NCAA Tournament Game 2, vs Ohio State (2014-2015)

[UAEebs86]

First win for Miller at Arizona over a Big-10 team.

You mean in the tourney right?

[ASUHATER!]

First win for Miller at Arizona over a Big-10 team.

I distinctly remember beating Michigan twice in the last 16 months

[catgrad97]

First win for Miller at Arizona over a Big-10 team.

You mean in the tourney right?

Yes. First career tourney win for Miller over Big 10 school too IIRC.

[In re UofA]

Proud of the defense on #0 today. He should know who the best defenders are now. RHJ and TJM did great.

[michcat]

First win for Miller at Arizona over a Big-10 team.

In the tournament...

[AZCatGirl]

Proud of the defense on #0 today. He should know who the best defenders are now. RHJ and TJM did great.

Nope.

[UAEebs86]

[Alieberman]

Kevin Parrom loves his Cats. He is all over my Twitter feed!

[azcat49]

Proud of the defense on #0 today. He should know who the best defenders are now. RHJ and TJM did great.

Nope.

3-19 speaks otherwise young man

[EVCat]

If it is OK with everyone, I think I will read this thread after-the-fact starting at page 15, working backward until I hit the early 2nd half.

I'll leave what had to be a total shit-storm in pages 3 through 9 or so for the imagination...

[Chicat]

Proud of the defense on #0 today. He should know who the best defenders are now. RHJ and TJM did great.

Nope.

3-19 speaks otherwise young man

http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/ ... aa_to.html

D'Angelo Russell carried Ohio State all year, but his shot failed the Buckeyes in loss to Arizona: NCAA Tournament 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. -- D'Angelo Russell put his right hand on the back of his chair in the locker room and scooted forward. There was no shying away from what was about to happen, and even the freshman was old enough to know it.

Russell looked up at the horizontally-held iPhone, the one temporarily substituting as a camcorder, then turned to a teammate and said, "Uh oh," accompanied with a nervous chuckle.

The confident remarks he made the previous day came back to mind. Couple those with a 3-of-19 shooting performance in No. 10 Ohio State's 73-58 loss to No. 2 Arizona, and there was some explaining to do.

The same question had to be asked again: "Who is the best defender you've faced all year?"

Russell responded the same exact way as the previous day. The confident way. The only way.

"Nobody," he said.

But that wasn't true. Maybe there wasn't an individual opposing player deserving of all the credit, but the Arizona trio of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, T.J. McConnell and Elliott Pitts had something to do with Russell's terrible night, which was only the second time all year he failed to reach double-digits in scoring. He finished with nine.

Arizona's size bothered him. That's what good defense does. But Russell got looks, and when he did, the ball just didn't go down, which is why the freshman had a hard time crediting the opposition.

"I just missed shots," Russell said. "If I would have made shots, I feel like you all would understand what I'm saying. I missed shots, so I guess you can credit whoever was guarding me. But I had a few clean looks. I just couldn't buy a bucket."

It's hard to blame Russell for reacting like that. He has a scorer's mentality and he had become so accustomed to getting hot and changing games. He did it all year. But when it mattered the most, against an elite opponent in Arizona with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line, Russell was a freshman.

"I kept thinking he was going to catch fire there, as he's done so many times this year, but unfortunately it was just one where the ball was going down for him," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "But he's had a heck of a freshman year, and we were going to ride him all the way."

That's why it's hard for Ohio State to accept the way its season ended. The Buckeyes were big underdogs and they weren't supposed to beat Arizona, but they actually got what they needed from Russell's often-fleeting supporting cast.

D'Angelo Russell after Arizona loss Ohio State freshman D'Angelo Russell meets with the media after his tough shooting night in the No. 10 Buckeyes' 73-58 loss to No. 2 Arizona in Portland on Saturday.
It wasn't like Ohio State's other losses when Russell lit it up and the rest of the team played like a dud. The senior class -- one that has taken the brunt of deserved criticism the last month -- produced.

Sam Thompson scored a game-high 18 points, Shannon Scott added 10 and Amir Williams made some plays in the post that required an extra bit of energy. If Ohio State would have known that would have been the production from the seniors before the game, the Buckeyes would have liked their odds.

D'Angelo Russell vs. ArizonaOhio State guard D'Angelo Russell had a really rough shooting night vs. Arizona. The Buckeyes couldn't overcome that. Craig Mitchelldyer, AP

Which brings us back to reality. This was a team that was always going to live and die by the freshman. Even when the supporting cast does what it's supposed to do -- provide support -- there's no way the Buckeyes could beat a team like Arizona with Russell not locating his shot.

"I know what my job is on the team, so if I'm missing shots, I am always in the position where I have to shoot more," Russell said.

"I can't pass up open looks. Anybody on the other team, if they air-ball one and get wide open on the next look, they might not have to shoot it. The position I am in, though, I have to shoot those shots.

"When I am making them, it's good. But when I'm missing, it's bad."

Russell doesn't miss them very often, which is why he became one of the most electrifying players in college basketball. This is probably the end of the road for Russell at Ohio State. He's a projected top-five pick in the NBA Draft, which means starting right now he has become a pro.

And part of being a pro is taking your lumps when you don't live up to your job.

So here's one final question: Who else's shoulders does Ohio State's loss fall on outside of Russell's?

Nobody.

[Katzenfreund]

.

[IndianaZonaFan]

Made this at work yesterday.

[PieceOfMeat]

[Merkin]

Well done man!

[Longhorned]

That was Kimble the PAC ref who took Tarc out of the game on the clean deflection