Preview: Lamar at #2 Ohio State

Anthony Miles will lead a balanced attack.

#2 Ohio State 10-1, 0-0 Big Ten Roster | Schedule

December 20, 2011 8:30 PM ET - BTN —— The Schott Columbus, OH

Lamar 8-3, 0-0 Southland Roster | Schedule

Ohio State welcomes in Lamar tonight, a team coached by Pat Knight, on a night where OSU is honoring his dad Bobby. This is the first time these two teams have met and OSU is 4-0 all-time against teams from the Southland Conference.

Lamar shouldn't be taken lightly. They have a veteran group and start 4 seniors. They've only faced one ranked team, losing by 20 to Louisville in the second game of the season, but since then have rattled off 7 wins in their last 8.

Ohio State is coming off a quality "road" win against South Carolina on Saturday and the talk once again is if Jared Sullinger will play. All indications I've seen have him playing and I'll assume he starts.

Opponent

Lamar is a school in Beaumont, Texas, about 90 miles east of Houston and 25 miles west of Louisiana, with an enrollment of over 14,000 students. The basketball program picked up their 900th win on Saturday with a 87-81 triumph over Rice.

Coach Knight uses a 10-man rotation and will keep the pressure on Ohio State all game. They come in averaging 74.1 PPG, but only shoot 40.8% from the floor, including 34.9% from deep. They are not a perimeter oriented team, even though they run with a smaller lineup, instead they like to get to the line. LU has attempted 315 FT's in their 11 games, including 37/44 on Saturday and have hit 74.3% of their attempts on the season. Conversely, they have attempted just 146 from beyond the arc, making 51 of them. 

One of Lamar's strength is rebounding, where they rank 3rd in the nation with 42.7 per game. I was surprised to see Devon Lamb, a 6'2" guard leading this team in boards with almost 9 a game and Charlie Harper, using up his eligibilty after Two and Half Men, is only 6'5" and grabs almost 8. As a team, the Cardinals have roughly a 1:1 A/TO ratio at 14 a game.

Leading the way off the bench is Brandon Davis, a 6'6" Senior, who should come in for Nikko Acosta around the 6 minute mark. Davis averages 22 minutes, scoring 9.3 PPG and grabbing almost 3 boards a game. If they have any type of 3-point specialist, it is Davis, who has connected on 19/56 this season, but Mike James could be warming up from there too, after he hit all 5 of his attempts on Saturday.

Also getting some time will be Tre Lynch, a 6'0" SO. who goes for almost 4 PPG and 2 boards in 11 minutes. Stan Brown, a 6'8" JR. goes for 3 PPG and 3 RPG, while Osas Ebomwonyi will see about 15 minutes per contest, chipping in with 3 PPG and 4.5 RPG. Donley Meyer might see the most minutes, averaging almost 18. The 6'2" JR scores around 3 and grabs a couple of boards.

Buckeye Breakdown:

Ohio State comes into the game scoring 80.3 PPG on the strength of 50.2% shooting, while giving up just 57 PPG. Their 41.4% defensive FG ranks them 10th in the B1G, but also helps them win by an average of 23.5 PPG. Their assists per game is still solid at 18.3, which puts them 9th nationally. The Buckeyes have done a great job of handling the rock this year, averaging just 11.5 TO's, while snagging 36.5 RPG.

Of course the big question tonight is how much Sullinger will play. Lamar is a smaller lineup and if Ohio State can get the ball into Sully's hands down low early on, it could help open up a lead and get Ravenel and Amir Williams some quality minutes. I think Williams is starting to get the hang of things a bit more and could be a force in the paint tonight defensively.

One of the all-time great Buckeyes.

Don't look now, but Deshaun Thomas is up to 55 percent from the floor, including 23/31 over his last 2 games. With another solid night, Thomas will give the Buckeyes 3 players who are scoring more than 16 a game and the current B1G POW is currently 8th in the conference scoring race. I love how the kid has switched his mentality and now takes his early shots from inside, instead of chucking threes to get the game going. Plus he seems to be getting at least 2-3 put backs a game, which has helped him average over 20 PPG in the last 5, which inlcudes Duke, Kansas and USC.

As Thomas has grown over the last 5, William Buford has been in a shooting slump, hitting just 38% of his shots over that span. On the season he now is shooting 44% and at times seems to be the only Buckeye to force shots or take quick ones. I have confidence he'll shoot his way out of it, but there's only 3 games left until the trip to Bloomington.

I'm surprised Sam Thompson didn't get in any against South Carolina. I know Thomas was on fire, but it looked like Thompson had been making a push for more PT over the last few weeks and I was anxious to see what he could do against a bigger school. He should see some time tonight, as long as OSU doesn't start the game in another funk.

I haven't seen Lamar play, but if they run that many guys, I would imagine the defensive pressure could be full court. I thought the Bucks did a decent job of breaking the pressure put on by the Gamecocks, with just a couple of mental lapses. On defense, Ohio State will have to communicate, switch and recover all game with the motion offense Lamar is sure to bring in here. As I mentioned, LU wants to drive the ball and get OSU in early foul trouble, slowing the game down by getting to the line. OSU has always done a good job of not fouling, as long as the game isn't called too tight.

Ohio State should win this game going away, but something tells me the atmosphere in the Schott tonight won't be electric until after a few words from the General at halftime. OSU has been slow to start in recent weeks and a potential lackluster crowd tonight won't help. Lamar is a veteran team and will hang tough for a while, but the Bucks should get their 11th win on the season, 83-60.

Etc

• William Buford need 10 points to pass Perry Carter for 9th on the scoring list and 18 to tie Dave Sorenson.
• 11W Favorite's Gus Johnson and Jim Jackson have the call tonight.