#2 Ohio State 8-1, 0-0 Big Ten Roster | Schedule 7:30 PM ET - BTN —— The Schott Columbus, OH USC-Upstate 6-4, 0-0 Atlantic Sun Roster | Schedule

The Buckeyes look to get back on the winning track tonight when they face off against USC-Upstate for the first time. OSU is 12-0 all-time against teams from the Atlantic Sun, taking down North Florida 85-50 earlier this season.

Ohio State didn't lose any ground in the polls this week after playing without Sully for two games and losing for the first time Saturday. As I write this, I haven't seen any word that Sully is going to play tonight and my gut tells me he won't.

OSU doesn't need him to win tonight and with the B1G season just two weeks away, there is no need to rush him back. Matta didn't indicate Monday on his radio show whether Sullinger practiced Monday or not.

# Name YR HT/WT PTS REB ASST P # Name YR HT/WT PTS REB ASST 4 A. Craft SO 6-2/190 9.9 3.3 5.6 G 31 M. Blessing FR 6-2/165 3.7 1.8 2.5 32 L. Smith, Jr. SO 6-4/205 4.9 4.9 2.2 G 5 T. Greene FR 6-2/180 9.0 3.0 1.8 44 W. Buford SR 6-6/220 16.6 4.4 3.3 F 23 T. Craig SO 6-6/215 16.9 7.6 1.7 1 D. Thomas SO 6-7/225 13.6 4.1 0.7 F 32 C. Rogers SR 6-7/220 2.7 2.0 0.3 30 E. Ravenel JR 6-8/260 5.8 2.8 0.7 C 12 R. Glenn SO 6-8/246 9.3 4.4 0.9

Opponent

USC Upstate is a school of about 5,500 in the town of Spartanburg, SC, who is competing in their first season of D-1 hoops. Coach Eddie Payne is in his 10th year at the school and 26th overall as a head coach. He will sub quite often, with as many as 11 players averaging over 10 minutes a game. They gave Dayton a scare on Sunday before falling 72-68 and have beat Texas Pan-Am twice already, a team OSU beat by 29 in their first game without Sullinger.

The Spartans come into this game scoring 74.1 PPG on the strength of 46.7% shooting from the floor. They're not a team that will chuck it from deep at a frequent rate, attempting 169 of their 608 shots from beyond the arc thus far. They have made 50 of those 3's, for a 29.6% clip. They do a nice job of creating TO's off their opponents, with almost 10 steals per game, while dishing out 13.6 assists and turning it over 15.6 times themselves.

Torrey Craig and Ricardo Glenn are the only returning starters from last year, with Craig earning Freshman of the Year honors in the Atlantic Sun. Craig will step outside, attempting 66 of his 132 shots from there, making a third of them. Glenn will stay inside the arc, where he is connecting at a 55.7 percent clip, while also leading the team in FT attempts.

Leading the way off the pine will be Adrian Rodgers and Babatunde Olumuyiwa, who each will see close to 20 minutes. Rodgers is a 6'4" FR. who is the second leading scorer on the team at 9.7 PPG, while also grabbing almost 3 RPG. Olumuyiwa, a 6'8" SO., appeared in all 30 games last season and has made 31 of his 53 shots this year, good for 7 points a game, to go along with 4 RPG.

Also seeing significant minutes off the bench will be Carter Cook and Jodd Maxey, who each score around 5 points per game. Cook is a 6'5" SR. who has played all 4 years and is seeing less time this season, while Maxey is a 6'8" SO. who redshirted last year after his transfer from South Carolina State. Also getting time will be Fred Miller and Rob Elam, who combine for about 5 points.

Buckeye Breakdown:

The Buckeyes have won their games this year by an average of 24.5 points and there is no reason to believe that won't be the case again tonight, especially if Sullinger plays. OSU's shooting percentage took a dip last week and now sits at 49.5 percent, which still puts them 15th nationally. Their 80.8 PPG is good for 18th and the 18.4 APG puts them 9th. They are still struggling from deep, connecting on 32.8% and the FT shooting isn't headed in the right direction either, now sitting at 68 percent.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the last 2 games, as I was soaking up the sun in peaceful Mexico, but it's obvioulsy been a struggle since Sullinger has been out. Buford was 1/7 against UT-Pan Am and went 1/9 to start the Kansas game, before finishing 8/23. He still ended up with 21 at Kansas and has scored at least 20 in four of the last five. It will be interesting to see if he struggles shooting for a third straight game without Sullinger.

Ravenel has filled in admirably for Sully, going for 20 points and 12 boards in his 2 starts. He did have 4 TO's and fouled out in 25 minutes at Kansas, but also hit 10/12 from the line last week. The Amir Williams project will get more time tonight and hopefully he gets at least 15 minutes, like he has in Sully's absence. Williams will have at least 3 inches over every Spartan, so it would be great to see him creep up on 10 points and at least 8 boards.

The footsteps that Jordan Sibert is hearing are those of LaQuintin Ross, who is officially on the roster as of Monday. We had heard all summer that Ross was the best of this freshmen bunch and Sibert has been struggling lately and probably has about 6 more games to prove he is worthy of rotational minutes.

Sibert has hit just 8 of his last 25 shots, including 3/13 from deep over the last 6 games and now sits last on the team in FG and 3-point FG percentage. Matta said Ross has a lot to learn and doesn't understand what they are talking about right now, but expect him to push Sibert for those minutes after the first of the year. If he plays tonight, he'll be sporting his Troy Smith jersey.

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