Redd's effort not enough for victorious St. John send-off

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Against Penn State Saturday, Buckeye freshman guard Michael Redd clinched the Big Ten scoring title -- the first by a freshman ever in the Big Ten.

It wasn't enough.

Still, not enough.

Redd's 32 points and the building's raucous crowd didn't deter the Nittany Lions (15-11, 8-8 Big Ten) as they won their last game of the season en route to the Big Ten Tournament.

The game came down to a question of win or lose -- Redd did almost enough to secure the win for the Buckeyes (8-21, 1-15), and Penn State did almost enough to lose the game.

Whether it was Greg Stevenson, Jarrett Stephens, Titus Ivory or Sam Crenshaw guarded Redd, the freshman sensation made something happen.

"He can do it all," Dunn said. "I told him after the game he was one heck of a player. Very rarely does he make a bad decision or take a bad shot."

Whether it was spotting up in his defender's face or taking him to the hole, Redd found a way to score a bucket or get to the foul line.

The latter was his main problem.

Redd's 8 for 16 free throw shooting was horrible enough to make people forget about his Big Ten scoring title. With one minute and 58 seconds left in regulation, Redd hit 1 of 2 free throws to give the Buckeyes a two-point lead and the Lions a chance.

"I was disappointed," Redd said. "We needed this win tonight. You have to give credit to Penn State. They made big shots when it counted and that was the key to the game."

And the home-court advantage should have been a key to the game for the Buckeyes, but all the yelling, the ceremonies and emotion of the evening weren't enough to propel Ohio State to victory -- and the Lions weren't too sympathetic.

"Not at all," said Lion point guard Joe Crispin. "They played well, but we're going into the tournament and we needed this win."

As for Buckeye coach Jim O'Brien, the loss was a bittersweet one, considering the fact that it was also Senior Night and also because the Buckeyes haven't won a conference game at home this season. Nevertheless, O'Brien said the night wasn't a total loss.

"If you take away the final score and the outcome," he said, "I don't think we could have asked for a better night, a better setting and a more competitive game than was played tonight."