#8 Indiana @ #5 Ohio State (Game Thread)

that's was a beat down! good defense! now let's build off of that.

This is what is so frustrating about this years team. You know they are capable of games like this every time they take the court. Problem is that they don't work as hard every game (especially on the road) and don't bring 100% effort all the time

Hope they start getting their act together

Urban Meyer gets the credit for this win

Originally Posted by Block "O"

Urban Meyer gets the credit for this win

and Phatty gets credit for...

Well he just gets credits.

Originally Posted by SuperBuckFan08

and Phatty gets credit for...

Well he just gets credits.

Link

Smith goes wild with 28 in Buckeyes’ 80-63 win
By RUSTY MILLER, AP Sports Writer

15 hours, 8 minutes ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—Lenzelle Smith Jr. has been the weakest offensive player for Ohio State, so it seemed only natural that Indiana coach Tom Crean would choose to have his defense apply more pressure on the other Buckeyes.

That strategy backfired when Smith had the best game of his career.

Smith more than doubled his career high with 28 points on Sunday to lead No. 5 Ohio State to a surprisingly easy 80-63 victory over seventh-ranked Indiana.

“Throughout the game I just saw my man leave me every single time,” said Smith, who came in averaging 5.2 points a game. “The first game (against Indiana), I was complaining about that to my team. This game we capitalized that and we were able to get some easy buckets.”

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Scout.com (Free)

Buckeyes Rout Hoosiers 80-63.................

Bucknuts.com (Free)

OSU Avenges IU Loss Behind Smith...............

Bucknuts.com (Free)

Photo Gallery: OSU-Indiana, Meyer...............

Dispatch

Men's basketball

Ohio State 80, Indiana 63: Returning to form
Lenzelle Smith Jr. scores career-high 28 points to help Buckeyes rebound from an upset loss against Illinois

By Bob Baptist
The Columbus Dispatch
Monday January 16, 2012 8:04 AM

It was a lonely few days for Lenzelle Smith Jr. after the Ohio State men’s basketball team returned from a loss at Illinois on Tuesday.

The sophomore guard was diagnosed with strep throat and quarantined from his teammates.

“This is my family, so not being able to be with these guys has been the hardest thing,” he said. “I will say I got some great sleep and some chicken noodle soup.”

Although he was not contagious yesterday, seventh-ranked Indiana treated him as such, and Smith got something even better than sleep and soup out of it.

The open man in the Hoosiers’ defensive strategy to double-team Jared Sullinger in the post, Smith scored a career-high 28 points as the fifth-ranked Buckeyes avenged its New Year’s Eve loss to them with an 80-63 victory at Value City Arena.

Sullinger added 16 points and nine rebounds, William Buford had 12 points and Deshaun Thomas 11 for the Buckeyes (16-3, 4-2 Big Ten). Aaron Craft added eight points and seven assists without a turnover.

Cody Zeller had 16 points and Christian Watford 13 for Indiana (15-3, 3-3), which lost its second straight game.

Smith entered the game averaging 5.2 points with a career high of 12. He averaged fewer than four shots per game. But he made 10 of 12 shots from the field, including 4 of 5 three-point attempts, against Indiana.

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Dispatch

Bob Hunter commentary: First half a blueprint for Buckeyes

By Bob Hunter
The Columbus Dispatch
Monday January 16, 2012 7:35 AM

The inconsistent Ohio State men’s basketball team has been searching for answers. If the search didn’t end in the first half of yesterday’s impressive 80-63 win over Indiana, the Buckeyes may have at least walked out of the Schottenstein Center with a precise, easy-to-read map.

The Hoosiers had 14 points in the first half, and it wasn’t so much a case of poor shooting (6 for 22 from the field) or sloppy ball-handling (12 turnovers), but suffocation.

The Ohio State players came out in blanket mode, and the longer their defensive mission lasted, the more remarkable it seemed. Indiana went almost nine minutes without scoring and had two points in the final 10 minutes.

“I think they got up into us,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “It sounds simple but it’s not. They just really got up into us, and we weren’t as strong with the ball as we needed to be.”

It’s not simple; if it were, this talented but inconsistent Ohio State team could write its own ticket to the national championship. But this is the same team that lost 79-74 on Tuesday night at Illinois and lost to this same Indiana team 74-71 two weeks ago in Bloomington.

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