Ohio State trounces Northwestern

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Jamar Butler did not contribute in the points column, but the senior guard was still a force in Ohio State's 62-51 win over Northwestern on Sunday afternoon.

Butler followed a career-best 32 points in Thursday's win at Illinois by missing all 7 field goals for no points, but he had a game-high 11 assists -- including a pair of spectacular alley-oops -- and a career-high 10 rebounds.

"He showed he can hurt you in a lot of different ways," said Northwestern coach Bill Carmody. "He was content to run the team. It was an impressive performance."

Freshman center Kosta Koufos scored all but 2 of his game-high 17 points before intermission to help the Buckeyes (11-3, 2-0) to a 36-25 halftime lead.

Craig Moore led the Wildcats (5-6, 0-2) with 16 points, while Kevin Coble added 11 and Michael Thompson had 10.

Ohio State has won 18 straight conference games, including three in the conference tournament, since a 72-69 loss at Wisconsin last Jan. 9. The Buckeyes defeated Northwestern for the 16th straight time and have not lost to the Wildcats at home in 25 games since 1978.

Northwestern rebounded from the halftime deficit to pull to within 43-39 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Coble and Moore and a basket and free throw from Sterling Williams before Diebler pushed the Buckeyes' lead to 8 with a 4-point play.

"We knew if we got some looks and stopped them we could make a run and we did, but they made some big shots and got some offensive rebounds that killed us," Williams said.

Northwestern trailed 23-19 with seven minutes left in the half but went more than six minutes without a score, missing 6 shots and committing a turnover during the stretch.