Young Buckeyes Do OK in Big Ten Debut

Wednesday, January 3rd 2007, 6:22 am

By: News On 6

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ The new Buckeyes made an impressive Big Ten debut. Greg Oden scored a career-high 21 points, Othello Hunter had 14 and Mike Conley Jr. added nine points and 10 assists for No. 6 Ohio State in a 74-67 victory over Indiana on Tuesday night.

The first college conference game was a big deal even for Oden, the nation's top high school player last season who has made quite a splash as a freshman with the Buckeyes.

``I was a little nervous,'' the 7-foot Oden said. ``It was a big, physical game, and Coach told us it would be really tough.''

Thad Matta didn't lie to his team as the Buckeyes (12-2, 1-0 Big Ten) had to overcome a 12-of-22 3-point shooting effort by Indiana (9-4, 0-1) to improve to 10-0 at home this season.

``We made key shots at the end and got some big stops on defense during that time,'' Matta said. ``Indiana held the ball a little bit and wanted the tempo their way, and we had to keep guys' minds right, not getting frustrated.''

The big defensive plays were two blocks by Hunter, a junior college transfer, of D.J. White, and an emphatic block by Oden of a layup by Armon Bassett after the Hoosiers had closed to 72-67 with about a minute to play.

Oden and Hunter combined for all of Ohio State's seven blocks and they helped to hold White to 11 points on 3-of-14 shooting.

``He's 7 feet, but I had my shots and I need to finish around the rim,'' White said of Oden. ``Greg did alter my shot some, but I just missed.''

In other games involving ranked teams on Tuesday, it was: No. 3 Florida 89, Liberty 58; No. 5 Duke 73, Temple 55; No. 11 Texas A&M 71, Winthrop 51; No. 12 Oklahoma State 129, Southwestern Oklahoma State 77; and No. 18 Connecticut 69, South Florida 50.

Conley, who played with Oden on three consecutive state championship teams at Indianapolis' Lawrence North High School, ran the Buckeyes' offense and had three of their four steals.

``I thought Conley had a great feel for what was going on tonight. I have great faith in him,'' Matta said.

Freshman Joey Shaw led Indiana with a career-high 16 points, going 4-of-7 from 3-point range. Bassett, also a freshman, was 3-of-4 on 3s and scored 13 points, and Lance Stemler went 3-of-5 beyond the arc and had 11 points.

Indiana led 47-43 with 12 minutes to play when Ohio State went on an 11-2 run to take the lead for good.

``I thought at that point that their kids really responded,'' said Hoosiers' first-year coach Kelvin Sampson, who was in his first game in the Big Ten. ``They're a good team. They've got a lot of weapons.''

No. 3 Florida 89, Liberty 58

Joakim Noah scored 15 points and Al Horford had 12 points and 11 rebounds for host Florida (13-2), which shot 62 percent from the field, outscored Liberty 52-26 in the paint and finished with a 46-19 rebound advantage.

Anthony Smith had 18 points for the Flames (6-8), who have lost seven straight overall and 19 in a row on the road.

No. 5 Duke 73, Temple 55

Josh McRoberts had a career-high 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Blue Devils (13-1), who extended the nation's longest nonconference home winning streak to 51 games. Duke won for the seventh straight time in the series with Temple and has won nine consecutive games overall.

Dionte Christmas of the Owls (6-6), who came in as the Atlantic 10's leading scorer at 20.8 points per game, finished with 15 on 5-for-15 shooting.

No. 11 Texas A&M 71, Winthrop 51

Acie Law had 22 points and eight assists and Josh Carter added 15 points, all on 3-pointers, for the Aggies (12-2), who closed the game on a 22-9 run.

Michael Jenkins had 13 points for visiting Winthrop (10-4), which shot 44 percent from the field against a team that had been allowing opponents to shoot only 33 percent this season.

No. 12 Oklahoma St. 129, Southwestern Oklahoma St. 77

Mario Boggan scored a career-high 36 points and JamesOn Curry added 31 for the host Cowboys (14-1), who posted their first 100-point game since Jan. 30, 2005 (104-86 over Colorado), and broke the school record of 127 points, set Dec. 3, 1977, against Santa Fe.

Ryan Mann had 15 points for the Division II Bulldogs (10-1), who entered averaging 93.1 points per game.

No. 18 Connecticut 69 South Florida 50

Jeff Adrien had 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Huskies (12-1, 1-1 Big East), who bounced back from their first loss of the season by extending their home winning streak to 31 games. UConn led 39-25 at halftime and opened the second half with an 11-0 run.

Melvin Buckley had 17 points for the Bulls (9-6, 0-1).