Led by an aggressive defense effort, the Ohio State Buckeyes have raced to a 34-25 halftime lead over the Kansas Jayhawks in the second National Semifinal game of the evening at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Kansas trailed by double digits late in the half before making a run to close the gap and get within striking distance.
Aaron Craft has set the tone for Ohio State defensively was with his relentless on the ball pressure. Craft has two steals in the first half and is making it difficult for the Jayhawks to get into any type of flow offensively. As a team Kansas is only shooting 36.7% from the field, but is managing to hang around due to the efforts of Thomas Robinson and Travis Releford, who have scored 8 and 7 points respectively.
William Buford, who has struggled of late for the Buckeyes, is pacing his team with 8 points at the intermission, burying all 3 of his shot attempts. Jared Sullinger, Deshaun Thomas, and Lenzelle Smith, Jr. each added 7 points for Ohio State.
The winner of this game will meet up with the Kentucky Wildcats in Monday night's title game. The Wildcats defeated Louisville by a score of 69-61 earlier this evening.
For up-to-the-minute scores on all NCAA Tournament games, please check out SI.com's complete scoreboard.
For more on the 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket, stay with SB Nation's Selection Sunday StoryStream, and stick around SB Nation's NCAA Tournament hub for a complete printable NCAA Tournament bracket. For more on this game, check out our 2012 Final Four StoryStream
