The IU men’s basketball team snapped its two-game winning streak in a 78-59 loss to No. 4 Ohio State on Saturday.
Much like the Hoosiers’ previous two games, they got down by double-digit figures in the first half. But what was the difference against the Buckeyes? They couldn’t ever get over the hump to take the lead.
“Ohio State's terrific,” IU head coach Archie Miller said. “It wasn't anything that we could do today to really stem them from being able to physically overwhelm us.”
Coming into this game, IU hadn’t won or lost more than two games in a row. And with this loss, that won’t change anytime soon.
Despite 23 points and nine rebounds from sophomore forward Trayce Jackson-Davis, the Hoosiers fell into old habits to suffer its ninth loss of the season.
Turnovers, poor free throw shooting and weak perimeter defense allowed Ohio State to go on huge runs in the second half to put the game away early. The Buckeyes drained seven 3-pointers and shot 50% from the field.
The Hoosiers started off the game with two 3-pointers from sophomore guard Armaan Franklin and senior guard Al Durham. But then they soon fell apart, giving up 19 unanswered points over the next six minutes.
“Our starts are hurting us,” Miller said. “I think a lot of it has to do with some easy baskets that we're not converting.”
Trayce Jackson-Davis ended the Buckeye run at the 10-minute mark by splitting a pair of free throws and then driving down the lane for a two-handed slam on the following possession.
When no one else could get going offensively, sophomore forward Jerome Hunter came in off the bench to add nine points over just more than four minutes.
After struggling to stop Ohio State on defense, IU finally found a way to get stops. Near the end of the first half, the Hoosiers went on a 13-3 run over a three and a half minute period to make it a five-point game with two minutes left.
“Early in the game, get down 17-4, it’s hard when you're playing a team this good, but I give our guys credit, we cut it to five,” Miller said.
But the Buckeyes went on a 7-2 run to close the half, extending their lead to 10 points. IU turned the ball over eight times in the first half, giving up 12 points off of those mistakes.
The Hoosiers turned the ball over on their first possession after halftime. IU cut the deficit to 5 points in the second half, but Ohio State found a way to extend its lead through transition buckets and 3-pointers.
“I thought we had two runs to be able to hang in the game, and then we lost both momentums with some offensive turnovers,” Miller said.
IU couldn’t hit the shots it needed to close the gap. When the Hoosiers were only down 6, Jackson-Davis grabbed the offensive rebound off a missed Durham 3-pointer and dished it to Thompson, who missed a wide-open layup. After that miss, the Buckeyes outscored the Hoosiers 11-4 over the next five minutes to stretch their lead to 13 points.
Miller said Ohio State is the most physical team they’ll play all year and if a team can’t handle it on both ends of the floor, that’s how the Buckeyes beat you.
“At the end of the game, we got called soft,” Jackson-Davis said. “I know me and my teammates aren’t soft. All we got to do is work harder and just push forward to the next.”
The Hoosiers turned the ball over 15 times, allowing the Buckeyes to score 21 points off of those mistakes. This loss marks IU’s sixth loss to a ranked team this season.
“And if you look at the turnovers, 15, we're not going to be able to play with 15 turnovers, but Ohio State deserves all the credit today,” Miller said. “They got to make us better from this, we have to learn from it and move on because Minnesota is the biggest game on the schedule. And our approach to that can't be any different than where we've been. But, today was not our day and Ohio State had everything to do with it.”
