Just when you think you’ve seen it all for this Ohio State basketball team, it continues to make the bad look very, very ugly, this time in a 76-73 loss.
It originally looked like a blowout for the good guys with Ohio State taking a 42-29 lead into halftime and going up by as many as eighteen points in the second half before the Hoosiers began to slowly close the gap, getting the lead under ten points on several occasions, and finally taking the lead with about two minutes to go.
From there, we all had a feeling what was about to happen. In the end, the Buckeyes self-destructed again in the second half and continue on the road to nowhere after a fifth-straight loss and eight of its last nine going the wrong way.
Ohio State did some serious damage at the free throw line, and took relatively good care of the basketball. It even had a better shooting night than we’ve seen most recently — at least until it all unraveled — mostly on the defensive end with the Buckeyes fouling far too often and giving up 47 points in the second half.
Final from Columbus.
OSU: 73
IU: 76 pic.twitter.com/37I05L2raV— Ohio State Hoops 🌰 (@OhioStateHoops) February 7, 2024
OSU continued to run one on one sets and dribble the ball too much, often looking for isolation plays that resulted in some very tough and questionable shots. That all resulted in an awfully tough time scoring heading down the stretch.
Jamison Battle and Roddy Gayle Jr. led the Buckeyes with 19 points each but it wasn’t enough. With the loss, Ohio State falls to 13-10 overall and 3-9 in the league. It’ll take on Maryland at home on Saturday.
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