Ohio State's Lenzelle Smith Jr. pumped in a career-high 28 points and the number five Buckeyes locked up Indiana defensively to post an easy 80-63 Big Ten Conference victory Sunday at Value City Arena in Columbus. The number seven Hoosiers dropped their second straight, and most assuredly will fall outside the top ten when the new rankings are released on Monday. IU's record falls to 15-3 overall, 3-3 in league play. The Buckeyes rebounded from Tuesday's embarassing loss at Illinois to improve to 16-3, 4-2 in the conference.
Smith, a sophomore guard who entered the contest averaging only five points per game, made IU pay quickly for leaving him open. He knocked down 10- of -12 shots from the field including 4-of- 5 three-pointers. He also had seven rebounds, an assist and a steal. Jared Sullinger added 16 points, William Buford scored 12 and Fort Wayne's Deshaun Thomas had 11 for the Buckeyes
IU fell behind quickly, shooting only 6-for-22 in the first half and 1-of-6 from beyond the arc. The Hoosiers also struggled with turnovers, committing 12 turnovers which the Buckeyes capitalized on for 14 points. Ohio State took a commanding 35-14 halftime lead that was too much for Indiana to overcome, even though the Hoosiers outscored them in the second half 49-45.
“The game really came down to our lack of response to the physicality of the game from the beginning,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “You’re not going to beat a team that’s as talented as they are if you don’t respond to that. We are not as good as we need to be defensively. Once they got up, we got a little bit of that deer-in-the-headlight look going especially on the offensive end instead of continuing to create angles for feeds and get the ball reversed and play through the contact and execute our cuts and screens and things of that nature. The better the competition, the harder it gets and we didn’t always respond to that on both ends of the floor.”
The Buckeyes were primed to erase the memory of the New Year's eve loss in Bloomington. Sophomore sensation Sullinger agreed that the defensive intensity was evident. “We just wanted to get up in their jockstrap like Coach Matta says.”
Cody Zeller had 16 points, Christian Watford 13 and Jordan Hulls 11 for Indiana.
The Hoosiers hit the road again Wednesday for a date with conference newcomer Nebraska. Though the Cornhuskers are middling along the .500 mark, the Devaney Center could be a difficult place to play.
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