Indiana men’s basketball returned to Assembly Hall on Thursday after a loss on the road to Penn State. The team responded to the challenge posed by No. 13 Ohio State with a 67-51 victory. The upset moved Indiana to 11-3 this season and extended its unbeaten start in Bloomington under head coach Mike Woodson to 10 games.
“We knew that coming off that Penn State game that we needed one bad,” Jackson-Davis said. “We had a real sit down as a team and figured some things out. The Big Ten is a battle. We’ve struggled on the road, but Coach Woodson made it an emphasis to win on our home floor.”
Indiana entered the matchup ranked first in the Big Ten and third in the nation in defensive field goal percentage, while Ohio State was third in the Big Ten with a 39.7% mark from long range. Against Penn State, Indiana gave up 11 3-pointers on 50% shooting from deep, but Jackson-Davis said in a postgame interview Indiana wanted to keep Ohio State from finding similar success. Ohio State shot just 31% from the floor and converted 8-27 attempts from deep.
The battle of star forwards between Jackson-Davis and Ohio State junior forward E.J. Liddell, who each entered the game averaging over 19 points and seven rebounds on the season, was won by the former on both ends of the floor. Jackson-Davis’s stifling defense led to five blocks on the night to frustrate Liddell in the paint, holding him to 11 points on 2-7 shooting inside the arc.
Jackson-Davis was aggressive on the offensive end from the opening tip, drawing a shooting foul in the first five seconds and routinely punishing Ohio State for its lack of double coverage against him down low. The All-American led all scorers with 27 points on 11-17 shooting, including five dunks to give Indiana a commanding 38-10 advantage in points in the paint.
“We were pushing the pace,” Jackson-Davis said. “I sprinted forward really hard and got easy looks from that. That wear and tear on their bigs. They kept throwing guys at me, but I thought I was just outhustling them.”
After the loss to Penn State, Woodson criticized Jackson-Davis for only grabbing five rebounds despite his 20-point performance. He responded by matching that total by halftime and posting his 27th career double-double with 12 total rebounds.
Sophomore guard Trey Galloway made his return to action for Indiana after missing the team’s previous 10 games due to a left wrist injury. Galloway helped spark Indiana’s 26-15 run to end the first half up 33-30 with several hustle plays, improving Indiana’s off-ball movement on offense.
Galloway finished with the third-most points of any Indiana player with 8. He also had two steals, three assists and four rebounds in 19 minutes.
“The time off and trying to stay ready, that’s really what helped me out,” Galloway said. “Our strength coach really pushed me to stay in shape and keep my body conditioned.”
Graduate student center Joey Brunk returned to Assembly Hall for the first time since transferring from Indiana to Ohio State last summer. Brunk, who spent two seasons with Indiana but sat out with a back injury for the entirety of the second, posted 6 points and two rebounds in six minutes against his former team.
Despite a 17% second-half shooting slump, the Hoosiers led the Buckeyes by 4 points with under seven minutes remaining. Indiana’s efficiency from the free-throw line, a 15-18 mark, provided enough points to keep Ohio State from retaking the lead.
Senior forward Race Thompson helped the Hoosiers make their hopes of an upset a reality with 7 of his 11 total points coming in Indiana’s 15-3 run to close out the game.
“This is probably the best game we played all season in terms of how we defended and how the ball moved offensively,” Woodson said. “The crowd is who they are, Hoosier Nation has always been great.”
Indiana, now 2-2 in conference play, will have another matchup against Minnesota at noon Sunday at home. Minnesota is 10-2 overall and 1-2 in Big Ten play.
