No. 20 Buckeyes turn it over 17 times, shoot poorly in loss to No. 10 Indiana
Down 43-29 to start the second half Sunday, Ohio State got the production it was looking for from its leaders — until Indiana responded with all the force of a top-10 team.
The No. 20 Buckeyes switched to a zone to open the second half, forcing a couple Hoosier misses to get back into the game. Braxtin Miller scored a layup and Jacy Sheldon hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to nine in the opening minute of the third quarter. But turnovers and poor shooting allowed Indiana to blow open its lead once again.
The 43-34 deficit was the closest Ohio State (7-2, 1-1 Big Ten) would get in the second half. The No. 10 Hoosiers (8-2, 2-0) went on a 17-3 run as Ohio State missed its next eight shots after Sheldon's 3-pointer and lost 86-66 at Value City Arena.
Jacy Sheldon led the Buckeyes with 23 points on 9-of-24 shooting, including 4-for-6 from beyond the arc, and turned the ball over four times with one assist. Taylor Mikesell added 15 points. Kateri Poole scored nine points with seven assists and five turnovers.
Mackenzie Holmes, Grace Berger and Nicole Cardano-hillary dominated the Buckeyes. Holmes scored 30 points, followed by Berger's 21 and Cardano-hillary's 17.
Just about any time it looked like the Buckeyes could claw their way back to drawing even, the Hoosiers pulled away. The main culprit was turnovers that were both self-inflicted and forced by a stellar Indiana defense.
"The turnovers really killed us,” coach Kevin Mcguff said. “Even to start the second half, I thought we had a great start on the defensive end … but then, man. It's not only turnovers, but turnovers leading to points.”
Ohio State shrunk a 26-point deficit with 1:27 left in the third quarter down to 14 points with 7:50 to go, mostly due to
committing just one turnover in the final 11:52 of the game compared to 16 before that. But Ohio State couldn't make enough stops to make up for mistakes earlier in the game. The Hoosiers turned those 17 turnovers into 26 points.
“In the first half we had way too many (turnovers) and we had trouble coming back from that,” Sheldon said. “We fought the whole game, but we didn't take care of the ball well enough.” jmyers@dispatch.com @_jcmyers
INDIANA 86, OHIO STATE 66
INDIANA (8-2) - Gulbe 3-9 1-1 8, Holmes 13-19 3-5 30, Berger 9-13 3-3 21, Cardano-hillary 6-11 3-4 17, Patberg 4-7 0-0 8, Browne 1-2 0-1 2, Moore-mcneil 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 36-62 10-14 86
OHIO ST. (7-2) - Mikulasikova 3-8 1-1 7, Mikesell 5-11 2-2 15, Miller 2-6 2-2 7, Poole 3-7 1-2 9, Sheldon 9-24 1-2 23, Beacham 1-5 0-0 2, Bristow 1-3 0-0 2, Harris 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 24-66 8-11 66 Halftime: Indiana, 43-29. 3-Point Goals: Indiana 4-9 (Gulbe 1-1, Holmes 1-2, Cardano-hillary 2-5, Moore-mcneil 0-1), Ohio St. 10-19 (Mikulasikova 0-2, Mikesell 3-5, Miller 1-1, Poole 2-4, Sheldon 4-7). Assists: Indiana 17 (Patberg 7), Ohio St. 14 (Poole 7). Fouled Out: Indiana Gulbe. Rebounds: Indiana 35 (Team 3-3), Ohio St. 38 (Harris 5-7). Total Fouls: Indiana 17, Ohio St. 17. A: 3,606.