Ohio State basketball: Defense shuts IUPUI down in second half
By Ryan Stano
The Ohio State basketball team played a non-conference game at a weird time in the season when they took on IUPUI on Tuesday. In that game, they actually struggled in the first half yet again. In fact, they only scored 37 against a team that has just one win on the season.
But after that, it was all Buckeyes. The Buckeyes won the game 83-37 in large part because of their defense in the second half. They only allowed the Jaguars to score 13 points in that second half. They forced a total of 21 turnovers, at least 7 of which were shot clock violations.
Eugene Brown led the way for Ohio State scoring-wise, putting up 14 points. He showed why he should be in the starting lineup. Jimmy Sotos also had a great game from the bench, recording 9 assists and 0 turnovers in the game. Of course, E.J. Liddell was solid as usual, posting 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Not everyone had a great game though. Justin Ahrens continues to struggle. He was 1-5 for just 3 points and added two turnovers. He just can’t find his stroke this month. Brown started the second half for him, and that could become the norm moving forward.
Even so, it was a pretty good game for most of the Buckeyes. It’s a nice win that should give these guys some confidence before they take on Nebraska on Saturday afternoon. Getting a win is always good no matter who the opponent on the other sideline is.
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I’m very interested to see what Chris Holtmann does with the starting lineup on Saturday. If Ahrens does indeed continue to start, he’ll have a short leash. You can only let him try to shoot himself out of his slump for so long before it becomes detrimental for the team.