Ohio State Picks Up Win Over Minnesota, 78-68

Filed under Game Recap on February 15th, 2012

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On February 14th on the road, the Buckeyes beat the Golden Gophers, 78-68, in conference action.

A couple key stats coming into the game: Last season, Ohio State was 2-0 against Minnesota. Over the last four years, the Buckeyes have a record of 7-3 with a record of 2-3 at Williams Arena. Ohio State has a winning record over Minnesota going back to 1980, 34-17.

Ohio State was able to win battles in turnover margin and offensive rebounding.

Rebounding was a big part of the win for Ohio State, as they pulled down 15 offensive boards compared to only 10 for Minnesota. The Buckeyes only gave the ball away nine times compared to 14 for the Golden Gophers.

William Buford led all scorers against the Golden Gophers with 24 points on 58% shooting in 37 minutes, including 12 from three-point range. Aaron Craft contributed six steals.

OSU Players Mins Pts Reb Ast Stl Blk TO A+ William Buford 37 24 8 5 0 1 2 A+ Jared Sullinger 37 23 8 2 1 1 1 B Aaron Craft 27 6 1 5 6 0 2 B Deshaun Thomas 35 12 4 0 0 0 0 B L. Smith Jr. 32 7 7 2 1 1 2 C Sam Thompson 10 4 1 0 1 0 1 D Shannon Scott 13 0 0 1 1 0 1 - Evan Ravenel 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 - Amir Williams 3 2 1 0 0 1 0

MINN Players Mins Pts Reb Ast Stl Blk TO A Rodney Williams 37 21 9 1 1 2 3 A Julian Welch 33 11 5 9 1 0 1 C+ R. Sampson III 12 4 2 1 0 0 0 C+ Eliott Eliason 23 4 4 1 1 1 0 C+ Austin Hollins 25 10 3 1 1 0 3 C+ Oto Osenieks 26 10 4 0 0 0 2 C Andre Hollins 29 8 1 3 0 0 4 - Joe Coleman 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 - Andre Ingram 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 - Chip Armelin 3 0 0 0 0 0 1

This brings the Buckeyes up to 22-4. With their record improving to 10-3 in the Big Ten, they stay in 1st place. They're now 9-4 against the RPI Top 100 (Minnesota #58).

The next game on the schedule is Michigan on the road on February 18th.

• The top two rebounders (Jared Sullinger and William Buford) accounted for 43.2% of the rebounds.
• William Buford had a career high with 10 field goals made.
• OSU wins 84% of the time this season (16-3) when their opponent has 14 or more turnovers.
• This game was statistically over in the 2nd half with 0:34 left to go.
• William Buford accounted for 30.7% of the team's points.

• This marks the 1st 20-point game of Rodney Williams's career.
• Rodney Williams has led the team in scoring 6 times and in rebounding 9 times in 26 games this season.
• Minnesota lost and did not cover the spread.
• The top two rebounders (Rodney Williams and Julian Welch) accounted for 43.7% of the rebounds.
• Julian Welch recorded a team season high in assists with 9.

Check out the complete Games Notes

Tags: William Buford, Aaron Craft