By Bruce Hooley
FOX Sports Ohio
January 26th, 2011
The national television audience, the electrified home crowd and the 24 NBA scouts in attendance lasered their collective attention on the big men Tuesday night at Value City Arena.
But they left talking about the little man.
The more top-ranked Ohio State wins, the longer the Buckeyes remain unbeaten, and however far they go in the NCAA Tournament, it's becoming clear OSU will get there as much because of freshman point guard Aaron Craft as freshman center Jared Sullinger.
Sullinger, the 6-foot-9, 280-pounder from Columbus, is no small reason Thad Matta's team is now 21-0 after its 87-64 rout of 12th-ranked Purdue.
His 17 points and 7 rebounds made the matchup against Boilermakers senior JuJuan Johson, who had 22 and 7, worthy of the pre-game build-up.
The signature highlights of the night, however, belonged to Craft.
Twice in a three-minute span of the first half, when the anticipated nail-biter was deteriorating into a rout, the 6-2 OSU point guard made Johnson look silly on drives down the lane.
The first came with the 6-10 Johnson stalking him in transition as Craft approached the basket from the left wing.
Craft dribbled right, to his strong side, and Johnson readied to reject the attempt. But then Craft lost him with a spin to the left and twisting, left-hand scoop shot off glass.
Johnson was square and defending the hoop in their next encounter, but Craft's hesitation dribble drew the Purdue center a step closer than was prudent and Craft then blew past him to score again.
The mystery of how Ohio State can be a bigger threat to win it all this year without national player-of-the-year Evan Turner than they were a year ago with him was revealed right there in that span.
Sure, Sullinger is unquestionably the biggest reason for OSU's improvement, providing the perfect low-post threat for the four-out-one-in system Matta runs.
The Buckeyes' big man is a willing passer out of double-teams in the post, making their three-point marksmanship a constant threat, as evidenced by 11-of-19 success from long range against Purdue.
Besides the passing skills, Sullinger is next-to-impossible to defend 1-on-1 because of a rear end the size of Ohio Stadium and the savvy to make it work for him on the low block.
"Jared Sullinger is a good player," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "I played with Glenn Robinson, and I saw teams throw a lot of defenses at Glenn Robinson. We just used to laugh, because there was no one way to defend him.
"They've put some good players around Sullinger. When you have those kinds of shooters, with a guy who can score and pass like he can, it makes it tough."
As the national high school player of the year and a two-time Ohio Mr. Basketball, Sullinger's impact is no surprise.
But Craft, who ties the entire package together, has been a revelation for the Buckeyes.
He was the next-to-last addition to Matta's six-member recruiting class, and gives OSU at the point what Turner did not
