PORTLAND — Ohio State freshman D’Angelo Russell may very well be one of the top picks in the upcoming NBA draft if he decides to leave school. But the Arizona Wildcats proved to be too much Saturday for he and his Ohio State Buckeyes, 73-58.
Arizona’s TJ McConnell stole the show, racking up 19 points, six rebounds, six assists and five steals to lead his team to a trip to the Sweet 16 in Los Angeles next week.
“He controlled the whole game, whole pace” Russell said of McConnell who finished with 19 points, six rebounds, six assists, five steals and just one turnover.
Russell continued: “I don’t know man, he looked like a lottery pick or something out there. He was just finding everybody, he had positive vibe about him. He put the ball in the hole. It was basically him out there. He was unbelievable, honestly.”
Reserve guard Gabe York’s red-hot shooting was a card up Arizona head coach Sean Miller’s sleeve in the second half. York’s shooting forced the Buckeyes out of their zone defense and he scored 19 points off the bench, including five 3-pointers.
While he impressed with his court vision and unleashed passes that turned into instant vine videos, Russell was just 3-of-19 from the field. The Arizona defense did everything in their power to slow him down, in a game in which he needed the total package to pull the upset.
The attention that Arizona’s players and coaches paid to Russell every time he touched the ball never wavered as he finished 3-for-19 from the field.
“You know, they had great length out there,” said Ohio State head coach Thad Matta of Arizona’s defense on Russell. “Obviously they were committing two guys to him off the ball screen and did a really nice job. You know, with that length, it was a little bit difficult to see around. But I thought he had some great looks at the basket.”
“He’s a very talented scorer, as he goes, they go,” said Arizona big man Brandon Ashley of Russell. “We wanted to make sure we took him out of the game as best we could and force other people to step up.”
Arizona seemed confused by they type of 2-3 zone the Buckeyes were running at the outset. But when York began to hit shots and the Wildcats got the ball to the middle, it made softened the Buckeyes up.
After both scoring over 20 in the second round, Arizona’s Stanley Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson struggled from the field. They finished a combined 4-of-24 but played a huge part in Arizona’s team defense.
After a beautiful dish to a cutting teammate for a basket in the first half, Russell yelled to TNT broadcaster Reggie Miller, pointed to his number 0 on his jersey late in the second half, which he chose because “nobody can guard him.”
Ohio State led for much of the first half but Arizona took a 26-25 lead with under minute left to play in the 1st half and held it into the intermission.
In the second half, the Wildcats picked up where they left off. And unfortunately for the Buckeyes, so did Russell’s jump shot. The Wildcats quickly pushed the lead to as high as 19.
Russell and the Buckeyes missed multiple chances to make things interesting down the stretch.
The Wildcats will play the Xavier Musketeers in a regional semifinal next week. Arizona’s head coach Sean Miller was the head coach at Xavier from 2004 to 2009.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
