Turnovers, poor shooting result in 80-63 IU loss to Ohio State

In a season filled with national recognition and marquee wins, the IU basketball team wrapped up a week it would like to forget on Sunday afternoon.

With revenge on its minds and playing in front of a sold-out Value City Arena, No. 5 Ohio State (16-3, 4-2) used stifling defense and a career effort from an unsung hero to defeat No. 7/8 Indiana on Sunday, 80-63.

Any hope for a season sweep of the defending Big Ten Champions went away early in Columbus, Ohio as IU (15-3, 3-3) had 12 turnovers and just six made field goals in the first half.

IU had five turnovers before the game’s first media timeout as the Buckeyes held the Hoosiers to 27 percent shooting in the first half.

Down 14-7 with 15:31 left in the first half, freshman Cody Zeller was the lone Hoosier to score over the next 17 minutes as the 14 halftime points scored by IU were 12 fewer than their previous season low in a half.

“We just didn’t execute the way we needed to do,” junior guard Jordan Hulls said. “They definitely wanted to get up into us, make us get out of our offense. Like I said, we just need to be able to execute better than that and not have as many turnovers.”

The Hoosiers shot 54 percent in the second half but the closest they would get was 16 points as the Buckeyes bounced back from a loss earlier in the week to Illinois.

Ohio State Coach Thad Matta called the defensive performance something he "dreams about" and said new football coach Urban Meyer provided his team some motivation in the locker room prior to the tip.

Sophomore Buckeyes guard Lenzelle Smith Jr. came into Sunday’s contest averaging five points a game but for the second time in as many games against the Hoosiers, the sophomore guard scored in double figures.

Despite not practicing all week with step throat, Smith Jr. was 10-of-12 from the floor and doubled his career-high with 28 points.

“That’s what makes them so good,” Zeller said of Smith Jr.’s performance. “Smith got hot tonight and they have so many weapons that makes them tough to beat.”
With the attention turning to Smith Jr. in the second half, the paint opened up for the Buckeyes as sophomore forward Jared Sullinger had 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting following halftime against varying defenses from the Hoosiers.

“He’s scoring or getting fouled 70 percent of the time he’s got the basketball, that’s what our numbers show,” IU Coach Tom Crean said of Sullinger. “The strength he has, I think is really, really going to separate him from a lot of guys is when he doesn’t have a move and that double comes, he knows how to reverse it and swing that ball around the court.”

Two weeks ago it was IU knocking off then-No. 2 Ohio State behind all five Hoosier starters in double figures.

That was no where to be found on Sunday as besides Zeller’s 7-of-9, 16-point effort the rest of the IU starters combined to shoot 13-of-38 from the floor.

On Dec. 31, the Hoosiers were able to get the Buckeyes in foul trouble as their top three leading scorers all sat for significant time in the first half.

Sullinger and senior guard William Buford played a combined 20 more minutes than they did in Bloomington and no Ohio State player had more than three fouls.

“At home against them we did play a lot more physical, we were much better on the cut and frankly we got to the foul line because of those cuts,” Crean said. “I think when it became hard to make cuts (Sunday) we let them be the aggressor, sometimes you just got to plow through (the cuts). We let them be the aggressor and that set the tempo of the game.”

The Hoosiers will now look to get back on track as they take on the two teams at the bottom of the Big Ten this week when they travel to Nebraska on Wednesday before welcoming Penn State on Sunday to Assembly Hall.

“The toughness is always a big thing we need to bring every single game,” Hulls said. “It’s the Big Ten. It’s one of the best conferences in the country and we know everybody in here is pretty tough.

“It’s been a rough week for us but we’ve had a good eight weeks, so we just have to take that into account.”