From: atchison@harp.cis.ohio-state.edu (Mark Atchison)
Subject: tOSU 92 - IOWA 81
Organization: The Ohio State University Dept. of Computer and Info. Science
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 13:30:28 GMT


Ohio State kicked off a viscious five game stretch in style Saturday night by
knocking of the #8 Iowa Hawkeyes in their Big 10 home opener.  This marks the
fourth consecutive year that Randy Ayers has opened the league season 2-0.
An 0-5 mark during this stretch which includes Iowa and Michigan State at home,
and Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan on the road was certainly a possibility,
and so it's awfully nice to get at least one win in already. 

Buckeye guard Jamie Skelton marked his 21st birthday with a barrage of three
pointers, including a 23-foot bank shot complete with a ribbon on top, and
freshman Greg Simpson (4-4) and sophomore Doug Etzler combined to go 5-5 in the
first half from 20 feet and beyond.  The first half salvo propelled OSU to a 
48-27 halftime lead big enough to withstand several of their own attempts to 
let Iowa back in it.  All told, the Bucks were 9-16 from the trey stripe in the
first half (while the Hawkeyes were going 0-4) and tied a team single game 
record for makes, finishing 11-24 for the game.  Once again, OSU offset a loss
in the rebound war (49-38) by taking care of the basketball, turning it over
just 11 times compared to 22 for Iowa.

Sophomore center Rickey Dudley, junior Lawrence Funderburke, and even freshman
Nate Wilbourne combined to play tough post defense on Iowa's Acie Earl, holding
him to just three second half points.  Only a blistering effort by Hawkeye 
guard Val Barnes, with a little help from forward Chris Street, brought Iowa
back.  Barnes tossed in most of his 27 points in the second half, and Street
added 7 rebounds to go with his 18 points.  Iowa's run was perpetuated late
in the game by a lot of quick OSU possessions.  Many Bucks were guilty, but 
most notably Skelton, of failing to realize how valuable 45 seconds off of the
clock could be.  Thankfully, they connected on most of their free throws to 
stave off the comeback.

Some Iowa fans, I'm sure, have to feel that all of the Ohio State first half 
three pointers paste a label of "fluke" on the game, but let me add a few 
things to the equation.  While Iowa was shooting 15 first half free throws, and
Funderburke and frosh Derek Anderson were in foul trouble, Iowa didn't even get
their third team foul until the 2:30 mark of the half.  Another bewildering 
factor was the failure of the Hawkeyes to guard anybody on the perimeter.  Most
of the threes, especially the ones that went in, were completely uncontested. 
Finally, when it was said and done, Ohio State was under 50% from downtown 
anyway.

Stars of the game:

For the Buckeyes, no question -- Greg Simpson.  He came off the bench to score
a career high 23 points in just 22 minutes.  He was 7-8 from the floor, 5-6
from the foul line, and 4-4 from the three point line for the second 
consecutive game.  We've seen him score in the past.  We hadn't yet seen him 
throw in 3 assists, 2 steals, and 5 rebounds without a single turnover.  Midway
through the second half, he had a teriffic breakaway one-on-one confrontation 
with shot-blocker-supreme Earl, and came out the better of it with a soft 
archer over Earl's fingertips.  There will undoubtedly be some lows to go with
the highs, but right now he's on fire.

Also, Lawrence Funderburke.  Not for what he did, but for what he didn't do.
With all the long bombs, he was largely forgotten on the offensive end.  It was
nice to see that it didn't affect his effort, as he played fine defense the
whole game, helped against the press quite a bit, and generally led by example.
Also, the opportunity for a skirmish is probably never as high as when Earl and
his elbows are in town.  None developed.

Dudley and Skelton also turned in notable efforts, and really just about every-
one played well, but I'll give my final mention to Randy Ayers.  Late in the
second half, Iowa coach "Dr."Tom Davis left the coaches box, and caused quite a
stir. He, Ayers and bonehead-ref-of-the-century Tom Rucker all assembled near 
the midcourt line, and things became very animated.  Ayers was furious about 
something, apparently said by Davis, and stormed away to his own end.  It is 
certainly as hot as I've ever seen Ayers in his first 56 conference games.
A minute or so later, the coaches remet, shook hands, and the game went on.
Post-game, Ayers claimed that he was only upset about the no-call when Davis
had left the coaches' box.  I think it was all just an ingenious secret plot by
Davis to buy his guys a free breather. :]

I know it's greedy and foolish to look ahead, but it'd be nice to steal a 
couple of the next four games. 3-3 or 4-2 with the road games at Indiana and
Michigan behind us would sure be a nice place to build from.  Heck, 2-4 
wouldn't even be the worst thing in the world, all things considered.  Next up
are the Spartans of Michigan State, in St. John on Wednesday night.  The green
and white are coming off an offensive explosion against Illinois where they
poured in 39 points.  But Peplowski is always trouble against the Buckeyes,
and Repsert is as dangerous a scorer as there is, so it'll be a war.

OSU  fg: 29-73 (.397)  3pg: 11-24 (.458)  ft: 23-29 (.793)
----------------------------------------------------------
PLAYER	MIN FGM FGA FTM FTA 3PM 3PA REB AST STL  TO FLS TP
Skelton  33   6  16   4   4   5  12   5   4   0   3   4 21
Dudley   33   2   7   1   2   0   0   6   3   0   3   4  5
Davis    30   3  12   6   6   0   4   3   3   3   1   3 12
Fndrbrk  24   4  12   5   7   0   0   5   1   0   1   3 13
Simpson  22   7   8   5   6   4   4   5   3   2   0   1 23
Andrson  21   2  10   1   2   0   2   4   2   3   1   3  5
Brndwie  20   2   3   1   2   0   0   5   1   1   2   2  5
Etzler   11   3   3   4   4   2   2   0   2   0   2   1  8
Wilbrne   3   0   1   0   0   0   0   1   0   0   0   2  0
Ratliff   2   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   1  0
Macon     1   0   1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0  0

IOWA fg: 28-66 (.424)  3pg: 6-14 (.429)  ft: 19-27 (.704)
----------------------------------------------------------
PLAYER	MIN FGM FGA FTM FTA 3PM 3PA REB AST STL  TO FLS TP
Earl     35   5  12   3   7   0   0  12   2   0   3   3 13
Barnes   34  11  20   2   3   3   5   5   2   2   5   2 27
Street   27   4   8   8   9   1   3   7   2   1   4   3 18
Winters  25   3   5   2   4   0   0   7   1   0   1   2  8
Murray   25   1   7   1   2   0   2   4   0   0   2   2  3
Smith    20   3   9   2   2   1   3   2   3   1   4   5  9
Lknbill  15   1   2   0   0   1   1   2   0   0   0   1  3
Glasper   6   0   1   0   0   0   0   2   0   0   2   1  0
Webb      5   0   1   0   0   0   0   3   0   0   0   1  0
Skllett   4   0   1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   1   0  0
Bartels   4   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0  0

GO BUCKS!!!
-- 
_______________________________________________________________________________
 Mark Atchison, a.k.a. <atchison@cis.ohio-state.edu>; Graduate Student in the
Computer Science Dept, THE Ohio State University (NOT an Ohio State University)
		Any plagiarisms seen above are not my own...
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college