By: Bill Livingston (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Ailing and heavy-legged, his shot missing and his team behind in the final minutes, Evan Turner lifted himself and Ohio State to victory in hostile surroundings Sunday. It is what he has done before and what he will have to do again, if the Buckeyes are to gain a high NCAA Tournament seed and make a deeper run in March than anyone expected.

When Turner has been on the road in showcase Big Ten games this season, he has shown that there may be no player in the land more valuable to a nationally ranked team than himself. Sunday was another message delivered to national college player of the year voters, if they are listening.

Cue ESPN’s Dick Vitale, yammering during the Purdue-Michigan State game recently that Turner would be a top candidate except “he missed all of those games; it’s so unfair.”

Unfair is not noting that Turner, a 6-7 junior point guard, has played in 22 of OSU’s 28 games, that the Buckeyes are 18-4 with him and 3-3 without, and that he carried his team in the second half and down the stretch in Sunday when bed rest and plenty of fluids might have been a better prescription for his well-being.

Suffering with a head cold as well as the flu trifecta of chills, fever and body aches, Turner made half his eight shots in the second half against Michigan State in OSU’s 74-67 victory in the din of the Breslin Center. He went to the basket the way iron goes to a magnet. He shot all 11 of his free throws in the second half, making eight. He grabbed five of his 10 rebounds. He got only one of his half-dozen assists, but had set up his teammates when his own shot was not falling in the first half. Oh, and his 20 points, admittedly on an unsightly 17 shots, were a game high.

Coach Thad Matta wondered how much he was going to have of his leader before the game. Turner got no sleep Friday night because of his illness. Before the Buckeyes’ final practice Saturday, teammates found him asleep in the locker room.

“I need you to go out for our walk-through [practice] and smile,” Matta said, knowing how adversely the perception of a weak, sick Turner would affect the team.

A smile was only a temporary umbrella. After the Buckeyes reached Michigan State Saturday, Turner curled up in the bleachers and slept again. He then took a full plate of food at breakfast Sunday, ate none of it — “This is not good,” Matta thought — and went off to plumb whatever private reservoir he found for Sunday’s performance.

Turner scored often on floaters when he could not get to the rim. Often, he freed himself with a crossover dribble that is one of college basketball’s most intriguing changes of direction since Bob Knight gave up coaching and took up television.

After the Spartans took their only second-half lead at 62-61, Turner scored in the lane on a finesse jumper; blocked the driving layup…..

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