Ohio State served notice to the nation that they are still a force to be reckoned with, demolishing Florida 93-75 on the road. While Evan Turner was in Cleveland scoring 16 points for the 76ers, the Buckeyes didn’t miss a beat without him, scoring at a crazy 1.42 points per possession clip on the strength of a lofty 70.2 effective field goal percentage. Only twice last season did Ohio State post a higher efficiency, and the opponents in those games were St. Francis (PA) and Eastern Michigan. Considering the opposition and setting, this was the most impressive performance by the Buckeyes since… I don’t know when. Seriously, I can’t find a more impressive offensive performance. The shellacking of Minnesota in last season’s Big Ten title game is probably the closest thing. Either Florida’s defense is a lot worse than everyone expects it to be, or Ohio State has an elite offense. I’m going with the latter.

The Buckeyes followed the same formula that served them so well last season: shoot extremely well and limit turnovers. Like last season, Ohio State rarely got to the foul line and also didn’t do much damage on the offensive glass.  When you hit 73 percent on twos and 43 percent on threes, you don’t really need to trifle with those other things.

It’s probably a bit nitpicky, but Ohio State’s defensive efficiency (1.14 points per possession) wasn’t all that good. Some of that is because of the opponent—Florida should have a top 10 offense this season—but you’d still like to see that number a bit lower. In fact, the only thing that kept the Gators from matching Ohio State’s excellence was a high turnover rate (27.4 percent). Regardless, it’s hard to complain about an 18 point road win over a top 10 opponent.

Thad Matta showed his typical substitution patterns. That is to say, he basically played six guys. The four returning starters were joined by freshmen Jared Sullinger and Aaron Craft, and both showed that they belong. Sullinger posted a 26-10 double-double on 17 shots, a phenomenal performance, but I was most surprised by the steady play of Craft. For all the talk of Ohio State not having a true point guard, they may actually have one. Craft handled Florida’s full court pressure pretty well and finished with a line of 7 points, 5 assists, and 3 turnovers. Of course, the real distributor was William Buford, who put up 16 points, 8 assists, and just 1 turnover, but Craft looked a lot more competent than I expected.

The plus/minus data is even more complimentary of Craft; he finished with a +15 in his 29 minutes, and Ohio State’s offensive efficiency was much higher when he was on the floor (1.57 PPP with Craft vs 1.12 PPP without). On the defensive side, as you’d expect, having Dallas Lauderdale in the game made the biggest difference (1.00 PPP with Lauderdale vs 1.32 PPP without). Freshman Deshaun Thomas played just 8 minutes, during which Ohio State was 9 points worse than Florida. This isn’t very surprising when you see that Thomas took a shot diet of 42 percent and made just 1 of 5 shots. Thad Matta knows that his well-oiled machine doesn’t really need a chucker that isn’t hitting.

The rest of Tuesday’s Big Ten-related action was less interesting:

• Penn State grinded out a defensive win over St. Joseph’s, 66-57. Both teams shot poorly and turned it over too much, but the Nittany Lions achieved separation by getting to the foul line and knocking them down.  Jeff Brooks contributed 18 points and 9 rebounds, while Talor Battle posted a 15/5/5 line.

• Iowa shook off their season-opening loss to beat up on Louisiana-Monroe 68-40. This was an ugly game, with a third of all possessions ending in a turnover, but the Hawkeyes shot well and the Warhawks didn’t. The 0.54 PPP allowed is the best defensive efficiency from the Hawkeyes since the Steve Alford era. Oh, and Iowa’s drastic tempo makeover continued (74 possessions). Freshman Zach McCabe led the way with 12 points on 10 shots, but the most impressive night belonged to Cully Payne (7 points, 7 assists, 1 turnover). Methinks these guys will like being able to score 68 points without being crazy efficient.

• Wisconsin put on another of their efficiency fests at the expense of North Dakota, 85-53. The Badgers scored 1.35 PPP with great shooting and lots of offensive boards. Wisconsin focused inside, as they took just 22 percent of their shots from three. Jon Leuer scored 22 points on just 10 shots to go along with 6 boards and 7 assists. Keaton Nankivil scored 17 points on 8 shots.

• Indiana struggled a bit with Mississippi Valley State (Snoopy the Musical, I owe you on this one), as the Hoosiers led by just 4 at the half, but a 22-3 run to start the second stanza put the Delta Devils away (why does MVSU’s mascot sound like it was chosen by Kenneth the Page?). The big difference was turnovers; Indiana wasn’t particularly good with the ball, but MVSU was awful. Christian Watford contributed 18 points and 9 rebounds.

• Michigan State was never quite able to pull away from South Carolina, but they maintained a double digit lead throughout and won 82-73. Surprisingly, the Gamec0cks (gotta beat that profanity filter) won the battle of the boards, grabbing 41 percent of their misses. Fortunately for the Spartans, South Carolina's misses were many. This was a ragged game, with lots of turnovers for both sides. It seems like Draymond Green and Delvon Roe may have secretly switched jerseys, as the box score lists Roe with 15 points and 6 assists (1 turnover), while Green had 18 points, 12 rebounds, 6 steals, and 4 blocks. Who's the point forward around here, anyway?

- Posted by Mike Portscheller