Ohio State shot in the foot by misfiring 3s

This wasn't the week to beat Tennessee shooting 3-pointers.

Vanderbilt found out Thursday night, going an uncharacteristic 3-of-21 beyond the arc in an 80-60 loss to the Vols.

Ohio State surely liked its odds of beating that miserable performance in an intersectional CBS television battle Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Wrong.

The Buckeyes finished a nightmarish 2-of-20 in a 74-69 loss, their worst 3-point outing of the season.

In fact, Ohio State missed four 3-pointers in the final 25 seconds, the first three of which would have tied the score at 72-72.

"I was fine with the looks we got,'' Ohio State coach Thad Matta said of the frustrating finish.

"They weren't going to give us a (open) three. To their credit, they stayed home and challenged.''

Jamar Butler, Ohio State's leading scorer on the season, came in shooting 44.8 percent from 3-point range. He finished 1-of-7, his last miss coming in the final seconds after Tyler Smith's free throws had extended UT's lead to 74-69.

"We're locking up right now,'' said UT guard JaJuan Smith. "We take a lot of pride in our defense.''

Matta was hoping to get Butler a look at a three earlier, after Tyler Smith missed the front end of a one-and-one with 57 seconds to play, leaving Tennessee's lead at 72-69.

However, the Vols wouldn't let Butler get free and 7-foot freshman Kosta Koufos had to launch a 3-pointer to avoid a shot-clock violation.

It missed and ricocheted out of bounds. But when UT threw the inbounds pass away, Ohio State got another crack.

Freshman Jon Diebler missed a 3-pointer, the Buckeyes rebounded and then Diebler missed another 3-pointer to finish 0-for-4 on the day.

"We had one of the best 3-point shooters any of us has ever seen open,'' said guard Evan Turner. "He didn't hit it. He'll come back tomorrow and make that shot nine times out of 10.''

The fact that Ohio State's David Lighty had to call a timeout to avoid a turnover - under pressure from Ramar Smith - with 6:01 left affected the final minute.

It was the Buckeyes' last timeout.

"We got a couple of pretty decent looks in that situation, no timeouts,'' said Matta. "We were calling (the offense) on the fly out of transition.

"As soon as we got a good one we had to shoot it.''

Turner scored a career-high 21 points, all inside the arc. Koufos, the McDonald's All-America freshman, got all 13 of his points in the second half.

Senior forward Othello Hunter manhandled the Vols with 17 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots.

The loss was Ohio State's third in a row, a first since the 2004-05 season. The Buckeyes had also won all four previous meetings with Tennessee.

Better This Year: The Buckeyes said UT was improved over the team Ohio State beat twice last year by a combined three points.

"This year,'' said Hunter, "they've got guys that can take it to the basket off penetration.''

Matta agreed UT has more weapons:

"Dane Bradshaw was one of my all-time favorite players. Man, did he make that team go.

"Now you add Tyler Smith and J.P. Prince and they can drive it, they can pass it and they can rebound. They can do so many things.

"Them and (North) Carolina are the two best teams we've played this year.''

Good Effort: The Buckeyes indicated Saturday's effort was one of their best of the season.

"If we play that hard,'' said Turner," we won't have to worry about losing three in a row any more. We won't have to worry about any losses.''

Added Matta, "You want to say you're proud of the guys, which I am, but we didn't get what we came for.''

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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