Ohio State Preview

Both teams will enter this non-conference game coming off a conference road loss. Ohio State lost at Wisconsin on Tuesday night, while the Vols lost Wednesday night at Vanderbilt. Ohio State enters the game with the same record as the Vols. However, all three losses came away from Columbus and at the number 1, 2, and 3 ranked teams in the country. Everyone has heard of the “Fab Five,” well Ohio State brings their number one ranked recruiting class, aka the “Thad Four,” to Columbus. Greg Oden leads the list of freshman, but he is joined by an impressive class. Mike Conley is their starting point guard and leads them with 6.6 assists per game. Fellow rookie Daequan Cook leads the Buckeyes in scoring while coming off the bench with 14.8 points per game. Last is David Lighty, a small forward that is best driving to the basket. Cook, senior Ivan Harris, and junior Jamar Butler lead the team in three pointers, all shooting over 40% while firing up at least 4 attempts each game. Oden leads the team on the boards, collecting 9.2 a game along with 13.9 points per game.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

So here’s the key to this game. How do you guard Greg Oden? In my opinion you have to limit him. You can’t let him get easy looks around the basket. He takes advantage of his height quite well, but his offensive game isn’t that polished. He has struggled on offense when he has had to create his own shot. Oden excels and crashing the boards and getting rebounds, and he runs the floor well for a player his size. Unless Oden proves me wrong, I would play behind Oden and make him shoot over top. Pearl likes to front the post, but I think this would be a game to not do that. If you front the post, you allow Oden to get position for rebounds, and also possibly easy dunks. Second, you have to keep Ohio State off the offensive glass. This ended up killing the Vols on Wednesday night against Vanderbilt, and it could do so against the Buckeyes as well. If Ohio State is able to dominate the boards, then this game could be ugly.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Ohio State

PG – 6’1” #1 Mike Conley Jr.
SG – 6’2” #14 Jamar Butler
SF – 6’4” #12 Ron Lewis
PF – 6’7” #3 Ivan Harris
C – 7’0” #20 Greg Oden

Tennessee

PG – 6’2” #12 Ramar Smith
SG – 6’2” #5 Chris Lofton
SF – 6’2” #2 JaJuan Smith
PF – 6’4” #23 Dane Bradshaw
C – 6’7” #32 Duke Crews