Buckeyes roll past Hoosiers

Basketball isn’t known as a contact sport, and the more passive team lost in IU’s 69-52 faltering against Ohio State on Wednesday.

Similar to the first contest on Jan. 6 in Columbus, Ohio, IU struggled against the larger, more physical Buckeyes.

The quick run to begin the game and the overall lack of energy and aggression was nearly identical.

“We’re not a hardened enough team yet,” IU coach Tom Crean said. “We’re not tough enough and smart enough in so many different areas to withstand mistakes.”

The Buckeyes had 40 points in the paint to the Hoosiers’ 28, as inside players who don’t usually score for the Buckeyes made all-Big Ten efforts against the Hoosiers.

While sophomore forward Tom Pritchard scored six points and grabbed two rebounds, Ohio State’s Dallas Lauderdale scored 14 points, blocked seven shots and snatched eight rebounds.

He averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds per game before coming to Bloomington.
With a healthy Evan Turner, it was evident the Buckeyes would be tough to defeat. Wednesday’s loss, however, had even the most loyal of IU fans rubbing their temples in frustration.

IU seemed to have energy at the beginning of each half but was then lulled into turnovers and bad shots by Ohio State’s long arms and steady pressure on defense.

After having only two turnovers and a 22-20 deficit with 6:09 remaining in the first half, IU was forced into seven more before the half ended at 34-20.

Sophomore guard Verdell Jones said he didn’t know what to attribute the letup to.
“We’ll make runs, but for some reason we just can’t withstand their runs,” Jones said. “I don’t know if it’s immaturity or fatigue. I don’t know what it is, but we have to fight through that every day.”

Ohio State had 10 points off IU turnovers in the first half and upped that to 18 points on 14 turnovers for the entire game.

After a half in which the Hoosiers saw a 12-0 Buckeye run to finish the first half, they entered the second with the fire they lacked earlier in the game – for about five minutes.

“We didn’t have the spirit,” Crean said. “We did not have to spirit to fight back inside of that.”

Ohio State traded baskets with IU, but the Buckeyes continued to score when the Hoosiers cooled. They opened a 42-28 lead, and IU never had another shot at an upset against the No. 13 team in the country.

Crean was emptying his bench with 1:47 left in the game, as Ohio State players attempted to throw alley-oops and finish reverse dunks.

When the Hoosiers were not struggling, Jones scored 11 points and freshman forward Christian Watford put in 15. Freshman guard Jordan Hulls also managed 13 points.

IU was also outscored by the Ohio State bench, which scored 15 points to IU’s three points.

Watford said his team just didn’t put forth the effort needed against a team as good as Ohio State.

“We just broke down,” Watford said. “I really don’t think we were moving fast enough. We came out with the great pace, and they got some layups. We just didn’t come out ready to play.”