Column: Ohio State's defense will suffocate IU

When IU defeated Iowa last Thursday in Assembly Hall 93-86, it was the most entertaining game of the year, in this columnist’s humble opinion.

It was fast paced. It was high scoring. And there was basically no defense being played – which is awesome because I hate defense.

Well, get ready for the polar opposite on Sunday.

No. 22 Ohio State (22-7, 9-7) comes to Bloomington at 4:00 p.m. to face IU (16-12, 6-9) in what is sure to be a defensive struggle. A defensive struggle televised on CBS.

The halftime score of the IU-Iowa game was 52-49, which I could see being around final score of this game.

Why? Because Ohio State loves defense. The Buckeyes eat defense for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They sprinkle defense over their Captain Crunch and dip their French fries in defense.

Ok you get it, Ohio State likes defense.

But let me tell some statistics to back up my point. The Buckeyes have the second best defense in the nation according to kenpom.com.

They force the most steals in the country, and they allow their opponents to shoot only 27.3 percent from behind the arc, which once again is the best figure in the nation.

Translation: Ohio State closes out on shooters really well, and their active hands on defense force a lot of turnovers.

Seeing as IU has the worst turnover percentage in the Big Ten, this is not the most ideal matchup for the Hoosiers.

Its no secret IU’s weakness has been turning over the ball. The Hoosiers average 15.1 turnovers a game, and have an average turnover margin of minus-2.46 per game.

The only other conference team that has a negative turnover margin is Northwestern, who has an average turnover margin of minus-0.64 per game.

Who is the leader in turnover margin? That’s right, you guessed it: the Ohio State Buckeyes.

They lead the Big Ten with an average of plus-3.41 turnover margin a game.

That’s not good for Hoosier fans.

Ohio State has been anemic on offense at times this year. In the last four games, the Buckeyes have scored over 64 points just once.

But the fact that possibly the nation’s best defender, Aaron Craft, will be matched up against the Hoosiers best scorer, Kevin ‘Yogi’ Ferrell, presents a problem for IU.

With the exception of the last game against Iowa, where Will Sheehey and Stan Robinson combined for 47 points, the Hoosiers have struggled to score beyond Ferrell.

But Iowa played horrible defense that game. Compared to the Hawkeye defense, the Buckeye defense will be a night and day difference.

Ohio State’s defense will be too suffocating for the Hoosiers to overcome. IU could run with Iowa, but they can’t grind it out with the Buckeyes.

Prediction: Ohio State 63, IU 55

Evan Hoopfer is 12-6 in predictions this year.

@EvanHoopfer