Column: Scouting Ohio State

Ohio State’s Leading Scorer: Deshaun Thomas

The former Mr. Indiana basketball has blossomed into the best scoring threat that Ohio State has had since Evan Turner.

This season, Thomas is leading the Big Ten by averaging 19.9 points per game in 34.7 minutes per game.

The Fort Wayne native can play down low in the post, where he is not afraid to bang around with his 6-foot-7-inch, 225-pound frame, or he can stretch a defense with his pillow-soft touch from behind the arc.

In 23 games, Thomas is shooting 46.4 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from 3-point range, while collecting 6.1 rebounds per game.

The big man also capitalizes on his opportunities at the free throw line, where he is shooting a Big Ten-best 82.3 percent from the charity stripe.

On the year, Thomas averages 15.7 shot attempts per game, which is the most for any player in the Big Ten.

Besides Thomas, only one other Buckeye, Lenzelle Smith Jr., is averaging double figures in scoring with 10.5 points per game.
 
What Ohio State does well

Defense, defense and more defense is what you will get when you play Ohio State.
The Buckeyes’ stout defense, second in the Big Ten by allowing opponents to only score 58.1 PPG, begins with perhaps the best on-ball defender in the nation, Aaron Craft.

Craft’s lower body strength and quickness allows him to stick with any player in the nation and his basketball intelligence always puts him in the right position to make a play.

Along with Craft, Ohio State boasts athletic players like the 6-foot-7 Sam Thompson and the 6-foot-8-inch LaQuinton Ross that can defend the rim on defense and can make highlight dunks on the other end.

Like Indiana, the Buckeyes contest every shot and they force opponents into low shooting percentages — OSU is second in opponent’s field goal percentage (38.3 percent).

What makes OSU a strong defensive unit is its trust in one another, which is something that can’t be taught.
 
My Take

When IU steps onto the court Sunday in Columbus, a desperate Ohio State team will be waiting to greet them.

Earlier this week, OSU squandered an eight-point second half lead en route to an overtime loss to No. 3 Michigan in Ann Arbor.

By losing the game, the Buckeyes missed their chance to sweep the Wolverines, which would have given OSU a potentially important tiebreaker over Michigan.

If Ohio State has any chance of being the dark horse to outlast Michigan, Michigan State and IU in the race for the Big Ten regular season title, the Buckeyes must beat No. 1 IU at home.

But Ohio State won’t be the only desperate team to walk onto that court.
The Hoosiers’ 74-72 loss to Illinois on Thursday puts them in the unusual position of rebounding from a loss.

And boy, does IU need to rebound quickly.

Losing two games in a row in the same week would knock the Hoosiers out of the number one spot in the nation and out of first place in the Big Ten.

“The schedule is daunting for everybody,” IU Coach Tom Crean said after losing to the Illini. “You have to keep improving. You keep having that togetherness.

“You got to play through mistakes and when you get a chance to put someone away, you got to put them away.”

In the final minutes of Thursday’s loss, the Hoosiers lost focus.

What the game Sunday will come down to is defense and energy, which are two things the Buckeyes might have more of in front of the home crowd at Value City Arena.

Sunday will mark the third game in nine days for IU.

For the second time in nine days, IU will play against a top-10 opponent — this one is stingier and more physical than the previous two teams.

Slowing down OSU’s Thomas, will be key for the Hoosiers, but as we saw Thursday night, IU needs to do better job defending a team’s second, third and fourth scoring threat.

Here’s where OSU’s Smith Jr. can be the x-factor.

In last season’s loss to OSU, Smith Jr. torched the Hoosiers for 28 points on 10-of-12 shooting.

Smith Jr. brings an outside shooting presence that changes games.

If IU allows secondary scorers to beat them like they let Illinois do, the Hoosiers will walk off the court more desperate than they arrived.

Prediction: Ohio State’s crowd fuels a solid defensive effort and the Buckeyes grind out a hard fought victory in a close one, 68-64.

­— mdnorman@indiana.edu