After becoming the latest Buckeye to catch the flu bug that had been traveling throughout the team, junior Jon Diebler missed practice Tuesday and spent most of the night keeled over in his apartment’s bathroom.
But three days later, when OSU played UC Santa Barbara in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, it was Diebler that made the Gauchos sick.
In the Buckeyes’ 68-51 win Friday night, Diebler scored a game-high 23 points, including 14 in the first half, and threw in seven 3-pointers.
“I felt a lot better today,” Diebler said. “I was able to eat finally so I think I got a lot of my energy back. It’s the NCAA Tournament so your adrenaline is going to take over.”
OSU jumped out to an early 13-3 run, but UCSB responded with a 9-0 run to cut the lead to just a point. However, fueled by Diebler’s shooting, the Buckeyes answered with a 17-4 run to end the half and entered the break with 13-point lead.
Junior Evan Turner scored nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds, but was often visibly frustrated by seemingly constant harassment from UCSB’s defense that rarely resulted in a foul. Turner shot just 2-14 from the field.
“I thought that there were a couple things that were happening that I was trying to get changed as well,” OSU coach Thad Matta said. “He’s got to just keep the composure and keep playing through it.”
Although OSU junior Dallas Lauderdale was often forced to guard Gaucho center Greg Somogyi, who stands about seven inches taller than Lauderdale at 7-feet, 3-inches, the Buckeye center held his own on the defensive end. Lauderdale blocked eight shots and pulled down 12 rebounds to go along with his four points.
“I enjoy the physical game,” Lauderdale said. “I took playing against the 7’3″ guy and the other big guy as a personal challenge. Being able to stop them was just fun.”
The Buckeyes return to play Sunday against Georgia Tech in the second round of the tournament.
