The Hoosiers visited a wintry Columbus on Saturday afternoon for an opportunity to string together a third victory at the heels of No. 4 Ohio State. Unfortunately for Archie Miller’s ball club, the team will head west back to Bloomington empty handed as the Buckeyes handled the Hoosiers 78-59.
Indiana now moves to 11-9 on the season and fall to 6-7 in conference play.
No. 4 Ohio State is furthering their case for potentially have a top seed in the 2021 NCAA tournament as they move to 17-4 on the season and 11-4 within the conference.
An early hole once again
In repetition of the past two games, the Hoosiers found themselves in an early deficit in the first half. After two early threes from the stars in the previous game Al Durham and Armaan Franklin, Ohio State bounced back with a 19-0 scoring streak to put the Buckeyes up by 15 points.
That span ate up nearly half of the first segment before the streak ending with a singular Trayce Jackson-Davis free throw.
Chris Holttman’s squad led by as much as 16 points behind the scoring of sophomore EJ Liddle and Duane Washington Jr. Indiana seemed to have no answer to either ends of the floor. The Buckeyes’ offensive sets forced Indiana to pick and choose who to defend. Even when on-ball defense was played effectively, Ohio State’s powerful offense still managed to find a way to score.
The glass was also a problem as the Hoosiers gave a number of key offensive put backs despite being well positioned to pull down the rebound.