COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Duggar Baucom was asked what his VMI team got out of a 107-74 loss at No. 3 Ohio State on Wednesday night.
“Eighty-five thousand dollars, to be perfectly honest,” he cracked.
William Buford scored 23 points and Jared Sullinger added 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Buckeyes past the Keydets, pulling away in the second half.
Baucom said there were many more benefits that can be accrued from playing against a good team before 13,660 fans.
“It’s a great experience for our guys to play in this kind of an arena,” he said. “We don’t play in front of 13,000 very often. This is our third trip up here (to play Ohio State). We always say, `We’ll play; it’s just going to cost you.”’
Keith Gabriel led VMI (3-2) with 21 points, with Ron Burks adding 19 and Stan Okoye 12. The Keydets were playing their first ranked opponent since a 107-69 loss to then-No. 4 Ohio State on Nov. 10, 2006. That Buckeyes team went on to the national championship game before falling to defending NCAA champion Florida, 84-75.
The Keydets came in averaging 88.2 points a game (allowing 82) while pumping up a shot every 34 seconds. Early on, the Buckeyes beat them at their own game by hurrying back against the press for easy baskets. Sullinger made all four first-half field-goals, all from within a step of the basket.
Aaron Craft had 13 points and eight assists, Deshaun Thomas 11 points and J.D. Weatherspoon 10 points for the Buckeyes (5-0), who shot 68 percent from the field. Ohio State led by as many as 20 points early on before VMI came back to cut the lead to nine at 52-43 with just over a minute left in the half.
“They’re a real good team,” Buford said of the Keydets. “In transition in the first half, they were real good. We couldn’t really stop them. We just stayed with it and we were making shots on offense and getting rebounds and pushing it and Craft was breaking their press. It made it easy for us.”
Ohio State led by 13 at the half after shooting 70 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Sullinger then scored on three easy baskets inside to open the second half and the Buckeyes later went on a 23-3 run to put the game out of reach.
“The difference in the game, it was 13 at the half and they came out and pounded it into Jared and he got some baskets,” Baucom said. “Then, uncharacteristically, we turned it over which turned into transition (baskets).”
Buford, the only senior on Ohio State’s roster, had hit just 8 of 23 field-goal attempts in Ohio State’s last two games and was shooting just 41.7 percent from the field on the season. But he made 10 of 16 shots from the field, including both 3-point attempts and his only foul shot.
The Buckeyes ran their home winning streak to 27 in a row, and can tie the third-longest streak in school history when they host Valparaiso on Friday night. They play their first eight games at home before visiting No. 14 Kansas on Dec. 10.
“They are as advertised,” Baucom said.
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Follow Rusty Miller on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rustymillerap .
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