Ohio State Basketball: Problems scoring dooms Buckeyes again

The Ohio State Buckeyes lost to the Indiana Hoosiers today 66-54. Problems scoring led to the loss and dropped the Buckeyes to 1-4 in the Big Ten.

Ohio State defeated Cincinnati 64-57 the first game of the season and scored at least 71 points the next 11 games. On their four game losing streak the Buckeyes have failed to score 60 points.

It’s difficult to win in the Big Ten if you can’t score.

Today’s loss was a game of runs. Indiana jumped out to a 13-5 but Ohio State came back to take a 34-31 lead at halftime.

The Hoosiers scored the first 8 points in the second half but again the Buckeyes battled back. But after Ohio State took a 45-43 lead with about 10 minutes left to play Indiana went on a 10-0 run and it wasn’t close from there on out.

Leading scorers for the Buckeyes were Andre Wesson with 15 points, Kaleb Wesson 11 and D.J. Carton 10. The Hoosiers were led by Devonte Green’s 19 points and Rob Phinisee had 13.

Once again Ohio State shot poorly from the field (32.7 percent). The Buckeyes also shot a high percentage of their field goal attempts from behind the arc (26 of 52).

Now for quick takes on the loss.

Just like the last few games the Buckeyes just couldn’t settle into an offensive flow. Of course they want to run the offense through Kaleb Wesson as often as possible but opponents are aware of that and make it difficult to do so.

If they can’t get it into the big guy where he can make something happen there doesn’t seem to be a plan B. In fact, the offense often looks like a fire drill with nobody on the same page.

If somebody doesn’t start breaking down the defense to give opposing teams another scoring threat to defend, expect more sub-par scoring.

Ohio State will be at home against 7-9 Nebraska Tuesday. Hopefully the Buckeyes will find some scoring and begin working their way out of the Big Ten Cellar against the Cornhuskers.