Ohio State players say they didn't take Iowa lightly

IOWA CITY - Ohio State's veteran players have played Iowa too many times to relax when they come to Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Iowa (8-13, 2-6) beat the No. 20 Buckeyes (15-6, 5-3 Big Ten) two years ago in Iowa City and lost on a last-second blocked shot and a missed 3-pointer last year. The 65-57 final score last night failed to show how Iowa dictated the game's pace until the game's final three minutes.

"It's never been easy playing here," Ohio State junior David Lighty said. "Last year we got lucky. Dallas (Lauderdale) got a block at the end of the game for us. The year before that we lost here. So you never expect to come here and just blow a team out."

"We knew they were going to play tough," Ohio State junior Evan Turner said. "It was a crazy atmosphere. They played their butts off. They won three out of four and had confidence going into the game."

Iowa led by as many as seven points midway through the second half and by five with 4:44 left in the game. But Ohio State increased its defensive intensity, and Iowa couldn't handle the pressure.

"We said just keep playing hard. We felt like a run was coming," Turner said. "There was a lot of time left. We weren't really nervous; we just went out and made shots. We weren't really making shots. You knew sooner or later shots were going to fall."

Ohio State started trapping Iowa's guards late in the game, and the Hawkeyes failed to score on five straight possessions. That led to a 12-0 run the game's momentum shifted squarely to Ohio State.

"We started to speed it up," Lighty said. "We wanted to play our game a little bit more. We tried to pressure them a little bit and rebound and go."

Ohio State Coach Thad Matta said the team wasn't prepared to play Iowa.

"No. 1, they're tremendously defensively," Matta said. "No. 2, they are a team that takes an inordinate amount of 3-point shots. You've got to be disciplined, and we just weren't clicking offensively. I've got a feeling when I watch the tape, I'll see Iowa had a lot to do with that.

"Fortunately for us, we were able to get out in the second half and get some transition and that was the difference in the game for us."

Iowa's offense  also created problems for Ohio State with its constant movement and screens at the top of the key. Iowa hit 10 3-pointers on 31 3-point shots.

"They kept setting double, triple, quadruple, ball screens with their point guard coming off," Lighty said. " We give them a lot of credit. They made us play hard, rotate, and they hit a lot of big shots."