Ohio State head coach Thad Matta learned a little bit more about his team Wednesday night. The Buckeyes, who were routed by 20 points in their only true road game of the season to that point, went to Northwestern and pulled away for a 65-56 win in a tough place to play.
It was far from the prettiest game Ohio State has played this season, but it's one it probably would not have won earlier in the year. Matta attributes that to the growth his young group has made over the course of the last month.
| WHO | WHERE | WHEN | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana (13-3, 3-0) | Assembly Hall (Bloomington, Ind.) | 1:30 p.m. | CBS |
"You look across the board in college basketball and I don’t think anybody has the exact reason why, but sometimes you just don’t play as well as you like to play," Matta said Friday. "I think the other night we didn’t play as well, especially on the offensive end that we wanted to. We missed a lot of jump shots, we weren’t as ready as we needed to be offensively and still found a way to win the game.
"I think those are things that you hope that you can build off of. You're hoping it’s a step in developing to becoming better.”
Ohio State doesn't have much time to revel in Wednesday's victory, though, as the Buckeyes will play another tough road game in a hostile environment Sunday when they travel to Indiana for a 1:30 p.m. showdown with the Hoosiers at Assembly Hall.
It's a matchup that pits two of the four remaining teams unbeaten in Big Ten play and one Matta says will pose a huge challenge for his young group.
"It’s obviously a tough venue to play in," Matta said. "They’ve got great fan support and typically, like this year, they are usually pretty good too."
Opponent Breakdown
When asked about the challenges of defending a team like Indiana, Matta could only let out a brief chuckle before expressing his response. The Hoosiers are that good on offense.
Indiana leads the Big Ten and is eighth nationally in scoring offense, averaging 85.9 points per game. The Hoosiers shoot 53.2 percent from the field and 44.9 percent from behind the 3-point line — both tops in the Big Ten. Indiana also ranks 19th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency.
"Indiana is a very high-powered offense and they like to speed you up and get shots in transition," Ohio State junior forward Marc Loving said. "We’re just going to focus on our game plan and try to play the best basketball possible.”
When talking about Indiana, the conversation begins with point guard Yogi Ferrell, who has been one of the Big Ten's best players for what seems like forever. This year has not been much different for Ferrell, who is fifth in the league in scoring at 17 points per game and fourth in assists at 5.8 per contest.
Ferrell's backcourt running mate, James Blackmon Jr., was also off to a strong start to the season averaging 15.9 points per game before undergoing surgery for a right knee injury. Blackmon will not play Sunday against Ohio State and it's expected he will miss the rest of the season for the Hoosiers — a big loss, indeed.
But Indiana has other guys who can fill that scoring void in Troy Williams and Thomas Bryant, both of whom averaged double figures prior to Blackmon's injury. The ultra-athletic Williams is now the Hoosiers' second-leading scorer at 12.6 points per game while Bryant, Indiana's freshman big man, is averaging 11.9 points and five rebounds per game.
“It’s one of those do both games, a little bit like Northwestern," Matta said. "The big thing is Ferrell is so good with the basketball and the big kid Bryant is a load down low. That’s why they’re a great team to be honest with you. Matchups are going to be huge for us and identifying and doing both is going to be huge.”
Buckeye Breakdown
Ohio State has won its last seven games and that's in large part because of the way it has defended during that stretch. Indiana, obviously, provides the Buckeyes with a huge challenge.
Over the last seven games, Ohio State is allowing just 59.1 points per game and opponents are shooting only 34.6 percent from the field and just 31.3 percent from behind the 3-point line.
“I feel like we’re just taking pride it," Loving said of the team's defense. "We feel like our defense can ignite our offense, at times, and just being able to hang our hat on defense it’s a very huge thing for us.”
In the Buckeyes' latest win over Northwestern, the Wildcats — who had been one of the Big Ten's most potent offenses — were limited to just 31.3 percent shooting from the field and made only 6-of-25 (24 percent) attempts from downtown. Ohio State locked down on the defensive end and got a 21-point performance from Kam Williams off the bench to pull away in the second half for the win.
“Ohio State is really known for their defense throughout — for as long as I’ve been watching Ohio State," Loving said. "It’s just something we really work on every day in practice and it’s just something that’s edged in your brain to rotate or go block a specific guy out.”
How It Plays Out
Ohio State is slowly creeping its way back toward the NCAA tournament bubble and a win on the road against what should be an NCAA tournament team would be huge for the Buckeyes.
Indiana will score — it's nearly impossible to slow down its high-powered offense — but the Hoosiers are vulnerable on the defensive end. Ohio State, however, is far from the most efficient offensive team in the country. But if the Buckeyes are able to take advantage of a questionable Indiana defense, they've got a shot.
The Hoosiers are a seven-point favorite against the up-and-coming Buckeyes. Expect this one to be somewhat close throughout, but in the second half the Hoosiers, sparked by Ferrell, will get hot for a stretch and go on a run that's too much for Ohio State to overcome.
Tim's prediction: Indiana 76, Ohio State 68
