First-place Ohio State runs past Michigan basketball team, 66-55

Turner lets students yell the truest of taunts. He leaves other players, like Douglass, almost shrugging their shoulders because there isn’t much they can do.

“Sometimes, he does that crossover without even dribbling,” Douglass said. “How tall is he, 6-7, it’s ridiculous. If he’s around the basket, doesn’t matter who is guarding him, 10 foot, he’s going to hit it.”

When Turner doesn’t score, he passes. If neither is working - and that’s a rarity with Ohio State this season - he rebounds, blocks shots and makes steals. The result: A slim hold on first place. Ohio State (23-7, 13-4 Big Ten) will see if it can maintain its half-game lead on the rest of the Big Ten Conference on Sunday when second-place Purdue (24-3, 12-3) faces third-place Michigan State (21-7, 11-4).

During a critical 9-2 Ohio State run that sealed the game for the Buckeyes, Turner showed why he’s a frontrunner for national Player of the Year.

He scored just two of his 18 points in the spurt, but he had a stretch that was electric. Turner ran down the floor and blocked a Zack Novak layup attempt from behind. Then he corralled the ball, led Ohio State on a break, rebounded a missed Jon Diebler 3-pointer for one of his 11 boards and ended up getting the putback.

Later in the game, he threw a perfect alley-oop pass to forward Dallas Lauderdale that Lauderdale caught with one hand and slammed home in one motion, an exclamation point on a day where Ohio State got contributions from everyone.

“I knew he was going to get it,” Turner said. “I had no doubt he was going to grab the ball.”

In doing so, Ohio State also took control of the game.

All of this despite one of the more balanced efforts from Michigan this year. The Wolverines had five players in double figures for the first time since the season-opener against Division II Northern Michigan in November.

Novak, freshman Darius Morris and senior forward DeShawn Sims all had 11 points for Michigan. Douglass and junior guard Manny Harris - who struggled to find his shot, going 1-of-8, had 10 each.

And other than those five, Michigan had two points from everyone else on the roster. The starting five for Michigan (13-15, 6-10) actually played one of its better halves in the first half, leading Ohio State by one, 33-32, despite the Buckeyes shooting 63.6 percent from the field and 60 percent from the 3-point line.

Then Turner took over.

“They just made plays,” Harris said. “They did a good job moving within their offense, putting the ball in Evan Turner’s hands to make plays and he made plays.”

Beyond Turner, Michigan also was less patient in the second half. The Wolverines rushed more shots, evidenced by a drop from 11-of-24 shooting in the first half to 6-of-23 in the second half from the field and from 4-of-7 in the first half from the 3-point line to 1-of-10 in the second.

It caused its one-point lead to evaporate, as the Wolverines fell behind after a Turner jumper with 18:15 left in the game and never led again.

Turner went from there, scoring and passing to William Buford, who led all scorers with 24 points, and doing everything his team needs him to.

Even if sometimes it doesn’t register how good of a game he had until you look at the stat sheet. That, Douglass said, makes him different than anyone he’s ever played against.

“You see all these big-time players and he’s the least flashiest, most productive big-time player,” Douglass said. “That’s the best I can put it. He just does his job.

“He has a little bit of flash and has a lot better ball handling over the past two years. But he knows what he needs to do and he just does it, more than any other player I’ve played against.”

That was enough for Ohio State on Saturday - and for most of the season.

Box score | Big Ten standings

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.