Ohio State Leaves Duke Feeling Blue

COLUMBUS -- In victory, Duke left Maui feeling tired, bruised and bloodied. However, Tuesday evening, that was no match for the shape the Blue Devils were in after leaving Ohio.

Ohio State (7-0) dominated Duke (7-1) from opening tip to final buzzer, 85-63, for a convincing win in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. In fact, the Buckeyes never trailed before a sellout crowd that included NBA stars LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, as well as former Buckeyes Mike Conley Jr., Greg Oden, Evan Turner, Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd among others.

"I've had my butt kicked before and we've kicked some butt," said Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski, lamenting the performance. "Tonight my butt is sore."

Duke had already scored their own convincing victories against Belmont and Michigan State prior to a clean sweep of Tennessee, Michigan and Kansas in the Maui Invitational. However, apparently none of those wins were enough to prepare them for the onslaught they faced against the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes on Tuesday.

Point guard Aaron Craft was his usual holy terror on both ends of the floor. While only one steal credited to his name defensively, he held Duke guard Seth Curry to just 7 points on 3-of-8 shooting. Curry also had three turnovers. In addition to disrupting Curry on the defensive end, however, Craft was instrumental on offense with 17 points (including 3-of-4 from 3-point range) and eight assists.

While Krzyzewski several attributed his team's performance, at least in part, to fatigue or jet lag from the trip to Hawaii, they nonetheless had not played in six days. Ohio State also had three games in five days last week with three in between.

Nonetheless, Ohio State's Thad Matta, who despises those overseas tournaments for that very reason, sympathized with Duke.

"Now you guys can stop asking me why we don't go" Matta chided the media upon hearing of Krzyzewski's comments.

Though Ohio State received its usual workman's effort from sophomore Jared Sullinger (21 points) and William Buford (18), it was the Buckeyes' fourth horseman -- sophomore DeShaun Thomas -- that provided arguably the biggest spark.

The 6-7 Ft. Wayne, Ind. native played perhaps his best game as a Buckeye on one of his biggest stages. Thomas scored 18 points (8-of12 shooting) and grabbed five rebounds. Most impressively, he held Mauvi MVP, 6-10 Ryan Kelly, scoreless in 15 minutes of action. Kelly was 0-of-2 from the field and was relegated to the bench for most of the second half thanks to being unable to stop Thomas. At one point, Thomas scored 12 consecutive points for the Buckeyes including the final nine of the first half.

Upon building a 19-point first-half lead against Duke through entry passes, dribble penetration and fierce perimeter defense, Ohio State simply put it on cruise control in the second half. The Buckeyes led by 20 points or more for most of the second stanza, and Duke never got it closer to 17 points.

About the only bright spot for the Blue Devils was their freshman guard, Austin Rivers. Son of Doc, who was in attendance Tuesday while waiting for the commencement of the NBA season, Rivers, exploded, avoided and wiggled his way through the Buckeye defense for a game-high 22 points. Sophomore Lenzelle Smith Jr. did an admirable job on the future lottery pick despite the points, holding him to 8-of-18 shooting.

Ohio State limited Duke to a season-low three made 3-pointers on 15 attempts (20 percent). The previous low for Duke was five 3-pointers and 38 percent shooting.

While the performance was awe-inspiring, it's become somewhat routine. The last four games Ohio State has played against ranked opponents in Columbus -- Purdue and Wisconsin last season, and most recently Florida and Duke -- have been won by an average of 20 points. The Buckeyes won't leave the friendly confines of Value City Arena until Dec. 10 when it travels to Lawrence to face the Kansas Jayhawks.

Meanwhile, Ohio State stated a case for number one.

After North Carolina fell Saturday evening to UNLV, Kentucky inherited the top spot in this week's AP Poll. Ohio State did pick up 17 of the 62 first-place votes. However, the Buckeyes made a convincing argument for No. 1 when the polls are released next week. UK hosts North Carolina this weekend, though not before the Tar Heels play this evening against Wisconsin in the challenge.

Entering the game, Ohio State had struggled from behind the arc. The Buckeyes were hitting just 31 percent of their 3-point shots, casting doubts on how effective it could be from the perimeter without departed seniors Jon Diebler and David Lighty. Tuesday's game (8-of-14) was reminiscent of those bursts from last season, however, where it seemed as if the Buckeyes were simply aiming for the ocean.

Ohio State's passing was as crisp as it's been all season. That probably wasn't unrelated as to why Ohio State had its best night shooting all season. With still nearly four months left until the NCAA Tournament, there is plenty of time to improve -- especially if the Buckeyes add 6-8 LaQuinton Ross on Dec. 9 as they expect to do. Ross is a talented wing that had a chance to start prior to learning he was academically ineligible to compete. In the meantime, the Buckeyes, even without Ross, appear to be the class of the Big Ten with the Badgers being the primary competition.

The Big Ten won four of the six games on Tuesday evening. It's hoping to extend the winning streak to three consecutive years after losing the first ten.

Next up for the Buckeyes is Tex.-Pan American on Saturday. If last night is any indication, the Buckeyes likely have only one true test remaining before the Big Ten begins in late December. If they do continue to play that well, however, it's unlikely anyone will fare much better than Duke did.