# 2010–11 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team

The 2010–11 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team represented Ohio State University during the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Their head coach was Thad Matta, in his 7th season with the Buckeyes. The team played its home games at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio, and is a member of the Big Ten Conference. The Buckeyes finished the regular season 32–2 and were ranked #1 overall in the media polls seven weeks during the season. The team won their second consecutive Big Ten regular season championship and Big Ten tournament championship. They entered the 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament as the overall #1 seed. They defeated Texas–San Antonio in the second round and George Mason in the third round to advance to the Sweet Sixteen where they were upset by Kentucky to finish the season 34–3.

## Pre-season
### Departures

The Ohio State Buckeyes lost a key player in Evan Turner in the 2010 NBA draft. Turner left Ohio State after completing his junior season leading OSU to a 29–8 record and a trip to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament. Turner was selected second overall to the Philadelphia 76ers only behind former Kentucky Wildcat John Wall. Other senior departs are noted below.
* #2 Jeremie Simmons – G
* #4 P.J. Hill – G
* #13 Danny Peters – G
* #15 Kyle Madson – C
* #34 Mark Titus – G

### 2010 Recruiting Class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Aaron Craft PG | Findlay, Ohio | Liberty Benton | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 172 lb (78 kg) | Jun 7, 2009 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 92 ||||||
| Jordan Sibert SG | Cincinnati, Ohio | Princeton | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Sep 20, 2008 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 93 ||||||
| Lenzelle Smith Jr. SF | Zion, Illinois | Zion Benton | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Sep 22, 2008 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 94 ||||||
| Jared Sullinger C | Columbus, Ohio | Northland | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 260 lb (120 kg) | May 10, 2007 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 98 ||||||
| Deshaun Thomas PF | Fort Wayne, Indiana | Bishop Luers | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 208 lb (94 kg) | Jun 1, 2007 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 96 ||||||
| J. D. Weatherspoon PF | Columbus, Ohio | Northland | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Aug 11, 2009 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 91 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Rivals: 3 ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2010 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 16, 2011. ||||||

## Roster
### Depth chart

| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 |
| C | Dallas Lauderdale | | |
| PF | Jared Sullinger | Deshaun Thomas | Evan Ravenel |
| SF | David Lighty | J.D. Weatherspoon | Nikola Kecman |
| SG | Jon Diebler | Jordan Sibert | |
| PG | William Buford | Aaron Craft | Eddie Days |

## 2010–2011 Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/7/10* 2:00 p.m. | No. 4 | Walsh | W 102–56 | — | Value City Arena (12,234) Columbus, OH |
| Regular season ||||||
| 11/12/10* 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | No. 4 | North Carolina A&T Global Sports Invitational | W 102–61 | 1–0 | Value City Arena (13,302) Columbus, OH |
| 11/16/10* 6:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 4 | at No. 9 Florida Global Sports Invitational | W 93–75 | 2–0 | O'Connell Center (12,110) Gainesville, FL |
| 11/20/10* 8:00 p.m., BTN | No. 4 | UNC Wilmington Global Sports Invitational | W 81–41 | 3–0 | Value City Arena (11,882) Columbus, OH |
| 11/23/10* 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | No. 3 | Morehead State Global Sports Invitational | W 64–45 | 4–0 | Value City Arena (12,305) Columbus, OH |
| 11/26/10* 4:00 p.m., BTN | No. 3 | Miami (OH) | W 66–45 | 5–0 | Value City Arena (15,935) Columbus, OH |
| 11/30/10* 7:30 p.m., ESPN | No. 2 | at Florida State ACC–Big Ten Challenge | W 58–44 | 6–0 | Donald L. Tucker Center (10,457) Tallahassee, FL |
| 12/9/10* 7:00 p.m., BTN | No. 2 | IUPUI | W 75–64 | 7–0 | Value City Arena (11,410) Columbus, OH |
| 12/12/10* 2:00 p.m. | No. 2 | Western Carolina | W 85–60 | 8–0 | St. John Arena (6,905) Columbus, OH |
| 12/15/10* 6:30 p.m., BTN | No. 2 | Florida Gulf Coast | W 83–55 | 9–0 | Value City Arena (12,613) Columbus, OH |
| 12/18/10* 2:00 p.m., CBS | No. 2 | South Carolina | W 79–57 | 10–0 | Value City Arena (15,497) Columbus, OH |
| 12/21/10* 8:30 p.m., BTN | No. 2 | UNC Asheville | W 96–49 | 11–0 | Value City Arena (12,658) Columbus, OH |
| 12/23/10* 8:00 p.m., BTN | No. 2 | Oakland | W 92–63 | 12–0 | Value City Arena (13,459) Columbus, OH |
| 12/27/10* 8:30 p.m., BTN | No. 2 | UT Martin | W 100–40 | 13–0 | Value City Arena (15,133) Columbus, OH |
| 12/31/10 6:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 2 | at Indiana | W 85–67 | 14–0 (1–0) | Assembly Hall (14,883) Bloomington, IN |
| 1/4/11 9:00 p.m., BTN | No. 2 | at Iowa | W 73–68 | 15–0 (2–0) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (9,810) Iowa City, IA |
| 1/9/11 2:00 p.m., BTN | No. 2 | Minnesota | W 67–64 | 16–0 (3–0) | Value City Arena (17,392) Columbus, OH |
| 1/12/11 6:30 p.m., BTN | No. 2 | at Michigan | W 68–64 | 17–0 (4–0) | Crisler Arena (11,994) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 1/15/11 5:30 p.m., BTN | No. 2 | Penn State | W 69–66 | 18–0 (5–0) | Value City Arena (18,809) Columbus, OH |
| 1/19/11 6:30 p.m., BTN | No. 1 | Iowa | W 70–48 | 19–0 (6–0) | Value City Arena (14,321) Columbus, OH |
| 1/22/11 12:00 p.m., CBS | No. 1 | at No. 23 Illinois | W 73–68 | 20–0 (7–0) | Assembly Hall (16,618) Champaign, IL |
| 1/25/11 9:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 1 | No. 12 Purdue | W 87–64 | 21–0 (8–0) | Value City Arena (17,556) Columbus, OH |
| 1/29/11 6:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 1 | at Northwestern | W 58–57 | 22–0 (9–0) | Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) Evanston, IL |
| 2/3/11 7:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 1 | Michigan | W 62–53 | 23–0 (10–0) | Value City Arena (18,809) Columbus, OH |
| 2/6/11 2:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 1 | at No. 18 Minnesota | W 82–69 | 24–0 (11–0) | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| 2/12/11 2:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 1 | at No. 13 Wisconsin | L 67–71 | 24–1 (11–1) | Kohl Center (17,230) Madison, WI |
| 2/15/11 9:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 2 | Michigan State | W 71–61 | 25–1 (12–1) | Value City Arena (18,802) Columbus, OH |
| 2/20/11 1:00 p.m., CBS | No. 2 | at No. 11 Purdue | L 63–76 | 25–2 (12–2) | Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN |
| 2/22/11 7:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 2 | Illinois | W 89–70 | 26–2 (13–2) | Value City Arena (18,085) Columbus, OH |
| 2/27/11 4:00 p.m., CBS | No. 2 | Indiana | W 82–61 | 27–2 (14–2) | Value City Arena (18,809) Columbus, OH |
| 3/1/11 9:00 p.m., BTN | No. 1 | at Penn State | W 82–61 | 28–2 (15–2) | Bryce Jordan Center (15,403) University Park, PA |
| 3/6/11 4:00 p.m., CBS | No. 1 | No. 10 Wisconsin | W 93–65 | 29–2 (16–2) | Value City Arena (18,809) Columbus, OH |
| Big Ten tournament ||||||
| 3/11/11 12:00 p.m., ESPN | (1) No. 1 | vs. (8) Northwestern Big Ten Quarterfinals | W 67–61 $^{OT}$ | 30–2 | Conseco Fieldhouse (17,975) Indianapolis, IN |
| 3/12/11 1:40 p.m., CBS | (1) No. 1 | vs. (4) Michigan Big Ten Semifinals | W 68–61 | 31–2 | Conseco Fieldhouse (18,377) Indianapolis, IN |
| 3/13/11 3:30 p.m., CBS | (1) No. 1 | vs. (6) Penn State Big Ten Championship Game | W 71–60 | 32–2 | Conseco Fieldhouse (15,770) Indianapolis, IN |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| 3/18/11* 4:40 p.m., TNT | (1 E) No. 1 | vs. (16 E) UTSA NCAA Second Round | W 75–46 | 33–2 | Quicken Loans Arena (20,164) Cleveland, OH |
| 3/20/11* 5:15 p.m., CBS | (1 E) No. 1 | vs. (8 E) George Mason NCAA Third Round | W 98–66 | 34–2 | Quicken Loans Arena (20,164) Cleveland, OH |
| 3/25/11* 9:45 p.m., CBS | (1 E) No. 1 | vs. (4 E) No. 11 Kentucky NCAA Sweet Sixteen | L 60–62 | 34–3 | Prudential Center (18,343) Newark, NJ |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=NCAA East Regional. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Game Notes – NCAA tournament
### Second Round: UT–San Antonio

| Teams | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| (16) UTSA | 21 | 25 | 46 |
| (1) OSU | 37 | 38 | 75 |
Ohio State began the 2011 NCAA tournament bid with a commanding 75–46 win of the University of Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners. The Buckeyes were contested early however took control of the game halfway through the first half. Leading 37–21 at halftime, the Buckeyes opened their lead and moved on to the third round of the tournament where they faced the George Mason Patriots.

### Third round: George Mason

| Teams | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| (8) GMU | 26 | 40 | 66 |
| (1) OSU | 52 | 46 | 98 |
The third round showcased a match up between the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes and #8 George Mason Patriots. George Mason opened the game on an 11–2 run and quickly took the momentum. However, the overall seed in Ohio State would not back down. Led by senior David Lighty and Jon Diebler, the Buckeyes quickly went on a run to end the first half of play with a 52–26 lead. The pounding by the Buckeyes continued as they worked the ball around to their star freshmen in Jared Sullinger and Aaron Craft. Ending the game as they had in the first half, Ohio State continued to cruise through and went on to win the game 98–66 in front of biased crowd in Cleveland, Ohio.

### Regional semifinal: Kentucky

| Teams | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| (4) UK | 30 | 32 | 62 |
| (1) OSU | 30 | 30 | 60 |
The Buckeyes reached the Sweet Sixteen for the second year in a row and for the second year they faced an SEC opponent. Ohio State and Kentucky both began the game struggling to shoot and to get any sort of momentum going with both teams tied at 30 heading into the second half. The second half remained an extremely close affair with neither team really able to pull away. In the final second of the game Kentucky was able to put together a game winning shot and put the Wildcats ahead 62–60, which would be the final score in the game. This loss ended the season for the Buckeyes, and for the second year in a row, Ohio State fell in the Sweet Sixteen.

## Rankings

Ranking Movement Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. :
| Poll | Pre | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Feb 21 | Feb 28 | Mar 7 | Wk 18 | Final |
| AP | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Coaches | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |