One day after losing to Minnesota by 17 points on Jan. 3, Ohio State slipped out of the Associated Press top-25 poll entirely. For the third week in a row, its ranking had dropped. At the time, voters didn’t believe Chris Holtmann’s team belonged among the nation’s 25 best.
| Who | Where | When | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana (11-8, 6-6) | Columbus, Ohio (Schottenstein Center) | 12 p.m. | ESPN |
Since getting unranked for the first time in more than 10 months, 40 days have passed and all 63 AP voters now have the Buckeyes not just inside the top-25 but within the top-10. They’re riding a five-game winning streak and have won eight of their past nine games to shoot all the way up No. 4 in the nation.
On Saturday afternoon, a surging Ohio State team will try to win its sixth game in a row when former Buckeye assistant coach Archie Miller brings his unranked Indiana Hoosiers to Columbus for a noon showdown in the Schottenstein Center. It’s the only regular season matchup between these two.
“This Indiana team is obviously experienced,” Holtmann said on Friday. “I think most people talk about Trayce Jackson-Davis, and he's phenomenal. He's phenomenal. Really talented, and he's grown and continues to just be the player so many thought he was going to be. They're tough, they're physical, they're well-coached. They're a group that, I think like everybody in this league, they've got a real resiliency to them in terms of how they play. For us, it's going to be a great challenge here tomorrow at noon. Our guys need to be ready.”
Unlike Ohio State, which held a spotless 6-0 non-conference record then put itself in third place in the Big Ten with a 10-4 conference mark, Indiana has spent most of the season just a bit over .500.
The Hoosiers are 11-8 overall and 6-6 in the Big Ten. They have a pair of marquee wins against Iowa – both at home and on the road – to go along with home victories versus Penn State and Maryland. But the eight losses to Texas, Florida State, Northwestern, Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, Rutgers and Illinois make up the blemishes on their slate.
With the nation’s 50th-ranked offense and 20th-ranked defense, Miller has Indiana just above the NCAA tournament bubble with six games remaining before the postseason gets underway.
“They're always physical, and I think they always play really, really hard on both ends, but particularly defensively,” Holtmann said. “In our short time playing against Indiana, that's really been the hallmark of the teams. And most of all of our games have went down to the wire. We've been fortunate on a couple wins, for sure. Those are kind of the things that I think of. This year's team is good offensively and they're good defensively. They're a veteran group, and you can tell that with a group that's played together a lot and a star in Trayce.”
Things to watch
How To Handle Trayce Jackson-Davis?
Nine days ago, Ohio State kept college basketball’s most productive center – Iowa’s Luka Garza – to a season-low 16 points. It’ll try to repeat its success on Saturday when going against another of the top big men in the country.
All-American candidate Trayce Jackson-Davis leads Indiana with 19.4 points and 9.4 rebounds in 34.4 minutes per game, giving Miller a top-flight offensive player down low to build everything around. Not even bothering to attempt a 3-pointer, he’s content to do what he does best: Bang under the basket and control the paint. That has led him to score in double figures in each of Indiana’s 19 games thus far, shooting 52 percent from the field. The physicality of the 6-foot-9, 245-pounder and his body control have helped him average 8.5 free-throw attempts per game.
“He continues to get to the foul line,” Holtmann said. “I just think he impacts the game. He's a terrific shot blocker. Elite rebounder. Runs the floor really well. I think every area of his game is improved.”
A season ago, Jackson-Davis actually didn't do much versus Ohio State. He had six points and three boards in their first meeting, then seven points and seven rebounds in the second one, hitting just three shots from the field in 61 combined minutes. Holtmann gave much of the credit to Kaleb Wesson for how the Buckeyes guarded Jackson-Davis.
This time, the Buckeyes will look to E.J. Liddell, Kyle Young and Zed Key – who’s coming off a “little bit of a sprained ankle,” per his head coach – to contain the standout Hoosier in the middle.
“It's going to be a different challenge and much more of a challenge for us this year. Kaleb's frame, length, size collectively was a real asset for us on bigger guys. Also, Trayce was young. Trayce is a better player now. He was a very good player last year; he's an even better player now. Much like E.J., you've just seen a guy grow into a sophomore who's a really good player. I think Trayce came out maybe as a McDonald's All-American. He came out with a lot of overall accolades, and he's proven himself to be a really effective player.”
Holtmann also pointed out starting forward Race Thompson (6-foot-8, 228 pounds) as someone they have to key on. He’s fourth on the team with 9.9 points and 6.5 rebounds in 29.4 minutes per game.
“I love Race Thompson, too,” Holtmann said. “I think those guys playing together, Race gives them a really good balance with Trayce.”
Will It Go To The Wire?
Holtmann didn’t plan to inundate his players with tales of Indiana’s close games this season. But how could he avoid them?
The Hoosiers have gone to overtime five times, and two of them stretched into double-overtime. Two of their past three games, in fact, needed more than the 40 minutes of regulation, with Illinois beating Indiana in overtime before the Hoosiers topped Northwestern in double overtime eight days later. None of Indiana's past four games have been decided by a margin greater than four points.
“That's Big Ten basketball in general, right? You've had very few breathers,” Holtmann said. “But you're right. They've had a lot of close games – I think four overtime games. And again, they have a real resiliency to them as a group. I think we do as well. We expect it to go down to the last couple minutes. I think that's typical of most games. That's been kind of the tone of a lot of their league games.”
Archie Miller Vs. Chris Holtmann
Miller left the state of Ohio to coach Indiana. Holtmann left the state of Indiana to coach Ohio State. Given their paths, especially since they got hired in the same offseason, they’ll get compared to each other as long as they’re both still at their respective schools.
Thus far, three and a half years into both of their stints, Holtmann has the upper hand overall, within the Big Ten and in head-to-head matchups.
- Holtmann: 82-38 overall record, 44-28 Big Ten record, two NCAA tournament appearances, three 20-win seasons
- Miller: 66-51 overall record, 32-38 Big Ten record, zero NCAA tournament appearances, one 20-win season
Holtmann's Ohio State beat Miller's Indiana twice in 2018, twice in 2019, then split the home-road series in 2020.
Saturday's game between them is the only one scheduled to tip off in the regular season. So, there’s only one opportunity – unless they meet in the postseason – for each of them to earn bragging rights this year.
Prediction: Ohio State 75, Indiana 69
