Ohio State will look to snap a two-game losing streak when they host the Indiana Hoosiers tonight at Value City Arena.
Ohio State enters tonight’s game coming off a 70-68 loss at Wisconsin on Tuesday night, their second straight setback by two points. The Buckeyes were ice cold in the first half in Madison, scoring just 20 points against the Badgers in the first 20 minutes of play. With their sluggish start to the game, Ohio State went into the halftime break trailing by 17 points.
Jake Diebler’s team got their act together in the second half, chipping away at Wisconsin’s lead, outscoring the Badgers 48-33 after halftime. Ohio State pulled to within a point a couple times late in the game, but couldn’t pull ahead of the Badgers. Bruce Thornton finished with a team-high 21 points, while Devin Royal was the only other Buckeye to reach double figures, scoring 12 points in the loss.
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The Buckeyes were really hurt in the loss to the Badgers by foul trouble. Ohio State committed 24 fouls in the game, resulting in Wisconsin attempting 28 free throws, almost more than double what the Buckeyes shot. Micah Parrish fouled out in the game, while Sean Stewart was charged with four fouls in just 15 minutes on the floor. The inability of Stewart to stay on the floor was a big loss since the Duke transfer led the team with eight rebounds in his limited action. Had it not been for Ohio State committing some careless fouls they likely would have beat the Badgers in Madison on Tuesday night.
The loss continues a troubling trend of January slumps for Ohio State. Since January 2023, the Buckeyes are 5-16 in the first month of the calendar year. This season Ohio State is just 1-3 in January, with their only win coming in double overtime at Minnesota last week. Following Friday night’s contest against Indiana, the Buckeyes have tough road games at Purdue and Penn State, which sandwich a home tilt with Iowa next Monday.
Preview
Much like Ohio State, Indiana enters tonight’s contest on a two-game losing streak. Unlike the Buckeyes, the Hoosiers haven’t been competitive during their skid. After losing 85-60 at Iowa, Indiana was embarrassed at home on Tuesday night by Illinois, 94-69. After the Hoosiers led 6-5 early in the game, the Fighting Illini broke off a 15-2 run to take the lead for good. By the time halftime hit, Illinois was leading 60-32.
The bright spot for Indiana in Tuesday’s loss was center Oumar Ballo, who finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds. The double-double was the fourth in the last five games for the Arizona transfer. Ballo is averaging 14.1 points per game and 10.1 rebounds per contest this season. If Ballo keeps up his current pace, this will be the second straight season he has averaged a double-double. Last season at Arizona, Ballo finished the season with 12.9 points per game and 10.1 rebounds per game.
There was a question of if Ballo would be able to play in Friday night’s game after the seven-footer flew in from out of nowhere to join into an end-of-game scuffle against Illinois, shoving Illini big man Tomislav Ivicic towards a row of photographers. The Big Ten conference did not issue any type of reprimand, so he will be available Friday.
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Along with Ballo, another important transfer this year for the Hoosiers has been guard Myles Rice, who started his college career at Washington State. After averaging 14.8 points per game for the Cougars last season, Rice is averaging 12.4 points per game in his first season in Bloomington. The sophomore from South Carolina has reach the 20-point mark in four games this season, and scored at least 12 points in four of the last five games.
Indiana has needed Rice and Ballo to pick up their scoring recently after Malik Reneau was injured early in the Rutgers game at the beginning of the month. Reneau was averaging 14.1 points per game before he was sidelined. His status for Friday night is up in the air, but earlier this week Woodson said that he’s hopeful that his star forward will be able to play.
One player who hasn’t met the moment after Reneau’s injury is Mackenzie Mgbako. The sophomore forward is 3-24 from the field over the last three games, scoring a total of 10 points during that span. Instead, Illinois transfer Luke Goode has been establishing himself as a threat at forward while Mgbako has struggled.
What was most interesting about Tuesday night’s game is it feels like the Hoosier fans are starting to turn on coach Mike Woodson, who played for Bobby Knight from 1976 to 1980. The former Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks head coach is in his fourth year at the helm of his alma mater, compiling at 76-45 record so far. After making the NCAA Tournament in his first two seasons as head coach, last year the Hoosiers missed the big dance after finishing the regular season with a 19-14 record.
Despite their struggles last season, Indiana did sweep the regular season series with Ohio State. Following a 71-65 win over the Buckeyes at Assembly Hall in early January, the Hoosiers took down Ohio State at Value City Arena 76-73 a month later. The victories extended Indiana’s winning streak over the Buckeyes to three games, as the Hoosiers won the only meeting between the schools in the 2022-23 season. The last win for Ohio State over Indiana came back in February 2022, as the Buckeyes beat the Hoosiers 80-69 in overtime in Columbus. This will be the 201st meeting between the schools, with Indiana holding a 112-88 edge in the all-time series.
Prediction
Both these teams come into tonight’s game desperate for a victory. Ohio State is trying to exercise the demons of the past three Januarys, while Mike Woodson needs a victory to try and point his squad in the right direction. A win for the Hoosiers wouldn’t fix everything, but it would at least buy Woodson a little bit of time to try and quiet the calls from Indiana fans for Woodson to be relieved of his duties. No matter the winner in Columbus tonight, they’ll still have a lot of work to do if they have designs on a NCAA Tournament spot considering the depth of the Big Ten with the addition of UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington.
This game is going to come down to which team can capitalize on the other team missing a key player. Indiana is going to be without forward Malik Reneau, while Ohio State guard Meechie Johnson Jr. has missed the last seven games. It feels like the loss of Reneau is more of an issue for the Hoosiers than the loss of Johnson for the Buckeyes. Without Reneau, Indiana loses some of their size and scoring in the front court. Ohio State has bodies in Devin Royal, Sean Stewart, and Aaron Bradshaw to throw at Ballo. What also helps the Buckeyes are the recent struggles of Mackenzie Mgbako.
Ohio State’s home court advantage is going to give them a slight edge in this game. Not that Value City Arena is some fortress that is impossible to win at, but winning on the road in the Big Ten is extremely difficult. While Oregon was able to beat the Buckeyes in Columbus last week, Ohio State gave a ranked team their best shot and the Ducks barely escaped with a win. Right now the Hoosiers aren’t on the level of Oregon, so the Buckeyes should have a little easier time navigating the challenge they’ll face from Indiana.
ESPN BPI: Ohio State, 77.9%
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
TV: FOX
LGHL score prediction: Ohio State 77, Indiana 73