The Associated Press

Redd scored 20 of his 25 points in the first 20 minutes as the Buckeyes jumped to a 47-32 halftime lead Sunday and rolled to their eighth straight win, an 88-67 triumph over Michigan.

Monday, February 07, 2000

Redd scored 20 of his 25 points in the first 20 minutes as the Buckeyes jumped to a 47-32 halftime lead Sunday and rolled to their eighth straight win, an 88-67 triumph over Michigan.

”We wanted to come out and jump on them early,” said Redd, who scored 11 points down the stretch to spark a comeback win at St. John’s last month. ”Our defense was doing a nice job and that opened up a few shots for me.”

George Reese, off the bench, also scored 25 points for the No. 5 Buckeyes (16-3, 7-1 Big Ten), aiming for a return trip to the Final Four.

Reese, thriving in his role as Ohio State’s sixth man, benefited from a matchup with Michigan freshman LaVell Blanchard.

”He’s as big as Reese, but I think Reese had a little edge with his experience,” Ohio State coach Jim O’Brien said.

Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe agreed that putting a freshman on Reese was asking a lot.

”We knew how good he is,” Ellerbe said. ”I think he’s probably the most improved player in the league. It’s just a tough matchup.”

The Wolverines (12-7, 3-5), who lost their fourth straight, finished with 16 turnovers and had the ball stolen nine times.

Ohio State’s defense was a big factor in those numbers.

But the Buckeyes also were aided by the fact that Michigan was playing without freshman Jamal Crawford. He sat out the second of six games the NCAA has suspended him from because of his living arrangements while in high school.

”We’re going to have to focus on playing without him,” said freshman Kevin Gaines, who managed just six points filling in at the point for Crawford. ”We miss him. He’s our leading scorer and it puts a lot of responsibility on other guys to score.”

O’Brien conceded that Crawford’s absence was a plus for the Buckeyes.

”It affects them greatly,” O’Brien said. ”We would be hard-pressed to take one of our leading scorers away. It was definitely to our advantage that he didn’t play.

”For their sake, I hope it goes away. They’ve got a good program. I wish they could get down to playing, instead of dealing with this stuff.”

Blanchard scored 21 points and Josh Asselin added 15 for Michigan.

The game was tied at 14 when a dunk by Reese triggered a 15-4 Ohio State burst. Reese, who had six points during the run, gave the Buckeyes a 29-18 lead on a layup with 7:06 left in the half.

The freshmen-led Wolverines, coming off an 82-62 loss Tuesday night to Michigan State, never were in synch during the first 20 minutes. Just bringing the ball up the court became a chore for Michigan, despite only a moderate press by the Buckeyes.

The second half was more of the same.

Ohio State opened with successive 3-pointers by Brian Brown and Redd, triggering a 20-7 run. A soft hook shot by Ken Johnson gave the Buckeyes a 67-39 lead with 13:48 remaining.

Johnson, who leads the nation in blocked shots, swatted away five, giving him 98 for the season.

Ellerbe said he liked the Buckeyes chances of making a repeat trip to the Final Four.

”Obviously, Penn and Redd are very good players and Ken Johnson is a factor defensively,” Ellerbe said. ”But I’m equally impressed with Brian Brown and George Reese.

”They have a really good team with a lot of good parts, and they could go really far.”