Men's Basketball
Hoosiers Shoot Down Buckeyes, 81-79
By John Porentas
No. 16 Indiana (10-2, 2-0 Big Ten) shot 65% from the field in the second half to come from behind and hand No. 18 Ohio State (11-1, 1-1 Big Ten) it's first loss of the season and first loss in the Big Ten.
Ohio State led throughout the first half and by as many as 17 with just 3:54 remaining in the first stanza, but Indiana finished the period with an 11-2 run to cut OSU's lead to 40-32 at the intermission.
"For us to cut it to eight points at the half was really good," said Indiana Head Coach Mike Davis.
The Hoosiers continued the run to open the second half and took their first lead of the game at 47-46 with 16:54 remaining. The run was keyed by three consecutive three pointers, one by guard Robert Vaden and two by guard Marshall Strickland.
"They're a prolific shooting team," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.
"It's incredible how well they shoot the basketball. They have so many guys who can shoot it, and they do a great job with spacing. I think the spacing got us and we left our assignments for a second and they make you pay. That shot Vaden hit in the corner, we challenged the shot and he just lifted up and shot it in," Matta said.
"They got some good looks and set some good screens which led them to be open and make the shots," said OSU guard Ron Lewis of Indiana's fast start in the second half.
From that point on, it was an old-fashioned Big Ten basketball war.
There were four ties, Ohio State held the lead four times and Indiana five times over the last 16:54. The last Indiana lead came with just five seconds remaining when Strickland hit two free throws after OSU center Terence Dials was whistled for a foul off the ball as the clock was winding down in regulation, fouling Dials out of the game and sending Strickland to the line for the game-winning free throws.
OSU was not able to get off a shot in the final five seconds. The Buckeyes were able to advance the ball over midcourt and call time out with three seconds left to play to set up a last play, but Strickland was able to strip OSU center Matt Terwilliger after Terwilliger took the inbounds pass. The clock then expired without a shot attempted.
"We were supposed to get it in to Ron (Lewis) or Kell (Je'Kel Foster)," said Matta. "We went a little bit too quick and we just didn't have it," Matta said.
Ohio State had a chance to take the lead with under a minute to play when OSU guard Ron Lewis got a steal with 50 seconds remaining and the game tied at 79. The Buckeyes got the ball down low to Dials who got a shot up with 27 second remaining, but the shot wouldn't fall. OSU's J. J. Sullinger grabbed the rebound, but was tied up by Strickland. Indiana was awarded the basketball on the possession arrow with 25 seconds remaining to set up the game-winning possession.
"We wanted to be in position to have chance to win the game at the end, and we had that," said Matta.
Indiana benefited from 26 OSU personal fouls and went to the free throw line 29 times as compared to 21 times by OSU. The Hoosiers outscored the Buckeyes 21-14 from the free throw stripe. Ohio State played with most of its rebounding strength hampered with four fouls in the second half. Terence Dials, Matt Terwilliger and J. J. Sullinger all saw significant bench time in the second half as a result of foul problems, as did Matt Sylvester. .
"If you get one or two key players out on fouls it changes the complexion of the game. When Dials went out of the game it really helped us," said Indiana Head Coach Mike Davis.
"I think the glowing thing for us (in the game) is foul trouble," said Matta.
"It crushed us. We're a team that doesn't foul a lot. We go on the road and commit 27 fouls, we lose the game on a foul. We've got to get that corrected.
"Foul trouble throws us into combination and we struggle running our offense. Guys have got to play smarter than that. " Matta said.
Despite playing with four fouls for much of the second half, Dials led Ohio State with 25 points on nine-of-14 shooting from the field. Dials scored 12 of his 25 points in the last 7:16 after sitting out a big chunk of the second half.
"I felt like I owed my team something," said Dials.
"I took a lot of ticky-tack fouls just being dumb and stupid and I think I cost my team the game. They needed me and I wasn't there, so when my time came in the last eight minutes or whatever I just tried go make something happen, tried to will my team to victory. It was indicative of the way it went that I got a foul called on me and they win the game," said Dials.
Dials' foul problems hurt the Buckeyes, but none of the first four were as damaging as the last one called on him as he tried to fight through a screen with the scored tied and time running out in regulation.
"I know he (Strickland) was trying set a pick for Marco Killingsworth to come across," said Dials.
"We already had the play, we knew that they were going to run, I knew the cross-screen was going to come, I just tried to get over it. I don't know if he flopped or whatever, I didn't mean to bowl him over, I don't think I hit him that hard. It was a foul, game over," said Dials.
Indiana was led by Killingsworth who led all scorers with 26 points. Strickland had 15, Lewis Monroe and Roderick Wilmont 11 each and Vaden 10.
OSU guards Foster and Lewis each had 13 points for OSU to join Dials as double-figure scorers.
Dials led all rebounders with eight. Ohio State outrebounded Indiana 36-30.
Ohio State must now regroup for it's second road trip of the Big Ten season next Wednesday when they travel to West Lafayette to take on Purdue.
"This is a tough loss, but we're not going to get down. We're just going to keep competing every day," said Lewis.
"It doesn't make or break our season. We're just going to keep competing and getting better in practice. One loss certainly doesn't break it. It's a tough league. We knew that coming in," Lewis said.