Indiana had its second most uneven loss of the season on Saturday afternoon, dropping 78-59 to the state of Ohio at the Value City Arena. The defeat broke a two-game winning streak and left the Hoosiers below 0.500 in the 6-7 league game.
Here are five lessons from the loss to the Buckeyes:
• Another slow start buries Indiana’s chances, as the Hoosiers cannot avoid Buckeyes’ races: The Hoosiers have started to slow down frequently this season. In many cases, they managed to recover and win. But on Saturday in Columbus, they faced an opponent who left little room for error.
Ohio State, chosen to finish seventh in the Big Ten in the preseason, took control early on with a 19-0 streak in the first half. And every time Indiana returned to the game – the Hoosiers reached five on two occasions – the Buckeyes were there to make moves to put the game out of reach.
The last backbreaker for Indiana came after a Trayce Jackson-Davis dunk pulled the Hoosiers in five in 45-40 with 14:11 to play. Ohio State’s Duane Washington missed a jump in possession of the next ball, but Indiana failed to contain the defensive rebound and Zed Key scored a second chance. This started a 10-1 run for the Buckeyes, who needed less than four minutes to push the lead to 14 in 55-41 in an EJ Liddell free throw. Indiana never got close to 12 the rest of the way while the Buckeyes crossed for their 17th win.
“It’s something we are watching for,” said Archie Miller. “Our beginnings have been slow. But if you look at our starts, at the end of the day it really comes down to doing some layups, doing some free throws. We lost 17-4 or whatever and we have some shots at close range and we have to hit the easy ones to be able to stay there and help our team’s confidence level. “
• Turnovers lead to easy offenses for Ohio: Ohio State ranked 14th in the Big Ten as a percentage of defensive rotation entering Saturday’s game. The opponents of the conference were only handing over 13.8% of their possessions against the Buckeyes.
Indiana, however, turned 15 times for a turnover percentage of 23.5. It was the second highest mark of the season for Indiana, behind 23.9 percent in the late December loss to Northwestern.
And the state of Ohio capitalized on setbacks by scoring 21 points in the turns. Three of Indiana’s guards – Al Durham, Armaan Franklin and Khristian Lander – accounted for 11 turnovers.
• Buckeyes dominate Indiana in glass: Both teams were fighting in the offensive glass to enter Saturday’s game, ranking 9th and 10th, respectively, in percentage of offensive rebounds in the Big Ten game.
Ohio, however, took advantage of second chance opportunities to fuel its attack on Saturday. The Buckeyes managed 41.4 percent of their missed shots – a record of the season – and scored 20 second chance points.
Freshman Zed Key played just 13 minutes for Ohio State, but ended up with five offensive rebounds and six points. And Justice Sueing – a six-foot-tall winger – grabbed five offensive boards as well. The five offensive rebounds for both players were the best of their career.
“They were coming to their places on the ground, their guards were hitting hard and their pole players were positioning themselves under us,” said Jackson-Davis. “At the end of the game, we were called moles. I know that my teammates and I are not soft. We have to work harder and move on to the next game. “
Indiana scored 31.5 percent of his missed shots – above the season average – but scored just nine points for a second chance.
• Under-guard guard game: After Armaan Franklin and Al Durham helped raise Indiana for a win on Wednesday night in Northwestern, the pair fought in Ohio.
Franklin was just 1 of 4 on the field and finished with just three points. Franklin made four turnovers. Durham had just 2 of 8 pitches and finished with eight points.
The other Indiana guards also fought. Rob Phinisee had just seven points from 2 out of 5 shots in 19 minutes. Khristian Lander did not score and made four comebacks in 17 minutes. And Anthony Leal and Trey Galloway played 18 minutes combined and didn’t score.
Ohio State, meanwhile, scored 10 points from senior guard CJ Walker, who tied all Indiana bank production.
• Jackson-Davis starts slow, but ends strong: Jackson-Davis continues to fight at the start of the games, but the sophomore striker recovered from a poor performance at Northwestern with a big general effort on Saturday afternoon.
Jackson-Davis finished with 23 points, the best of the game, in 10 of 14 pitches. He had a timid rebound to score a double-double and added two assists in 34 minutes.
“In the last few games, I started slowly,” said Jackson-Davis. “I’m lingering on the rim and finishing those pictures. I thought I did better as the game progressed ”.
The Center Grove product scored double digits in all 20 games this season and is the sixth national in KenPom’s national player of the year ranking.
(Photo: Ohio State Athletics)
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