The Ohio State junior matched a career high with 32 points to lead the 13th-ranked Buckeyes to a 68-58 Big Ten victory over Iowa.
Turner was on the court for every minute of OSU’s second win over the Hawkeyes in 12 days, knocking down 12 of 22 shots, grabbing seven rebounds, dishing out five assists and stealing four passes. He did not have a turnover.
“He showed us how good he is,” Iowa’s Eric May said during an interview on the Learfield Sports postgame show. “Evan doesn’t just score the ball. He averages a ton of assists and is a good team player. You have to have some help with him, but I felt like I didn’t do a good enough job on him.”
May drew the primary assignment of guarding the 6-foot-7 forward who scored 14 of his points in the final 7 minutes, 21 seconds.
“He got the ball in the basket a lot. It wasn’t a performance I was proud of,” May said.
Turner answered OSU’s 6:45 a.m. (CST) wake-up call for the 11 a.m. game but conceded he was playing on little rest after staying up to watch Illinois throw the conference race into a scramble by handing Michigan State its second straight Big Ten loss Saturday night.
“We went to bed a little late, but we came out and competed and got the job done,” said Turner, who didn’t feel his effort was among his best.
“I missed a lot of shots. It was a different type of game. I still like my triple-double games the best.”
The Buckeyes didn’t need that type of performance from Turner on Sunday as they won their seventh consecutive Big Ten game.
Ohio State feasted on 14 Iowa turnovers, turning them into 20 points.
Nine came during the first half, and that was enough for the Buckeyes to overcome a 52.7 percent shooting start from the field by the Hawkeyes and maintain a 32-27 lead at the half.
The turnover total was Iowa’s highest in four games, and many were unforced.
“The turnovers we’re making don’t make much sense,” Hawkeyes coach Todd Lickliter said. “They’re ones that are avoidable. If Turner gets you into the paint, you’ve got a big problem stopping him. You have to control the things you can control and we didn’t do that.”
Ohio State (18-6, 8-3 Big Ten) scored nine of the first 11 points in the second half, opening a 41-29 lead on a 3-pointer by Jon Diebler with 16:38 remaining.
The Hawkeyes, led by May’s 16 points, did cut the Buckeyes lead to single digits on five occasions down the stretch, but Iowa (8-16, 2-9) could come no closer than eight points as Turner answered frequently over the final minutes to help OSU improve to 15-0 at home.
“I thought we took care of business,” said Diebler, who complemented Turner’s performance with a 12-point game. “That’s what we have to do on our own court in the Big Ten.’’
Iowa items
- Aaron Fuller recorded his third double-double of the season, finishing with 11 points and equaling a career high with 10 rebounds.
- Eric May’s 16 points led balanced scoring by Iowa. The Hawkeyes had four double-digit scorers for the just fourth time this season.
- Anthony Tucker was in uniform for Sunday’s game, but did not see any playing time.
- The Hawkeyes return home Wednesday, hosting Northwestern at 7:30 p.m.
jack wrote on Feb 7, 2010 8:34 PM: