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Buckeyes take Lancers to school
By Bob Duff , The Windsor Star

The Lancer players came to Windsor to shoot some hoops and pursue a higher education. Friday, they got schooled.

A few years from now, when Evan Turner is going up against Lebron James on basketball’s biggest stage, Windsor Lancers guard Andre Smyth will be able to point to the television and boast, ‘Yeah, I guarded him.’

“He’s an amazing player,” Smyth said. “I don’t even think he was putting that much effort in.

“I’m just trying to play him as hard as I can.”

Hard is the apt word to describe the Lancers’ task this weekend.

Back-to-back games against the Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Lancer players came to Windsor to shoot some hoops and pursue a higher education.

Friday, they got schooled.

A resounding 90-39 loss to the Buckeyes probably wasn’t a surprise to anyone outside of the vicinity of the Lancer bench.

It was likely anticipated by most.

Not by coach Chris Oliver, though. The Lancer bench boss sought to get that message through to his team, putting them through a 30-minute practice after the loss, not so much to punish them as to reinforce his lesson plan.

“I expected Ohio State to be very good and they were,” Oliver said. “I also expected us to compete a little bit better. I thought we struggled in a lot of areas.

“We understand it’s Ohio State. That doesn’t mean we roll over and we can’t compete.”

The crowd, which included a large contingent of scarlet-and-grey clad Buckeyes supporters, left the St. Denis Centre impressed.

So did the Lancers.

“It was a real eye-opener for me,” freshman guard Josh Collins said. “It lets us know what we’ve got to work on.”

Oliver was well aware of what those study requirements are.

“Can I just say ‘Everything?’” he wondered.

“We need to handle their ball pressure a lot better. We need to shoot a lot better. We shot 31 threes, so we need to attack a lot more inside. Defensively, we’ve got to start to play our philosophical defence.”

For Windsor, this two-game series - the rematch is tonight - offers the opportunity to test its mettle against the best that college basketball has to offer.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our team,” Smyth said.

The Buckeyes have played in the NCAA tournament in three of the past four years and were losing finalists to Florida in 2007.

So what’s in it for them?

“Number one, it puts us in a game situation,” Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said. “It puts us into structure.

“These guys are coming off of playing five months of pick-up basketball where there’s no defence being played and no passing. Getting in front of fans and referees, it’s good for us at this time of year.”

Windsor kept the game close for a bit, trailing 24-16 after one period. After a Collins three-pointer drew Windsor to within seven early in the second quarter, Ohio State went on an 18-0 run for a resounding 48-23 halftime advantage.

Turner, potentially a 2010 NBA first-round pick, finished the beat down with an impressive backwards over-the-shoulder finger roll into the hoop for the final pair of his 13 points.

“They missed some open shots and we kind of got rolling there,” Matta said.

The Lancers endured a stretch of 10:13 where they failed to register a point.

“We knew they were probably going to be a few pages ahead, just because they have their whole group back,” Oliver said. “They were impressive and they are going to be an impressive team.

“We’re going to look at what we can do a little better and we’re going to try to do that (Saturday) night.

“I’m glad we get a second chance.”

Lesson learned?

They’ll find out tonight.