Indiana coach Mike Woodson has a message for the Hoosiers ahead of their Saturday night Big Ten game in Bloomington, Ind., against Ohio State: Fix it. The Hoosiers absorbed their first conference loss Wednesday night at Nebraska, where they coughed up a season-high 19 turnovers in an 86-70 defeat. The Cornhuskers converted those mistakes into 27 points and led by as many as 20 points in the second half. “You’re not going to beat anybody in the Big Ten doing that,” Woodson said. “A lot of times, we were trying to create things that weren’t there. When I look at the stat sheet and look at (Nebraska’s) perimeter play, they outplayed our starting two guards, who were awful tonight.”
Xavier Johnson returned to the lineup after a seven-game absence because of a left foot injury and turned it over four times in just 15 minutes. Trey Galloway added three turnovers and scored 10 points, six coming in the last six minutes, after Nebraska had achieved the separation it needed to win. Malik Reneau leads Indiana (10-4, 2-1 Big Ten) at 16.1 points per game and hits 58.8 percent of his shots, while Kel’el Ware checks in at 15.3 ppg and a team-high 9.0 rebounds. Meanwhile, Ohio State (12-2, 2-1) won its fourth straight game Wednesday night, beating visiting Rutgers 76-72.
The Buckeyes established a 17-point first half lead and then held off the Scarlet Knights in the second half. Bruce Thornton scored 24 points, while Minnesota transfer Jamison Battle added six 3-pointers and 22 points. “I thought there were stretches of the last five minutes where they got to their spots and we allowed them to get to their spots and we had trouble getting to ours,” said Buckeyes coach Chris Holtmann. “I think physically we just have to play with more force in those situations, both defensively and offensively.” Thornton leads the team in scoring at 17.4 points per game, while Battle and Roddy Gayle Jr. each tally 14.9.
The Hoosiers own a 110-88 lead in the series, although Ohio State is 6-3 in the last nine meetings.
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