Road Woes Continue for Indiana at Ohio State in 68-59 Loss

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Indiana rinse-and-repeat road struggles continued on Saturday, struggling through another Big Ten outing in a 68-59 loss to Ohio State. And don't be deceived by that final score. It wasn't that close.

The Hoosiers are now just 1-5 on the road in the Big Ten, and have fallen below .500 in the league for the first time since December after their third straight loss. And it looked eerily similar to all of their other Big Ten losses, where they've lost every game by at least nine points and have barely been competitive. Indiana is now 15-7 overall and 5-6 in the league.

Indiana had no answer for Ohio State's Kaleb Wesson, who hurt them inside and out. He scored 15 points and had 11 rebounds, five of them on the offensive glass, and he scored from all over the floor. Ohio State crushed Indiana on the boards, getting 11 offensive rebounds to Indiana's four.

Point guard C.J. Walker had 14 and Andre Wesson, Kaleb's brother, had 10. Justin Aherns had a great game off the bench, hitting three 3-pointers in the second half to spur that Ohio State rally.

Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana's leading scorer and rebounder, was a non-factor in this game. The Indiana guards did a poor job of getting him the ball — he took only one shot in the first half — and when he did get the ball, he had trouble finishing. He was just 2-for-6 shooting and scored only seven points.

Rob Phinisee had 11 points. Green, who hit another 3-pointer on Indiana's final possession, had a team-high 13 points. Phinisee was the only Indiana starter in double figures.

The Hoosiers struggled out of the gate, which has been a road tradition, as well. Ohio State had a 16-3 run in the early parts of the first half, and the Hoosiers could never recover. Indiana was down 20-9 halfway through the period and had five turnovers in the first eight minutes.

Down by double-digits for much of the final portion of the half, they were saved a bit when Devonte Green hit a 30-footer at the buzzer to go to the locker room trailing by nine at 31-22.

Indiana got to within six early in the half, but then Ohio State — which was only 3-for-13 from 3-point range in the first half — caught fire from deep. They were back up by 16 in a hurry and made 7-of-14 long balls in the second half alone.

Ohio State, which had lost six of its previous eight games, looked to be regaining early-season form, where they started out 9-0 and were just hours away from being ranked No. 1 in the country in early December. The Buckeyes are now 4-6 in the league and 14-7 overall.

Indiana is off until next Saturday when it hosts in-state rival Purdue at Assembly Hall. That game begins at 2 p.m.

Indiana's road struggles (1-5) in the Big Ten

Dec. 7 — Lost to Wisconsin, 84-64
Jan. 4 — Lost to Maryland 75-59
Jan. 15 — Lost to Rutgers, 59-50
Jan. 18 — Beat Nebraska, 82-74
Jan. 29 — Lost to Penn State, 64-49
Feb. 1 — Lost to Ohio State, 68-59

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