When Ohio State lost at Tennessee just over two weeks ago, capping a three-game losing skid, the schedule looked very favorable for the next five games before yesterday’s showdown against Indiana.
Though the young Bucks’ team lost to Iowa, the same Hawkeye squad that the Buckeyes routed by 31 points earlier in January, it had still looked somewhat promising for Ohio State to three-peat in the Big Ten.
With a sellout crowd of more than 19,000 white-clad fans on hand at Value City Arena, the phrase still applies, “same old, same old” as the Buckeyes fell to the 14th-ranked Hoosiers, 59-53.
It was another game where Ohio State played well in stretches, but couldn’t put enough pieces together to complete what has been puzzling them all season. Consistency.
Seven-foot freshman center Kosta Koufos had, arguably, his best game of the season scoring 18 points and pulling down nine rebounds going against the best center in the Big Ten and the current front-runner for the conference’s Player of the Year award, D.J. White.
Freshman guard Jon Diebler has another solid performance coming off the bench netting 14 points, while knocking down four of his 10 three-point attempts in the process, but no other Buckeye scored in double figures.
The team’s leading scorer, senior guard Jamar Butler, had just four points on 2-for-8 shooting, while misfiring on all five of his treys.
Another problem was that Ohio State didn’t have a defensive answer for D.J. White, who scored 21 points on 10-of-15 shooting while pulling down a game-high 13 caroms.
Only one other Hoosier scored in double figures, too, as freshman guard Eric Gordon had an unimpressive 15 points. He had what seems like a typical stat line for him: one rebound, zero assists, and two turnovers, with 12 of his points coming on three-pointers. Can you say overrated?
Ohio State just doesn’t seem in sync offensively. There was one instance when Evan Turner was on the baseline and he made a pass to Koufos, who thought he was going to zig when he zagged, and the errant pas when out-of-bounds. Another time, Butler drove to the basket, and probably had an easy 8 to 10-foot runner, but decided to pass the ball back out Koufos at the foul line, but was heavily guarded. Unable to get a shot off, he passed it back to Diebler at the top of the key, who shuffled his feet before putting the ball on the deck for the traveling turnover.
Personally, I’d love to see Coach Matta junk the motion offense, especially when there seems that there’s not much in the way of motion. Too many times I see players standing around and the offense gets stagnant.
I have a copy of Dean Smith’s book, “Basketball, Multiple Offense and Defense,” which most consider it the Holy Grail among coaches. Offenses like the “Flex,” the “Shuffle,” and variations of those two would work well with this young team as they instill constant motion. The Flex and Shuffle offenses are examples of patterned offenses, where players run a certain pattern of screens, cuts, passing, etc. There is continuity, or continuous flow from side to side.
As for the game, I’m not sure what disturbs me most. Losing to Indiana, or losing to a team coached by Kelvin Sampson.
Ohio State got off to a slow start after Indiana scored eight of the game’s first 10 points, but the Buckeyes got off the mat and after Turner drained a three with 11:24 left in the opening period the contest was tied at 12-all.
All game, though, when after Ohio State rallied, Indiana had an answer. Butler’s jumper with exactly 10 minutes remaining put OSU ahead 14-12, but IU scored five unanswered from that point and never trailed the rest of the game.
D.J. White’s field goal just before the buzzer sounded gave Indiana a 29-21 halftime lead.
Just 19 seconds into the second half, D.J. White scored yet again to give the Hoosiers a double-digit advantage, but the Buckeyes came right back by scoring seven-straight points, including a triple by Koufos.
Trailing 31-28, three straight misses followed by three offensive rebounds put Turner at the foul line. He converted one of his two attempts, and Ohio State trailed by a bucket with 16:44 left.
Just as Ohio State got within striking distance again, Indiana went on a 9-0 run before Diebler drained a deep three, cutting Indiana’s lead down to 40-32 with 12:58 to go.
Unfortunately, the closest the Buckeyes got the rest of the way was three points with 5:44 remaining after a charity-stripe toss by Turner.
Ohio State had one more chance to make it a one-possession game with 44 ticks on the game clock trailing 53-49, but that’s when Diebler was found guilty of the traveling violation.
The difference in the game? Indiana scored 21 points off 10 Ohio State turnovers, while the Buckeyes netted just three on six Hoosier miscues.
Ohio State didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, going 21-for-53 (39.6%) from the field, and 7 of 27 (25.9%) from beyond the arc. Of course, it’s never a good thing when more than half your shots are coming from 19 feet, nine inches or farther away either.
Indiana was 24-for-57 (42.1%) from the floor, and 4 of 18 (22.2%) from three-point land.
Both teams had 33 total rebounds and 10 offensive boards.
Up next, Ohio State takes on the two cellar-dwellers of the Big Ten, Northwestern and Michgan, both on the road.
On Wednesday, the Buckeyes travel to Evanston to take on the Wildcats. Tip-off at Welsh-Ryan Arena is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET, and it will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
On Sunday, Ohio State ventures up to Ann Arbor to take on the Wolverines with a 1:00 p.m. start time at Crisler Arena as CBS handles the broadcast duties.
Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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