According to The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio State head coach Thad Matta has never fully been able to get over the 2011 NCAA Tournament loss to Kentucky.
Ohio State was favored to win the game, but a less talented Kentucky team managed to stun the Buckeyes and advance to the Final Four.
Here is an excerpt from The Columbus Dispatch:
Some losses are harder to shake than others. Ohio State coach Thad Matta has often lamented his decision to bench Mike Conley with two fouls during the first half of a loss to Florida in the 2007 national championship, but there’s another NCAA Tournament exit that has always stuck with him.
It came in Newark, New Jersey, in 2011 and at the hands of No. 4 seed Kentucky. No. 1 seed Ohio State, with a loaded roster that included seniors Jon Diebler and David Lighty, junior William Buford and freshmen Jared Sullinger, Deshaun Thomas and Aaron Craft, the Buckeyes tied the game at 60 with 21 seconds left but fell on a Brandon Knight pull-up jumper seconds later.
Matta has never fully let go of that loss, especially with a clear path to the Final Four in view and a roster talented enough to win a championship. DeAndre Liggins, a junior for that Kentucky team, remembers it much more fondly.
“They had the better team,” Liggins told The Dispatch while at Value City Arena for an NBA preseason game Oct. 19. “We were less talented that year. We had some talented players, but Brandon Knight was the only one-and-done. We had a less talented team and they had an overall better team than us, but we still pulled it out because of our toughness.”
You might remember this play from the game:
