It’s becoming a theme. The Ohio State basketball team lost another close game, this time at home against the Indiana Hoosiers. The Buckeyes once again fought back and were able to send it to overtime but couldn’t finish once again, losing by a 77-76 in front of a crowd ready and primed for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Monday.
The game never needed to get there in the first place. Ohio State once again had large stretches of sloppy play. The Buckeyes turned the ball over at inopportune times, allowed too many offensive rebounds, and had too many befuddling offensive possessions.
But when this team is playing connected, you can see the potential. In fact, OSU went into the break up 35-29 because of a good defensive effort. That, unfortunately gave way to far too many lapses in the second half. The Hoosiers used some hot shooting from Luke Goode to go up by ten points with about 5:00 minutes left in the game before the Buckeyes began to find its offense and play better defense behind the crowd.
And when John Mobley Jr. made a deep three-pointer with just :38 seconds left to tie things up at 71, overtime was in order.
Ohio State had plenty of chances to take control of the game in overtime but time and time again had empty possessions. Goode struck one more time with just over a minute left in overtime to give the Hoosiers the lead for good, and that’s all the scoring that would happen.
OSU would get one more opportunity to win the game, but a scramble resulted in the ball finding Bruce Thornton’s hands for a wide open three-pointer that rimmed in and out and sent the crowd home dejected.
Mobley led Ohio State in scoring with 22 points on 7-of-17 field goals. Micah Parrish (19) and Thornton (18) were the only other Buckeyes to finish in double figures.
Final/OT from Columbus.
IND: 77
OSU: 76The Buckeyes are back in action at Purdue Tuesday Night. pic.twitter.com/IoCgRFifBM
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) January 18, 2025
The loss is Ohio State’s third in a row and drops the overall record to 10-8, and the conference record to a very disappointing 2-5. It’s going to be awfully hard to climb out of a the early hole this team has put itself in, especially if it can’t find a way to play with more consistent effort and cohesiveness.
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