Jared Sullinger had a chance to be this year's Evan Turner, with the ball in his hands as the final seconds ticked off the clock in regulation. Evan Turner's half court buzzer beater in last year's Big Ten Tournament cemented his legacy as an Ohio State Buckeye, Sullingers's missed fall away jumper left the freshman with some work to do. And work he did scoring 9 points in the overtime period and being generally unstoppable down low. His late game heroics may not be as spectacular as Turner's but his 18 points, 18 rebounds definitely makes him a force to be reckoned with.
Sullinger it seems was just about the only Buckeye that Northwestern couldn't stop. The Northwestern Wildcats lost by just one point earlier this year to Ohio State and didn't miss a beat in Indianapolis as the Wildcat defense, dogged the Buckeyes all afternoon, holding them to less than 33% from the field in regulation and just 2-13 from three.
The Buckeyes poor shooting led to several opportunities for Northwestern to pull away and win the game in regulation, but credit must go to Thad Matta's players who were absolutely suffocating on defense, especially down the stretch.
What may be forgotten from this game, due to the eventual outcome, was just how well John Shurna played, scoring 23 points off of 13 shots, and draining some of the most difficult jumpers seen so far in this tournament.
Ohio State advances to the Big Ten semi finals tomorrow, while Northwestern must once again wait for their first invitation to the NCAA tournament.