The No. 17 Ohio State men’s basketball team (18-5, 9-1) hosts the Indiana Hoosiers (12-10, 5-5) Tuesday evening at Value City Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:01 pm and the game will be aired on ESPN2.
The Buckeyes are coming off of their first conference loss of the season, an 82-79 stumble at home to Penn State last Thursday. Indiana lost a tough one against Purdue on Sunday 74-67, so this is a quick turnaround for them.
Opening Tip
Who: Indiana (12-10, 5-5) at Ohio State (18-5, 9-1)
What: Men’s Basketball
Where: Columbus, Ohio — Value City Arena (18,809)
When: Tuesday, 7:01 pm (ESPN2)
Why: Because it’s time to start another winning streak.
Line: Ohio State -11
Ohio State
Three Point Territory
[Paying Forward] The family of junior Keita Bates-Diop is working to give back after Kai, Keita’s younger brother, suffered cardiac arrest and was revived by athletic trainers last year at a high school practice. Th e family is working to raise funds for organizations to purchase automated external defibrillators (AED), a device used by University High School (Bloomington, Ill.) athletic trainers Maddie Biehl and Emily Martz, to revive Kai last February. Read more at http://www.go.osu.edu/KBDFamily.
[Century Club] Jae’Sean Tate scored 18 points at Iowa to reach 1,300 career points. He added 17 points vs. Penn State the last time out (1,388). He is averaging 12.8 points a game this season and 11.8 ppg for his career and ranks No. 25 all-time in career scoring (1,388). Larry Bolden is 24th with 1,408 career points.
24. Larry Bolden ……………………………………………………1,408
25. Jae’Sean Tate …………………………………………………..1,388
26. Brian Brown …………………………………………………….1,384
In addition to his abilities on offense, Tate is close to joining the 700 club in career rebounding at Ohio State. He has 696 over 118 games for an average of 5.9 a game. He will become the 14th Buckeye all-time to reach 700 career boards. Also the game against the Hoosiers will be his 100th career start in an Ohio State uniform.
[The Series History] Indiana leads the all-time series with Ohio State 105-77. The Buckeyes are 52-36 in Columbus and 25-63 in Bloomington. The teams have met six times on neutral courts with the Hoosiers winning five. Ranked Ohio State teams are 20-15 against Indiana. The last time Ohio State was ranked in the IU series was Jan. 10, 2015, a 69-66 win for the Hoosiers over the No. 22 Buckeyes. Seniors Jae’Sean Tate and Kam Williams along with junior Keita Bates-Diop have the most experience among the current Buckeyes with four games played against the Hoosiers by Tate and Williams and three by Bates-Diop. Tate averages 13.5 points and 5.0 boards in the series. He has made 21-37 field goals (.568) in 30 minutes per game vs. Indiana. Williams contributes 4.0 points and 1.3 boards. Bates-Diop averages 3.3 points and 2.7 rebounds. Junior C.J. Jackson scored 18 points on 6-10 shooting, 5-8 from 3-point range, in his lone meeting with Indiana a year ago.
Indiana
What You Should Know
+ Sophomore center De’Ron Davis, who started the first 15 games this season, underwent surgery on Jan. 10 to repair a torn Achilles tendon in his right leg and will miss the remainder of the season. The Colorado native is fourth in the Big Ten in field goal percentage (61.5%). He is averaging 9.6 points and 4.3 rebounds. Senior Collin Hartman is not expected to play due to a lower left leg injury.
+ Junior forward Juwan Morgan continues to put together an All-Big Ten-type year. In the last 3 games, he has averaged 25.7 points and 7 rebounds and shot 64.0% from the floor. He had 28 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists at Illinois and finished with 25 points, 4 assists and 2 blocked shots against Maryland. He had 24 points, 7 boards and 2 blocks against Purdue. He leads the Hoosiers in scoring (16.3 ppg) and is among the league leaders in rebounds (7.1) and field goal percentage (59.5%). He has had six double-doubles this season. He is the most improved scorer in the Big Ten averaging 8.6 points per game more overall and 11.1 points better in conference play. He is averaging 18.4 points in the Big Ten.
+ Senior guard Robert Johnson has made 15 of his last 34 three-point field attempts (44.1) and is averaging 15.8 points and 6.4 rebounds in his last 5 games. He had 21 points against Purdue and Michigan State. He had a career-high 28 points at Minnesota. He is now in 29th place on the IU all-time scoring list with 1,285 points and fourth on the school’s all-time list with 215 treys.
+ IU is 7-1 this season when making 8 or more three-point field goals in a game.
Prediction
Indiana has lost three of four, with its lone win a 3-point victory at home over Maryland. They played well on Sunday in their loss to Purdue, but this will be a quick turnaround for them, which gives the Buckeyes an advantage. Ohio State last played on Thursday and they’ve been having the bad taste of a loss in their mouths the entire time. This is a rivalry game for both programs, so expect the best that both teams have to give. In order to win, Indiana needs to force turnovers. The Buckeyes have been good about turning the ball over during Big Ten play, and I expect that to continue here. As long as the shots are falling for OSU and the Hoosiers don’t hit 11-of-14 from three, I like Ohio State here.
Ohio State 75, Indiana 67
