It is always different once conference play begins. Coaches say this and so do the many inexplicable results. Suddenly, as if an unseen switch has been turned, the pressure is higher and the intensity is suffocating and the pitch of the hill all players must travel is steeper and more demanding than normal.
This is no surprise. Conference foes are old familiars and a fight between friends always has a special edge. Nor is it a surprise that freshmen often are undone on their first exposure to this kind of mayhem. They never encountered such resistance while in high schools and so often are not equipped to react.
That is why there was some measure of surprise Tuesday night in Ohio State’s 74-67 victory over Indiana. It is not that the Buckeyes weren’t favored. They were, heavily. Nor is it that the Buckeyes were overmatched. They weren’t, clearly possessing the best performers on their True Value Arena court in freshmen Greg Oden, Daequan Cook and Mike Conley Jr. No. The surprise came in the very manner of their victory.
This was the Big Ten opener for both these teams and here the Hoosiers, more experienced than their hosts, involved the young Buckeyes in a virtual mud-wrestling match. They jabbed them with a 2-3 zone. They tattooed them with a 1-3-1 zone. They harassed them with a man-to-man and effectively throttled their running game.
The Hoosiers, on defense, were as irritating as a nagging mate and that is how they clung to the Buckeyes–as tightly as a scared child clings to his mother.
Down six at halftime, they tied it 35-35 just more than a minute into the second half and now this one would be tied again at 37, 39, 42, 47 and 49.
The Buckeyes then ran off five straight, but the Hoosiers came back again, this time on three-pointers by Joey Shaw and Lance Stemler.
So the Buckeyes responded in kind, going back up three, but with the 7-foot Oden picking up his fourth foul. He watched from the bench as Earl Calloway dropped two free throws to pull the Hoosiers to within one at 6:13.
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Now, at this moment, the young Buckeyes faced a turning point, one that often overwhelms those confronting it for the first time. They were faced off against an inspired team not awed by their out-sized reputation or No. 6 ranking.
They were confronted by a wise and patient foe that had controlled much of this game and all of its tempo. They were in danger of falling to a team experienced in these demanding moments and they were without Oden, their defensive bulwark who would end this night with four blocks and five rebounds as well as 21 points.
This is when the night’s surprise arrived in the person of Conley, the young point guard making his maiden voyage through waters roiling like these. Here, he was a revelation, a prescient passer who now took over this game and simply assured the Buckeyes’ victory.
He found forward Othello Hunter down low and Hunter threw down a dunk. He blew by Hoosiers forward D.J. White and put in a layup. He made a steal, stripping Hoosiers guard Armon Bassett, and made a free throw after getting fouled.
“That kid Conley, when their offense breaks down, he’s an offense all by himself,” Hoosiers coach Kelvin Sampson marveled after the game. “He has a high basketball IQ.”
That Conley flurry put the Buckeyes up six with just more than three minutes remaining and they would not be threatened seriously again.
Oden returned 18 seconds later, which effectively neutralized the Hoosiers’ offense, and Conley continued on spectacularly, ending with nine points, 10 assists and no turnovers in 31 exceptional minutes.
“Those two freshmen, Cook (12 points) and Conley, they’re not freshmen,” Sampson said when asked if Conley’s dazzling display surprised him. “They’re McDonald All-Americans playing high-level, high-level basketball.
“They’re arguably the best at their position in the country. So don’t look at them as normal freshmen. They’re special players.”
Do you mean Oden or Cook?
“All of ’em,” he said. “I was talking the guards.
“Oden? That goes without saying.”
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