Butler continues torrid start, slips past Purdue

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- No problem with A.J. Graves' eyesight this time.

Graves, who had blurred vision after being poked in the eye in Butler's last game, scored 25 points Saturday and the 18th-ranked Bulldogs took the lead in the final minute for a 68-65 victory over Purdue.

"I'm fine," said Graves, a junior guard and Butler's leading scorer at 17.9 points a game. "I had troubles, obviously, [last] Saturday night and Sunday. It just took me time to get it back, but it's fine now."

Brandon Crone's driving layup and free throw gave Butler (11-1) a 66-64 lead with 59 seconds left. Mike Green of the Bulldogs hit two free throws around one by Purdue in the final 27 seconds, and a desperation 3-pointer by Purdue's Tarrance Crump was off the mark just ahead of the buzzer.

Graves was limited to 14 points because of the eye injury in Butler's first loss of the season a week earlier at Indiana State. But he hit four 3-pointers and finished 8-of-14 overall against the Boilermakers (8-2).

"I just go out there and play the game and try to do the best I can for the team," said Graves, who also made all five of his free throw attempts, improving to 60-for-61 for the season, and came up with three of Butler's eight steals.

Green added 18 points for the Bulldogs, whose victory in the Wooden Tradition was their third win this season at Conseco Fieldhouse.

"Our guys recovered from a setback last week ... came in very focused, withstood some runs and persevered. There's a lot to be said for guys who are unselfish," Butler coach Todd Lickliter said.

Purdue, trying for its seventh straight victory, got a career-high 20 points from Gordon Watt.

"They were sagging and I just was fortunate to hit some early. But I need to be there defensively instead of offensively," Watt said.

The Boilermakers also had 12 points from freshman Chris Kramer and 12 from leading scorer Carl Landry, eight on free throws.

"I don't know if they played more physical. They're just a smart basketball team," Landry said. "They're a good defensive team."

Purdue's last lead was 64-63 on a dunk by Landry. Crone, who missed his first nine shots and was just 2-of-13 for the game, then drove to the basket, was fouled and hit the free throw to give the Bulldogs the lead for good.

"We knew they were good. This wasn't a surprise to us," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "We outrebounded them by 12, but the turnovers killed us."

The 19 Purdue errors led to 23 points by Butler.

Landry had a game-high five turnovers and Crump had four.

"That gives them four or five extra possessions, and that's very critical in a one-possession game," Painter said.

A layup and then a 3-pointer by Julian Betko gave Butler its biggest lead, 24-16. The Bulldogs managed only one more field goal the rest of the half, but stayed in front from the free throw line and were up 35-33 at halftime.

Watt, a sophomore whose previous high was 14 points last month against Oklahoma, had 12 in the first half, including eight of Purdue's first 11 as the Boilermakers took an early 6-point lead. But Butler overcame poor shooting and the Boilermakers' rebounding advantage by forcing repeated turnovers that the Bulldogs turned into baskets.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Green and Graves tied the game for the first time at 11. After an error by Landry, Willie Veasley gave Butler its first lead, then Green hit another 3-pointer to complete an 11-0 run.

Landry, the Big Ten player of the week the past three weeks, missed his only field goal attempt and had four of Purdue's 12 first-half turnovers.

Along with wins over Notre Dame and Indiana -- also at Conseco Fieldhouse in the NIT Season Tip-Off -- the victory over Purdue gave Butler its first sweep of Indiana's "Big 3" teams since 1948-49.

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Living up to the hype: Oden fuels Ohio State rout

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Greg Oden's hometown fans got one more glimpse of how dominant he can be.

It was every bit as good as they remembered from his high school days.

The freshman center had 14 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks in 27 minutes and nearly produced a double-double in the first half as No. 4 Ohio State routed Cincinnati 72-50 on Saturday.

It was the most lopsided victory margin in Wooden Tradition history. The previous record was Cincinnati's 79-59 win over Purdue in 2004.

"When he's out there, they definitely don't want to drive," Buckeyes guard Mike Conley Jr. said. "When he's down low, he makes them think twice."

The Bearcats (7-3) would have been better served by thinking three times.

In Friday's practice, Bearcats coach Mick Cronin continually demonstrated how much chaos Oden could create. The impersonation, however, was nothing like the real thing.

Oden, who played at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, manned the middle impeccably for the Buckeyes, posting up for dunks, making hook shots, pulling down rebounds and daring the Bearcats to challenge him inside. They rarely did, and when Cincinnati's perimeter shooting was off, the game was over.

Bearcat fans had been clamoring for this matchup since Ohio's two most prominent basketball schools last played in the 1962 national championship game, which Cincinnati won.

After Saturday, the Bearcats might be content to sit out the rivalry until Oden leaves Ohio State (9-1).

"We didn't come out and play the basketball we needed to play," Bearcats forward John Williamson said. "It was terrible."

How bad did it get?

Ohio State closed the first half on a 26-2 run, nearly pitching a shutout over the final 9:44.

Cincinnati missed all 13 of its 3-point attempts and shot a miserable 18.8 percent from the field in what was easily its lowest-scoring half of the season. The Bearcats missed five more 3s in the second half before Branden Miller finally made one with 6 minutes left and they finished 2-of-24 from beyond the arc and shot only 26 percent overall.

Cronin was so upset at halftime that Cincinnati stayed in the locker room for all but 28 seconds of the 15-minute intermission as he tried to cajole his team to play harder. Williamson did, finishing with 17 points and 16 rebounds. The rest of the Bearcats did not.

Jamual Warren was the only other player to reach double figures with 13 points.

"They whipped up us every way you can whip a team," Cronin said. "We didn't screen anyone and we didn't post up at all."

The reason was obvious: Oden controlled the middle.

While Ivan Harris had 13 points and Conley finished with eight points, eight rebounds seven assists and no turnovers, Oden was clearly the star attraction.

He finished 6-of-7 from the field despite wearing a heavy wrap on his surgically repaired right wrist. The miss ended a streak of 17 consecutive baskets over three games, eight short of the NCAA Division I record set by Ray Voelkel of American University in 1978.

More importantly, he continually changed shots and forced Cincinnati to shoot from outside.

It was no match against the talented 7-footer, who acknowledged he's not yet 100 percent.

"I've not been playing as much as these guys have," he said. "They've been up and down all year, and I'm just getting started."

At halftime, Oden had 10 points and eight rebounds, and he played so well defensively that the Bearcats didn't dare challenge him.

He also spurred the decisive 26-2 run over the final 10 minutes of the first half by completing a three-point play. When it ended, the Buckeyes led 42-14.

Things didn't change much in the second half.

After Deonta Vaughn scored on a layup to end the Bearcats field goal drought at 9:57, Oden responded with another catch-and-dunk before hitting a 10-foot hook shot make it 46-16.

Then the Buckeyes continued pulling way, building a 35-point lead with 11:42 to go before benching most of their key players.

"I think I was a little surprised how well he played today and then again I'm not because I cannot explain how much he's done," Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said. "He's putting the time and the work in, and once he gets his right hand back, I think he'll really continue to grow."