Indiana brought down the roof on Saturday night against Ohio State. Or was that just part of the scoreboard? Either way, the Hoosiers won their fifth straight game in front of a raucous crowd in Bloomington.
The Buckeyes jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead, only to see IU rally with an 11-0 run. The Hoosiers would go on to lead by as much as six before OSU knotted things up at 29 with 5:37 left in the first. But that’s when Indiana went on the run that changed the game — a 17-1 onslaught going into halftime. Ohio State would pull to within 11 after the break, but never closer.
Let’s take a deeper look at how the Hoosiers won 86-70 with another edition of The Report Card.
Indiana (15-6, 6-4) will next travel to Maryland for a 9 p.m. tip on Tuesday.
OFFENSE (A-)
Indiana made half of both their twos and their threes, and they turned it over just nine times against 17 assists. With star forward Trayce Jackson-Davis relatively inefficient (8-of-18), the Hoosiers need others to step up.
They got major contributions from the freshman trio of Jalen Hood-Schifino, Malik Reneau and Kaleb Banks, who combined to go 16-of-25 from the field for 44 points.
Of course Hood-Schifino was the headliner with 6-of-9 effort from three, and he did a good job of finding the holes in the OSU perimeter defense. As a team IU made 10-of-20 from beyond the arc, their ninth game of 40 percent or better from long range this season.
“That started this summer,” IU coach Mike Woodson said when asked after the game why his team has improved so much making threes. “Guys knew that they had to improve from the three-point line because we weren’t very good last season, and everybody has put the time in, and you feel good now when the shot goes up that it’s going in.”
Ohio State was very aggressive when it came to trapping Jackson-Davis. That led to some of his misses and three turnovers, but he also had six assists. As a team IU had 17 assists on 32 makes.
Rebounding played a key role, as IU snared 15 on the offensive end and scored 23 second chance points. Their 41.7 percent offensive rebounding rate was the team’s highest this season against a high major.
Indiana’s 1.32 points per possession were the most during the Mike Woodson era against a high major opponent, and the most by IU against a high major since their win at Illinois in 2019.
DEFENSE (B)
While 70 points allowed might seem like a bit higher than normal number, Ohio State came into the game with the ninth most efficient offense in the country, and IU had held them to 57 points with five minutes remaining — at which point their lead had swelled to 19 points and things got a little loose.
The real magic happened over the last five minutes of the first half, when IU pitched a shutout.
“We got stops — I came out of the time-out, ‘I’m like, guys, we’re just sitting here trading buckets, and we can’t trade the rest of the game. Somebody has got to make a stand.’ We came out of that time-out, I talked about getting three or four stops, and we got a lot of stops,” Woodson said.
OSU came into the game tenth in the nation with a 38.8 percent make rate from behind-the-arc. But Indiana’s defense forced Ohio State to shoot 26.3 percent (5-of-19) from 3-point range.
Freshman wing Brice Sensabaugh proved to be a challenging matchup for IU, and Ohio State tried to get him into favorable one-on-ones and give him space to operate. But no one else posed a major threat, and Sensabaugh couldn’t do it all on his own.
The Hoosiers allowed 1.076 points per possession for the game, but just .938 in the first half when they built a sizeable advantage that proved to be insurmountable.
MORE GAME COVERAGE
- Jalen Hood-Schifino takes over first half against Ohio State, giving IU a crucial secondary scorer
- Watch: Woodson, Banks and Reneau discuss Indiana win over Ohio State
- IU basketball: Indiana 86 Ohio State 70 — Three keys | Highlights | Final stats
- Jordan Geronimo out for IU basketball vs. Ohio State
- Long form highlights:
THE PLAYERS
Trayce Jackson-Davis (A-) He missed some close range shots he normally makes, but this was another effort where he didn’t force matters and made several good passes on the night. If 18 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks is an off night, you’ll take it every time.
Race Thompson (C+) An off night offensively, as Thompson continues to struggle to find a rhythm since coming back from an injury. He was put in tough matchups on the other end against a smaller OSU lineup.
Miller Kopp (B-) Not a highly productive night, although he did show something with a 2-point jumper on the move, and made an important three when OSU had pulled to within 12. Ohio State was targeting him on the other end, as they tried to get him switched into a matchup they felt gave them an advantage off the bounce.
Jalen Hood-Schifino (A+) Just a dominant effort on a big stage by the true freshman. Hood-Schifino was particularly effective early, when he scored 17 of IU’s first 21 points. But he was solid throughout, took care of the ball, and played good defense.
Trey Galloway (B+) He made a nifty reverse layup and a three as part of an otherwise relatively quiet night on the offensive end. But Galloway was solid on defense, as he frustrated Sean McNeil into a bad shooting night.
Tamar Bates (B) Bates helped to put the final dagger in the Buckeyes with a couple second half makes, and he added a couple assists.
Malik Reneau (B+) Reneau brought toughness, physicality and energy. He was very active on the glass on both ends. He keeps fouling, but overall Reneau is trending in the right direction. “I’m just calming down on the court, being calm when I’m out there, and just letting the game come to me,” he said after the game.
Kaleb Banks (A-) He struggled at the foul line, but that’s really the only meaningful shortcoming in an impressive effort that included 7 rebounds in 12 minutes. Banks hasn’t had much big game, big moment experience, but he showed he can be trusted when duty calls.
C.J. Gunn and Anthony Leal also appeared in the game briefly.
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In total, Indiana had 10 scholarship players healthy and available on Wednesday. Jordan Geronimo has a leg injury, Logan Duncomb was out due to an illness, and Xavier Johnson (foot) was unavailable.
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