Indiana at Ohio State: Post-game notes, numbers, and trends

The Hoosiers were probably never going to win Saturday’s showdown with fourth-ranked Ohio State, but for a moment, it certainly seemed as if they could keep it close. IU, winners of two in a row, collapsed in the second half, as the Buckeyes broke the game open, cruising to a 78-59 win. Indiana (11-9) hosts a good Minnesota team Wednesday night at Assembly Hall. 

Here are some notes, numbers, and trends from the loss:

• Archie Miller and Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann were both hired in 2017. Both were considered rising stars in the industry when they were hired, but after Saturday, Miller is 1-6 in seven games against Ohio State as head coach of IU. 
• After Indiana went up 6-2, the Buckeyes went on a 19-0 run. Later on in the game, Ohio State went on a second big run, a 19-4 spurt. 
• Armaan Franklin made a three early in the game, but only got up three more, and missed all of them. The Hoosiers’ best perimeter creator finished with just the three points.
• After combining for 47 points against Northwestern, Franklin and Al Durham had just ten points on Saturday.
• Ohio State controlled the game from the start, leading for 35:48. Though IU came close, the team was never able to break through the Buckeyes lead after the first few minutes. 
• Ohio State’s gameplan was different from most teams in that instead of trying to take him away, it seemed as though the Buckeyes wanted to let Trayce Jackson-Davis beat them. Jackson-Davis obliged after a slow start, scoring 23 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Jackson-Davis had a monster true shooting percentage of 70 and an excellent offensive rating of 117.3 across 34 minutes. He has scored in double figures each game this season and has hit the 20-point mark 11 times. He has led or shared the team lead in both points and rebounds in the same game 11 times this season. 
• Indiana was hurt by turnovers, committing 15. The Buckeyes capitalized, scoring 21 points off turnovers. Franklin and Khristian Lander both turned it over four times.  After four of six games with less than ten turnovers, IU has committed 13 and 15 in its last two contests.
• As a team Indiana has not been above 43 percent from the field in a game since their win at Iowa, representing five straight contests.
• IU was once again abysmal from the free throw line, shooting 12-22. Comparatively, Ohio State went 17-19. 
• The Buckeyes dominated the offensive glass, continually beating IU to the ball. OSU finished with 12 offensive boards and 20 second chance points. 
• This was a big chance for Indiana’s four freshmen, but they struggled, going scoreless across 42 combined minutes. The group went 0-4 from the field. 
• Jerome Hunter had a very solid game, coming two points short of a career-high with 10 points. Hunter banged in two threes, forty percent of the team’s makes from behind the arc.  He is averaging 7.9 points per game over the last seven contests.

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