The Indiana Hoosiers (11-9, 6-7 B10) traveled to Columbus, Ohio on Saturday where they were defeated by the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes (17-4, 11-4 B10) behind stellar performances from the Buckeyes sophomore star EJ Liddell with 19 points and Justice Sueing with 16.

“I thought Sueing was a huge part of the game early,” head coach Archie Miller said. “And I thought Liddell, definitely just one of the harder matchups you are going to have, Ohio state deserves all the credit today.”

Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 player Trayce Jackson-Davis led the way for Indiana on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Jackson-Davis and Jerome Hunter were the only Hoosiers to hit double-digits in scoring.

Jackson-Davis finished the game with 23 points, nine rebounds, and two assists despite a slow start to the game on offense.

“I think with me it’s really just mentally, really i’m in my head a lot” Jackson-Davis said. “Got taken out for a second, and then just cleared my head, and when I went back in I felt like I was ready to go.”

“He’s coachable and he knows that he has been a slow starter,” Miller said. “I think as he starts the game he’s a little bit nervous, maybe feeling some things out…he gets better as the game goes on.”

Hunter finished with ten points and two rebounds

In a game where the importance of turnovers was stressed by head coach Archie Miller, Indiana had 15 at the end of the contest. Earlier this week Miller stated that IU’s focal point of each game was to stay under ten turnovers.

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“If you look at the turnovers, 15, we’re not going to be able to play with 15 turnovers,” Miller said.

Miller also noted, many times, that they physicality Ohio State plays with was a major issue for his team. He mentioned that he knew it would be heading into the contest. IU was outrebounded, had more turnovers, and had zero block in comparison to OSU’s three.

“Ohio State is terrific,” Miller said. “It wasn’t anything we could do today to really stem them from being able to physically overwhelm us.

After the game, Trayce Jackson-Davis made it a point to emphasize that the Hoosiers are not a soft team, despite being labeled as such following the conclusion of the game.

“At the end of the day I know my teammates,” the Greenwood native said. “At the end of the game they got called soft…by no means are my teammates soft.”

Next up for Indiana

The Hoosiers will travel back to Bloomington for the next game as they will matchup with Minnesota Golden Gophers (13-7, 6-7 B10) in Assembly Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 9:00 EST.