THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2012
BASKETBALL
PAGE 7B
Michigan State's defense outlasts Ohio State
Michigan State's Brandon Wood (30), Keith Appling (11) and Branden Dawson (22) celebrate their 58-48 win over Ohio State in an NCAA college basketball game. Saturday, in Columbus, Ohio.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Big Ten's best shooting team over the first 11 conference games was far from its best on Saturday.
Thanks in large part to trimranked Michigan State's withering, physical defense, No. 3 Ohio State hit just 26 percent from the field — almost half as good as its 49 percent coming in — in a surprising 58-48 loss on Saturday
"We looked out of sync," he said after hitting just five of 15 shots from the field. "If we executed our offense, I think some of those shots would have gone in. We went out of our system. Everybody didn't pay attention to plays, didn't run plays correctly."
"Look at the final score," he said. "Not so well."
Jared Sullinger hit his average with 17 points and added 16 rebounds, but he said the culprit in the defense was that the Buckeyes lost track of who they are.
"It's got to be a learning experience for a relatively young basketball team," he said. "We have to look at why we didn't play well. We have to get those things corrected. First and foremost, we've got to stay together."
Coach Thad Matta said this could be a turning point for his team.
Asked how the Buckeyes handled Michigan State's defense, point guard Aaron Craft had a simple answer.
Had the Buckeyes (21-4, 9-3) won, they would have owned a two-game stranglehold on the Big Ten with six games left. Now they're deadlocked atop the league with the Spartans (20-5, 9-3). And Michigan State hosts the rematch in East Lansing on March 4.
"You're still sitting atop the conference," Matta said. "We'll see what kind of a team we have when we come back tomorrow for practice."
Ohio native Adreian Payne scored 15 points, Keith Appling 14 and Draymond Green had 12 for Michigan State, which snapped a three-game losing skid to the Buckeyes while erasing Ohio State's 39-game home winning streak.
The Spartans built a 10-point lead at the half and never allowed
the Buckeyes to get closer than four points in the second half.
Sullinger, usually a threat to toss quick passes back to perimeter shooters, was attacked from all angles by Michigan State's cloying defense. He ended up with 10 turnovers.
He said the Spartans were no more physical than anybody else in the conference.
"That's every night in the Big Ten," he said.
Ohio State pulled to 44-40 on a 15-footer by Sullinger with 6:24 left, but Appling hit two free throws and Derrick Nix coaxed in a baby hook to push the lead back to eight.
Payne followed by banking in a left-handed shot over Sullinger, before Sullinger was called for a
charge to pick up his four foul with two minutes left. Green then drove around Depaush Thomas for a baseline layup to stretch the lead to 10.
Ohio State never got closer than eight again.
Deshaun Thomas and William Buford, averaging a combined 30 points, totaled just 12 — each hitting just two of 12 shots from
"We had a couple guys who defended pretty well, we had a couple of guys when we got it in the post scored, we had a couple
guys kick it out, we had a couple of big threes in the first half," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "In general, we played pretty good, maybe one of our best games in a lot of ways — and we still barely beat them."
the field.
No wonder the Buckeyes were held 29 points under their season scoring average.
"Defensively we probably did a good enough job — not a great job — but a good enough job to win the game," Matta said. "It all came down to our inability to put the ball in the basket today."
GOLF
Phil Mickelson's close victory over Tiger Woods stuns crowd
Tiger Woods shakes hands with Phil Mickelson on the 18th green at Pebble Beach Golf Links during the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National
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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — He knew his game was getting close, and he broke through with flair Sunday in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
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That turned out to be Phil Mickelson, not Tiger Woods.
In a big, big way.
Mickelson went from a six-shot deficit to a two-shot lead in just six holes, closed with an 8-under 64 for a two-shot victory over Charlie Wi and gave Woods a Sunday thrashing not many saw coming.
Mickelson and Woods played in the second-to-last group, and Mickelson beat him by 11 shots. He won for the fourth time at Pebble Beach, and became only the ninth player in PGA Tour history with 40 wins.
"Pebble Beach ... it feels awesome no matter what number it is," Mickelson said.
It was anything but that for Woods, who was reduced to a supporting role on a cool, overcast day along the Pacific. Right when it looked as though Woods might still be in the game after holing a bunker shot for birdie on the par-3 12th. Mickelson answered by pouring in a 30-foot par putt.
Mickelson seized control for good with a 40-foot par save on the 15th hole, and he played it safe - Mickelson is capable of that every once in a while - on the 18th hole and still made birdie.
Wi, who started the final round with a three-shot lead, four-putted for double bogey on the opening hole and never quite recovered. He closed with back-to-back birdies for an even-par 72 and his fifth runner-up finish on tour.
It was the third straight week on tour that the winner started the final round at least six shots behind a 54- hole leader going after his first tour victory.
The shocker, though, was how Woods fell apart.
He has been taking big strides with his game over the past few months, and he looked poised to break through after a 67 in the third round at Pebble Beach got him to within four shots of the lead.
But he failed to make birdie on the easy opening stretch at Pebble Beach, and even when he made his first birdie at the par-5 sixth. Mickelson poured in a 20-foot eagle putt to take the outright lead.
"I didn't hit it as bad as the score indicated, but I putted awful," Woods said. "As good as I felt on the greens yesterday, I felt bad today. Anything I tried to do was not working. Consequently, I made a ton of mistakes on the green."
Woods used to own Mickelson, but that changed at the 2007 Deutsche Bank Championship. This was the fifth straight time Mickelson posted the better score when playing in the same group as Woods in the final round.
Two weeks ago in his 2012 debut at Abu Dhabi, Woods was tied for the lead with unheralded Robert Rock going into the final round and didn't break part, tying for third.
Mickelson started his season sluggishly, failing to crack the top 25 at the Humana Challenge and Phoenix Open, and missing the cut at Torrey Pines. He said his putting was as good as ever, and it was a matter of getting his game in svnc.
It simply sang on Sunday, mostly his amazing touch on the greens — a long eagle putt at No. 2 that caught part of the hole, long two-putts for par and enough birdies to make him a winner at Pebble Beach again.
Mickelson has won three of those tournaments, although they have yet to be in the final group on those occasions.
"It ites just amazing." Mickelson said. "I felt like my game was there."
Mickelson finished at 17-under 269 and earned $1.152 million for his first win since the Houston Open last year. He will move to No. 11 in the world.
but coming out the first couple of weeks, I posted some horrendous scores and started to question it. To be able to play the way I did the last 18 holes really means a lot."
Ricky Barnes closed with a 67 and finished third. Kevin Na tied for fifth and earned a spot in the Match Play Championship in two weeks at Arizona.
Mickelson nearly holed an eagle putt across the second green; Woods missed a 5-foot birdie putt that stayed two inches above the hole. Mickelson holed a 15-foot birdie putt down the hill at the fourth; Woods had a 30-foot putt up the hill that was 3 feet short. Mickelson's tee shot on the par-3 fifth settled a foot from the cup. Woods missed his birdie putt from 12 feet.
Yes, there was a big charge at Pebble Beach — from Lefty.
Mickelson started the day six
Wi talked about battling the
demons of self-doubt, and they must have had the first green surrounded. Equipped with a three-shot lead to start the final round, Wi four-putted from 35 feet above the hole for a double bogey.
That still wasn't enough for Woods to get in on the action. Standing in the sixth fairway, Woods was only one shot out of the lead, yet the sleeves of his red shirt and his name on the leaderboard didn't seem to make him stand out the way it has before.
shots behind and went two shots ahead with an eagle on the sixth hole. Woods then vanished in a series of blunders — missing a two ans a half-foot par putt on the seventh, missed a 5-foot par putt on the eighth, and a third straight bogey at No. 9 when he hit his approach into the bunker.
The only hope for Woods came on the 12th, when he held his bunker shot. It looked like it might be a two-shot swing, pulling him to within three of the lead, untilMickelson made his 30-footer for par.
Just like that, the game was on.
The opening holes had something
to do with that, and watching Mick-
elson play alongside him.
.