Indiana Pulls Off Second-Half Rally, Stuns Ohio State in Home Finale

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Down 10 points with their NCAA Tournament hopes still dangling in the wind, Indiana came up with a big second-half rally on Saturday to knock off Ohio State 66-60 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

And they did it in an unusual way. They made their free throws.

The Hoosiers shoot just 70.75 percent from the line, which ranks No. 231 in the country out of 355 teams. But they made 17-of-18 during one stretch, and were 23-for-31 on the game, with 17 of those coming in the second half.

It made the difference in the Hoosiers' final game of the season at Assembly Hall. Indiana closes out the season with an overall record of 19-12 and a 10-10 mark in the Big Ten. That's good for ninth place in the expanded 18-team league and allows them to skip Wednesday's first-round games in the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis.

They will be the ninth seed and will play No. 8 seed Oregon on Thursday. Ohio State will be the No. 10 seed and their opponent — the No. 15 seed — won't be determined until the end of regular season action on Sunday.

Trey Galloway led the Hoosiers with 16 points — including a huge three-pointer with 1:24 to go to give Indiana a five-point lead. He became the 56th player — and second in a month — to score 1,000 or more points in their Indiana career. Galloway now has 1,005 points.

Malik Reneau, who joined that list two weeks ago, also had 16 for the Hoosiers. Luke Goode was also in double figures, scoring 11 points despite going 1-for-7 from the field. He made 8-of-10 free throws.

This was not the prettiest of basketball games. Indiana made just 2-of-12 shots from the field in the first eight minutes, but were still tied 9-9 at the second media timeout. Ohio State scored the next six points though, and Indiana coach Mike Woodson was forced to take a timeout at the 9:12 mark, trailing 15-9.

Ohio State's biggest first-half lead was nine points. The half ended with Indiana within four points at 29-25. That was despite shooting just 9-of-29 from the field — 30.1 percent. They were 1-for-11 from three and made just 6-of-10 free throws.

Indiana has come back often this season, and Saturday was no different. Luke Goode started the half with a three to quickly cut the lead to one., but then Ohio State quickly got the lead back up to 10 points at the 12:12 mark.

Both teams are on the NCAA Tournament bubble, so the finishing stretch was going to huge. It was the Hoosiers who answered, and they tied it on two Goode free throws at the 8:15 mark.

Free throw shooting — not an Indiana strong suit much of the season — was big in the second half. Reneau made all six of his second-half attempts, and Goode was 5-for-6. Anthony Leal was 2-for-2, and Mackenzie Mgbako was 4-for-6.

Galloway's huge three from 28 feet with 1:24 came as the shot clock was winding down. It was reset at 20, not 30 seconds, and Galloway had a confused look on his face. He wasn't fazed though, and stepped right into it. It gave Indiana a 61-56 lead, and Ohio State — which finishes with 17-14 record and 9-11 mark in the Big Ten. They will play on Wednesday now in the first round.

It was Indiana's second win over Ohio State this season and the final game of Mike Woodson's coaching career at Assembly Hall.