Ohio State University guard Brent Darby fought back tears, buried his face in a towel and muttered to himself that he should have been able to knock his shots down.
Darby's dismay was mirrored by his teammates, who came to Albuquerque riding a wave of hot shooting and a surprising run through the Big Ten Conference Tournament. But the fourth-seeded Buckeyes left their success in the Midwest, as they were never able to find their rhythm in The Pit during the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Ohio State narrowly defeated a scrappy Davidson University team 69-64 Thursday, using defense and timely buckets to overcome lengthy droughts against its 13th-seeded opponent.
But Saturday the Buckeyes would need more to make it past a surging University of Missouri team that played much better than its 12th seed implied. With shots still rimming out, clanging off the back rim, dropping halfway in before popping back out and doing everything but going down, Ohio State lost 83-67 to Missouri.
"We should of hit our shots - there's not much more you can say than that," Darby said. "We just got embarrassed on national television because we couldn't score."
While disappointment over their quick tournament exit was the dominant emotion in the Buckeye locker room, the dejected team also seemed stunned that it had fallen so hard so quickly.
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Ohio State was picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten Conference, but despite losing four of its last seven regular season games, the Buckeyes finished in a four-way tie for the regular season title. The team rebounded, determined to follow its coach's charge to "shock the world," en route to the conference tournament title by virtue of wins over the University of Michigan, 10th-ranked University of Illinois and University of Iowa.
The team relied on hot shooting during its Big Ten Tournament run, which made its frigid NCAA Tournament performance later the same week all the more confounding.
During its past six games, Ohio State knocked down 51 shots from 3-point range, but connected on just four against Davidson Thursday. Saturday, the Buckeyes were a woeful two-of-14 from beyond the arc and zero-for-seven during the first half.
The team averaged 49 percent from field goal range this year and knocked down 110-of-213 shots attempted during the Big Ten Tournament for 52 percent. It went on to shoot 44 percent from the field against Davidson and 40 percent against Missouri.
"I have seen teams win their conference tournament and then not reach that level in the NCAAs," Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien said. "I don't know if you can just point to that as the reason why this happened. (Missouri) is a terrific basketball team. We were on an emotional high in the Big Ten Tournament, we just didn't seem to be able to get back in that place out here in Albuquerque."
Guard Brian Brown, who led the Buckeyes in scoring this season averaging 16 points per game, was Ohio State's sole bright spot during the weekend. He scored 33 against Davidson and 19 against Missouri.
But it was Darby who personified the team's sputtering offense. He went into the tournament as the Buckeye's second leading scorer, averaging 13 points per game, but scored 13 in both weekend match-ups.
Darby went two-for-11 from the field and zero-for-four from behind the 3-point line in the team's loss to Missouri that ended the Buckeyes' season.
While Darby could find no solace in the team's unexpected success this season, he did manage to come up with one benefit the untimely shooting slump provided.
"We're going to work hard this summer - really hit the weights and spend all day shooting, that's for sure," he said. "We're not going to be embarrassed like this again."
