Turnovers, ice-cold shooting doom Ohio State in 71-65 road loss to Indiana
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Two minutes into the second half, Ohio State looked ready to break some history.
Losers of their last 10 Big Ten road games, the Buckeyes held a halftime lead and opened the second half with an 8-0 run against Indiana inside Assembly Hall. After having lost their last three games here by double digits, the Buckeyes had a chance to turn the page and put the past in the past.
Turnovers, cold 3-point shooting and the play of Indiana sixth-year senior Xavier Johnson combined to ensure otherwise. With a chance to get off to their best start since opening 15-0 in 2013-14, Ohio State (12-3, 2-2 Big Ten) fell behind, had a late rally come up short and dropped a 71-65 defeat to Indiana (11-4, 3-1) on Saturday night.
"It’s really hard to win games if you’re not making shots," Bruce Thornton said.
After falling behind by a game-high 10 points with 3:34 to play, the Buckeyes made it interesting. Jamison Battle hit a 3-pointer with 3:12 left, only Ohio State's second of the half, starting a 9-1 run that got the Buckeyes within 67-65 with 1:44 remaining. But out of the timeout, Indiana got the ball to Reneau on the right block and he backed down Ohio State's Felix Okpara, scoring over his right shoulder in the paint to push it back to a four-point lead.
And when Roddy Gayle Jr. missed on a driving layup, further cementing a brutal shooting night, the Buckeyes were doomed. The miss made Gayle 3 for 17 from the floor while fellow sophomore guard Bruce Thornton was little better at 4 for 17.
The two combined to miss 12 3-point attempts, seven by Thornton. Gayle and Battle each had five turnovers as Ohio State finished with 14.
Indiana had four turnovers, and the Hoosiers outscored the Buckeyes 22-5 off of turnovers, negating a 47-27 rebounding advantage for Ohio State.
"We certainly had some clean looks, particularly off of offensive rebounds," Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. "Wide-open looks that you want guys taking. I think the ball a couple times stuck and it needs to move better, particularly with our guards. They’ve got to see those situations, and our wings can’t have 10 turnovers. Outside of that, we had good looks that I trust we’ll make."
Ohio State held a one-point lead at the break, then came out and scored eight straight points capped by a Battle 3-pointer that forced the Hoosiers to call timeout with 18:05 left and Ohio State ahead 46-37.
It changed everything. Ohio State wouldn't score on its next nine straight possessions, and when it did Zed Key's slam dunk gave the visitors a 48-45 lead with less than 13 minutes left.
It proved to be the short-lived anomaly rather than the spark. Scotty Middleton hit a jumper to answer a Malik Reneau 3-pointer and make it a 50-48 lead, but he traveled on the next possession and Reneau drew a foul to hit two free throws to tie it. Gayle converted a Key offensive rebound into a two-handed slam, but the Hoosiers scored the next seven points to take a 57-52 lead.
It was a 20-6 run for Indiana, which led 57-52 with 6:46 left, and the Hoosiers kept coming as the Buckeyes kept misfiring from deep. The Hoosiers outscored Ohio State 34-19 in the final 18 minutes as the Buckeyes went 2 for 12 (16.7%) from 3 in the second half.
Battle led Ohio State with 17 points. Reneau led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting and scored 19 of his points during the second half.
The final 50.4 seconds of the first half saw both teams combine for eight turnovers. Ohio State committed the first four, with Dale Bonner’s out-of-control closeout on Xavier Johnson resulting in a four-point play with 47 seconds left that pulled the Hoosiers within 36-35. That was the second Buckeyes foul on that possession, and when Battle’s post feed was stolen by Kel’el Ware, Bonner again fouled Johnson on a drive before Johnson drew a foul on Key and hit two free throws with nine seconds left.
It gave Indiana a 37-36 lead, but the whistles weren’t done. Indiana’s Mackenzie Mgbako fouled Gayle as soon as he received the inbounds pass, and when Ohio State inbounded it to Gayle a second time he reached halfcourt before Trey Galloway fouled him to stop the clock with 4.8 seconds left. That gave the Buckeyes a side out of bounds play deep in their own backcourt, but Anthony Walker impeded Gayle’s attempt to get open and take the inbounds pass for a third foul on the possession and gave Ohio State a baseline out of bounds opportunity.
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Evan Mahaffey’s layup attempt didn’t fall after he took the inbounds pass in the paint, but Key crashed the glass, was fouled by Galloway and went sprawling to the floor as the buzzer sounded. After a, was fouled by Galloway and went sprawling to the floor as the buzzer sounded. After a review, the officials put 0.4 seconds back on the clock, Key went to the line and when he hit the two free throws the Buckeyes went to the break with a 38-37 lead after a half they led for 11:10. review, the officials put 0.4 seconds back on the clock, Key went to the line and when he hit the two free throws the Buckeyes went to the break with a 38-37 lead after a half they led for 11:10.
Ohio State played the final 8:17 of the half without Thornton, who picked up his second foul and sat for the remainder. In his place, Holtmann inserted freshman Taison Chatman who, due to both injury and coaches’ decisions, had not seen action since the Dec. 6 game against Miami (Ohio). The Buckeyes led 25-20 when Thornton went out and were able to hold the lead at the break.
Chatman wasn’t the only Buckeye to make an unexpected surprise first-half contribution. Middleton, who was 2 for his last 19 in Ohio State’s last four games, was 2 for 2 for five points at the half. Key swished his only 3-point attempt after having gone 1 for 3 to this point of the season. The two helped Ohio State to a 5-for-15 3-point effort at the break as Indiana was 2 for 4, and they helped offset Ohio State getting only two free throws from Gayle, who also had three first-half turnovers.
The Buckeyes were without freshman forward Devin Royal, who did not travel with the team while sick with the flu.
Indiana honored late coach Bob Knight, who was a part of Ohio State's 1960 national championship team, with special warmup shirts. Fans were also given free posters celebrating Knight's legacy.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State's road woes continue in cold-shooting loss at Indiana
