After appearing in the rankings for the first time since November of 2016, the No. 25 Hoosiers will most likely be exiting the rankings again after a 55-50 loss at Ohio State.
The Hoosiers hadn’t beaten the Buckeyes in its previous 12 chances, but Thursday was as good a night as ever to break that skid. The Hoosiers raced out to a nine-point lead after the first quarter and held Ohio State to its season low first quarter point total of five.
But in the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes started on an 8-0 run and outscored Indiana 25-14 en route to their first Big Ten win of the season and just their fifth win overall.
Without further adieu, here are three takeaways from Indiana’s loss.
Turnovers
It’s hard to turn the ball over 19 times and expect to win, especially on the road. Thursday in Columbus, the Hoosiers had some costly turnovers that ultimately cost them. Indiana has averaged close to 16 turnovers per contest this season and it continues to be an Achilles heel for this team.
Now its Grande with the steal and lay-in and the Buckeyes lead for the first time tonight. Timeout IU pic.twitter.com/YD8Nvf3OjX
— OSU W Basketball (@OhioStateWBB) January 11, 2019
“24 points off of 19 turnovers. That’s the story,” IU coach Teri Moren said following the loss. “On a night where we shot it woefully, it’s easy for them when they’re getting run out layups – those are high percentage shots. Disappointed that we were unable to take care of the basketball and out of 55 of their points, 24 of them were from our turnovers. That’s on us and we have to own that and move on and hopefully, as I say, have some ‘bounce-back-ability’ when we go to Wisconsin.”
Guards Ali Patberg and Jaelynn Penn both turned the ball over six times each. Then with about 20 seconds left, Indiana had a chance to take the lead, but it was freshman forward Aleksa Gulbe who committed a turnover. Credit Ohio State, however, as they had 11 steals.
Shooting woes
Another stat that has given IU trouble this season is shooting percentage. Indiana has won a few games this season when shooting below 40 percent, but Thursday the Hoosiers shot just 33 percent on 19-of-57 shooting. Penn led the Hoosiers in scoring with 12 points, but was just four-of-10 from the field. No Hoosier made more than four shots. Moren said she didn’t know why they couldn’t get going from the field.
“I feel like we got some good shots,” Moren said. “There were moments where I thought we were a little bit rushed, out of sync. I don’t think we ever found our rhythm. You have nights like that, but you got to be able to rely on your defense and I thought defensively, when you hold teams to 55 points, you’re supposed to win a lot of games. Unfortunately for us, those 55 points, we helped in a lot of those points just because of our carelessness in taking care of the basketball.”
Steal and lay-in by Grande brings the Buckeyes within three at 29-26. She now has 9 pts pic.twitter.com/gRxueFH9qJ
— OSU W Basketball (@OhioStateWBB) January 11, 2019
Shooting from behind the arc was even worse for the Hoosiers. Indiana made just one three-pointer on 13 attempts. Much like Sunday, Penn had a great look for three late in the game, but she couldn’t connect. It took Indiana nearly 28 minutes to make its first shot from behind the arc, when Bendu Yeaney hit just her third three of the season.
Any given night
Moren talked about it in the past, but because the Big Ten is so deep this season, she knows the Hoosiers will have to bring it night in and night out to be successful. IU was looking to move to 4-0 to start Big Ten play for the first time ever, but instead will have to try to pick up the pieces of a tough loss when the stay on the road for Wisconsin on Sunday.
We talked about it on our latest podcast, but this is the part of the season where the schedule is much more favorable for the Hoosiers. It’s a time where Indiana needs to bank some wins before they get into matchups against teams like Minnesota, Iowa and Maryland.
It’s hard to find many positives out of Thursday’s loss, but a win Sunday at Wisconsin would go a long way in getting back on track.
