Freshmen impressive as Ohio State men's basketball team opens season with easy win

Ohio States" highly-touted freshmen debuted with a big win, led by 24 points from Deshaun Thomas and 19 points and 14 rebounds from Jared Sullinger.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Deshaun Thomas drained a 3-pointer and held his shooting pose, laid in an offensive rebound and raised his arms, took a pass from Aaron Craft, dunked and smiled. After months of work focused on defense, Thomas and his fellow freshmen at Ohio State started their careers with a 102-61 win over North Carolina A&T on Friday, and though coach Thad Matta thought the Buckeyes didn't shoot that well, the points kept coming.

"I'm always playing around with my teammates, like, 'I'm going to shoot it, I'm going to shoot it,' " Thomas said of scoring his first points. "I was waiting for that moment and after that, the lights were on."

Playing 20 minutes off the bench, Thomas scored a game-high 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting, while freshman big man Jared Sullinger started and scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, becoming the first Ohio State freshman to debut with a double double since Herb Williams in 1977. The Aggies played without their usual center, and Sullinger started slowly, scoring just three points in the first half, but he eventually found his way despite facing some triple-teams.

Freshman point guard Craft added eight points, nine assists and no turnovers off the bench, and all told the six freshmen -- also including Jordan Sibert, J.D. Weatherspoon and Lenzelle Smith -- combined for 60 points, 27 rebounds, 15 assists and seven turnovers.

The veterans did their share while letting the youngsters get their feet wet before Tuesday's trip to No. 9 Florida, as Dallas Lauderdale scored 12 points, William Buford 11, David Lighty 10 and Jon Diebler nine. Lauderdale also had 13 rebounds for his first career double double and tied his career-high with eight blocked shots. The Buckeyes outrebounded the Aggies, 66-22.

"It's really, really fortunate we didn't get beat by 100," A&T coach Jerry Eaves said.

Lauderdale's eight blocks, and the three charges that Sullinger took were signs that the defense elsewhere wasn't what it needed to be.

"I don't think it was a good thing I had that many opportunities," Lauderdale said. "That means our guards were getting driven on. I was happy to do what I had to do to help the team out. I was just trying to be a force down there."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: dlesmerises@plaind.com, 216-999-4479