Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Wear Down Hoosiers to Gain Season Split with Indiana
By John Porentas
The Buckeyes (18-8, 7-5 Big Ten) won the war of attrition, and as a result came away with a tough 57-44 win over Indiana (11-11, 6-5) to earn a season-split with the Hoosiers.
The Buckeyes and Hoosiers waged war on the hardwood for the first 30 minutes and 35 seconds, and going into the last ten minutes of the game, it was nearly a dead heat. At the 10:25 mark of the second half, Indiana was clinging to a one point lead at 36-35. That's when the Hoosiers started running out of gas and the Buckeyes put the pedal to the metal.
The Buckeyes closed out the game with a 22-8 run that included a 13-2 blitz that began at the 7:35 mark that turned a two point Buckeye lead at 40-38 into a 53-40 lead with just 1:02 left to play. The run left the Hoosiers gasping.
"Our guys played so hard that I thought the last eight minutes of the game we just had no energy left," said Indiana Head Coach Mike Davis.
Playing without leading scorer Bracey Wright, the Hoosiers had trouble scoring all night, and when the Buckeyes began doubling down on center D. J. White, the I. U. offense all but dried up and let the Buckeyes make their move.
"I thought they made a great adjustment when they doubled the post. It kind of hurt us," said Davis.
"The game was like a one point game and we missed two wide open shots, and that hurt us."
The Hoosiers were struggling on offense at that point of the game, but the Buckeyes came alive offensively behind a show by junior forward J. J. Sullinger.
Sullinger fueled OSU's stretch dash with outside and inside scoring that Indiana could not stop.
"Sullinger was a handful for us tonight. He played great," said Davis.
Sullinger scored a team-high 17 points for OSU, 14 of them in the second half. His three pointer to put the Buckeyes up 44-38 provided the separation in the score that was the beginning of the end for the Hoosiers. Sullinger knocked down acrobatic, shot-clock beating shots as the Buckeyes made their move to pull away late in the game.
"That's his style of play," said Davis.
"He shoots off-balance shots a lot. He was similar to what Michael Redd was tonight. He made some big shots down the stretch."
"We just had to make plays down the stretch," said Sullinger.
"That's what we said we had to do going into this game. In the last game against Indiana at their place, pretty much it came down to them making plays and we didn't. We just tried to make plays."
While Sullinger was getting it done offensively, all the Buckeyes were getting it done defensively, limiting Indiana to a season-low 44 points on 38% shooting from the floor.
"Coach Matta prepared us really well for the game," said OSU junior center Terence Dials.
"He had just about every one of their plays scouted and we knew exactly what they were going to run.
"The shot clock came into play a couple of times. That's just playing tough defense.
"We know what they're going to run. We just had to execute and we execute our defense really well. It was tough for them to get shots up."
Combine that with a tired Indiana team and OSU team that was anything but tired, and it added up to a Buckeye win and Hoosier loss.
"They executed and stayed strong throughout the game. They were fresh and played with the same fire they played with the first five minutes in the last five minutes," said Davis.
"I thought we had the energy when we needed it," added an obviously pleased Matta.
Indiana center D. J. Wright led Indiana with 17 points and guard Robert Vaden added 14 to pace the Indiana scoring. Ohio State got double-digit scoring efforts from Dials (14) and Jamar Butler (13) to go with Sullinger's effort. Ohio State turned the ball over just eight times in the game.
"Guys just took care of the ball. That was one of big keys to winning this game," said Dials.
"At Indiana we turned it over a lot just on stupid stuff like travels. We wanted to make sure we took care of the ball and took good shots and I think we did that for the most part today."
Notes
* OSU junior forward Matt Sylvester came off the bench to once again provide a major offensive spark for the Buckeyes. Sylvester scored six points and picked up three assists in just 18 minutes of play to give the Buckeyes a real offensive lift, particularly in the second half.
"He creates so many mismatches being a four man who can put the ball on the floor, who can shoot from the outside, who can penetrate," said Dials.
" He's a former wing player, so he always has an advantage when he's playing against a taller guy or a slower guy. He just takes advantage of the opportunities that he has. He's a great passer and he finds open guys. He really provides a spark for us when he comes off the bench."
Sylvester almost didn't play in the game. He was ill most of the day but played despite suffering from flu-like symptoms that included a temperature well-over 100.
"We were nervous," said Matta of Sylvester's health prior to the game.
"I think he was in to see the trainer at 7:00 AM. There was a time there in the first half where I was concerned that he wasn't going to be able to finish the possession. Thank goodness we were able to get him out of the game.
"He said at the end of the first half that he was feeling better. You could tell out there that he wasn't moving the way he normally does, but credit to him, he positioned himself well defensively and really helped us on that end."