has character and the team values every possession. Nothing puts the cherry on the sundae like Dallas Lauderdale coolly knocking down 2 foul shots with a minute on the clock and raise his free throw accuracy from 29% to 35% . Keep on keepin' on boys, March awaits.
Check out some cool footage courtesy of The Lantern (The Ohio State student newspaper) from the Iowa Game. And, of course, Go Bucks.
