PORTLAND, Ore. — D’Angelo Russell sat down at the podium for his post-game press conference with a bandage over his left eye looking like he had just went 12 rounds with the heavyweight champion of the world.
Russell was bloodied during Ohio State’s second-round NCAA tournament game Thursday against VCU when he caught an elbow to the head from the Rams’ Doug Brooks. He was grabbed and held on nearly every screen. Most of the game VCU had two, sometimes three defenders on the Buckeyes’ star freshman guard.
If the Rams’ goal was to rough up Russell, they certainly succeeded. But if they thought for one second that might take him off of his game, they were dead wrong.
Because when the final horn sounded and 28 points to his name, Russell and Ohio State were celebrating at midcourt after a hard-fought, physical 75-72 overtime win.
Not a bad NCAA tournament debut for the Buckeyes’ superstar.
“I mean, I watched this my whole life,” Russell said of the tournament. “Just knowing that a lot of great teams go down, a lot of underdogs achieve, just with the mentality that anything can happen. Coach has been preaching it for weeks now, that anything can happen.”
VCU is one of the more physical teams in all of college basketball. The Rams play a style that isn’t seen by many. Their famed Havoc defense is designed to press and trap, to fluster opposing offenses.
But behind Russell and Shannon Scott, the Buckeyes hardly looked rattled against the VCU pressure. So much so that the Rams eventually backed off of the full-court trapping a bit because Ohio State was breaking it with such ease. A VCU team which averaged forcing more than 16 turnovers a game, only forced 11 on this day. Those 11 turnovers led to just eight points.
“We knew they were going to play a physical game from the get-go,” said Scott, who scored nine points and dished out 10 assists. “They pressed for the whole 45 minutes. They weren’t going away from their game scheme. We did a great job of handling that and being able to make plays after the press.”
Scott and Russell’s ability to break down the VCU pressure created a ton of opportunities for their teammates. Jae’Sean Tate scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Amir Williams added 13 points. Keita Bates-Diop scored six points including two huge 3-pointers — one with 3 minutes, 36 seconds left in regulation to give Ohio State a 62-60 lead — and the other with 2:34 remaining in overtime to break a 68-all tie game.
“My coaches and all my teammates believed in me and I couldn’t let them down,” Bates-Diop said. “The ups and downs in this season, I had to forget all about all that and just make the shots.”
They were no doubt the biggest shots of Bates-Diop’s career. And Williams, despite only grabbing two rebounds in 26 minutes, played one of the better games of his much-maligned time in an Ohio State uniform.
It’s when the Buckeyes can get that additional help, when it’s not entirely on Russell’s shoulders, that they look like a totally different team.
“One of the greatest feelings in college basketball as a player or coach is to hear your name advances,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said. “Sometimes in this tournament you got to go unconventional, you got to find ways and guys have to step up.”
In March, it’s all about surviving and advancing. Ohio State, which was down 12 points at one time in the first half, did just that behind behind its superstar despite the opposition’s best effort to take him off his game.
Next up for the Buckeyes is a date with No. 2 Arizona, which blasted 15th-seeded Texas Southern in the day’s early game, 93-72. It’s going to take another performance like Thursday’s for Ohio State to have any shot.
“There’s been games on today where it messed up everybody’s bracket,” Russell said. “Just keep that mentality. It feels great to be here with the success for the next round.”
Added Tate: “As soon as we leave here, we’re going to start preparing for Arizona. We came here to get two.”
