Ohio State men’s basketball vs. Indiana: Game preview and prediction

After a five-game losing streak with a win over Iowa last Saturday, Ohio They couldn’t keep up the good vibes Tuesday night in a 69-60 loss in Illinois. The Buckeyes were up to 17 points behind in the second half with no answer to what the Fighting Illini threw at them. Ohio now has another tough road test tonight. Indiana Hoosiers At Assembly Hall in Bloomington.

Chris Holtmann’s team’s performance in Champaign on Tuesday night left much to be desired. There was little energy and urgency from the Buckeyes watching an uphill battle if they wanted to earn an NCAA Tournament bid. Ohio State shot just 36.7% and Illinois rebounded him 44-30. Only two Buckeyes scored in double digits in the game. Bryce Sensorbaugh scored his 14 points, a team-high, and Justice Thwing scored his 13 points in his 21 minutes off the bench.

With his score Tuesday night, Suing is now just 10 points short of 1,500 career points. Of his 1,490 career points he earned 604 while at Ohio State. Smart Money is about Suing reaching a milestone in his career tonight. Not only has Suing averaged 13 points per game this year, but he has failed to hit double figures in six of his 20 games scheduled this year.

Sensabo, meanwhile, leads Ohio State in scoring, averaging 17.4 points per game. Sensabo also leads the Big Ten freshmen in scoring this year. Earlier this week, Sensabaugh was named his Big Ten Freshman of the Week, his fourth time this year. No matter how the Buckeyes season unfolds, Sensabo is adamant about being named Big He Ten’s Freshman of the Year.

preview

Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

Tonight Ohio State travels to Bloomington for its only meeting of the regular season against Indiana. They won the return leg of the match and went on to win 80-69 in extra time. Indiana leads the all-time series 109-88, but Ohio State has won six of its last eight meetings with the Hoosiers.

After three straight losses, Mike Woodson’s team turned the ship around with four straight wins. The latest of these wins was Wednesday night when the Hoosiers escaped Minneapolis with his 61-57 victory over Minnesota. Indiana not only survived an upset try from his Gophers, but the Hoosiers head also survived without Woodson on the bench because his coach missed a game during his recovery from COVID-19. I was.

It was Big Ten Player of the Week Trace Jackson Davis who led Indiana to victory on Wednesday. Jr. has said his recent play has his case in the National Player of the Year conversation: During his four straight wins for Indiana, Jackson Davis averaged 27.3 points per game and 14.3 rebounds per game. , recording 4.8 blocks per game.

By scoring 25 points, pulling down 21 rebounds and hitting six shots on Wednesday, Jackson Davis said Hashem Saviet scored 25 or more points, had 20 rebounds and blocked at least five shots in a game. Became the first player. U Conn A Jackson-Davis layup with 43 seconds remaining ended up being the game-winning bucket, giving the Hoosiers a 59–57 lead.

Indiana has had to deal with several injuries over the last month, so Jackson-Davis has had to step up. Race Thompson has missed four games with a knee injury earlier this month. , was on the court for more than 10 minutes in the match. Thompson is averaging 7.6 points per game this year and he has 5.6 rebounds per game.

If a team can put a clamp on Jackson-Davis, Indiana is a very good team because they don’t have consistent production behind him. Although the second most scorer, the guard is still in first grade. Hood-Schfinio has struggled to attack in the last two games. He scored only 2 points on 1-6 shooting from the field against Minnesota before he scored only 6 points on 2-11 shooting. Michigan.

A familiar name for this game is Mirror Cop. Millerkop spent his first three years of his college career at Northwestern University before transferring to Indiana State before last season. Kopp, who scored 11 points against Minnesota Wednesday night, surpassed his 1,200 points in his college career. Golden Kopp’s scoring against the Gophers was the first time in over a month that he had over 10 points in a single game. Before moving to Indiana, Kopp played his three games with Ohio State and scored at least 16 points against the Buckeyes.

Other players playing key roles in the Hoosiers are Tamar Bates, Trey Galloway and Malik Reneau. Recently, the sophomore guard posted a goose egg in the scoring column in three of his last five games, but in his other two games he scored 11 points against Penn State. , against Michigan State, where he scored 17 points. Bates is a threat from behind the arc, and he’s hit at least his 3-pointer in three games this year.

Galloway hasn’t been scoreless in that many games, but the Hoosiers will need more consistency from the guard if they want to win the NCAA Tournament. To close out the group, Renault gave Indiana a lift off the bench on Wednesday, scoring 10 points in 12 minutes of action.

predict

Ron Johnson – USA TODAY Sports

It’s very difficult to have confidence in Ohio State, especially when running in a tough environment like Assembly Hall. If so, you can’t expect Ohio State to show a lot of energy tonight against Indiana and one of college basketball. top talent.

If Ohio State wants a win in Bloomington tonight, they need to hold off Jackson-Davis. Earlier this month, Ohio State defeated Purdue, holding Zach Eady to 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Ohio State feels more like a complete team than Indiana. The problem is that the parts just don’t fit the Buckeyes for some reason, and while Brice Sensabaugh and Justice Sueing have done their part, we need a few more teammates stepping up on both ends of the floor. Injuries prevented Zeddkee from reaching the levels seen earlier in the season, while Sean McNeil and Isaac Riquele were inconsistent.

The Buckeyes desperately need to win this game, especially to play three of their next four games at home. Unfortunately, asking Ohio State to delay winning streak Jackson-Davis and beat Indiana on their own floor is a bit too much for Chris Holtman’s team.

ESPN BPI: Indiana 63.4%
time: 8:00 PM ET
tv set: fox

LGHL score predictions: Indiana 77, Ohio 68