Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff talks to his team during the timeout during the Ohio State-Purdue game on Feb. 18. Ohio State won 100-85. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
After a road loss to Penn State, the Buckeyes look ahead to a top-25 showdown with the Hoosiers at the Schottenstein Center Saturday.
No. 15 Ohio State (13-5, 9-5) was defeated 69-67 at Penn State (9-11, 6-10) Wednesday at Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pennsylvania. No. 11 Indiana (15-4, 13-2) awaits the Buckeyes, who are on the first two-game skid of their season.
Despite double-digit scoring efforts from three Buckeyes, a nearly three minute scoring drought at the end of the fourth quarter ultimately doomed them Wednesday.
Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said that his team had opportunities to emerge victorious, but fell short when they needed to execute most in the loss.
“Well, I mean, they played really hard and competed tonight and we weren’t certainly as good as we were the first time around,” McGuff said. “You know, I thought like in the beginning, we got out to a lead and we got a lot of good shots in the first half, we just didn’t finish.”
The Buckeyes have faltered down the stretch, dropping their last two games on the road to in-conference opponents, including a tilt against No. 12 Michigan.
Indiana comes into Saturday’s game on a six-game win streak, defeating the Wisconsin Badgers earlier this week.
With only two more games scheduled, Ohio State looks up at five teams in the conference standings, trailing the Big Ten leading No. 8 Maryland Terrapins by four and a half games.
After a promising stint toward the top of the standings earlier in the season, the Buckeyes are no longer able to win a Big Ten regular season title and will not compete in the conference or national tournament due to a self-imposed postseason ban.
Junior forward Dorka Juhasz said that the loss to Penn State is one of the few disappointing moments during their title push this season.
“I mean you know it’s tough,” Juhasz said. “I mean, obviously it’s tough losing and it’s just tough knowing that there’s not a Big Ten tournament, there’s not a postseason after that, we can look forward to.”
Sophomore guard Madison Greene has been unavailable for the Buckeyes’ previous three games after a presumptive positive COVID-19 test in the Ohio State program prior to the postponed matchup with Northwestern earlier this month.
Her availability for this weekend’s game is still unknown.
Ohio State’s Juhasz said that her team needs to reset after the loss before their next contest.
“I just feel like that kind of fire is kind of missing right now,” Juhasz said. “Obviously you know that Michigan loss was painful, you know, obviously our rivals. We knew Penn State is going to be really good at home court and we just we just didn’t execute what we wanted to. As I was saying, we just have to switch our mindset real quick right now and just give all we have for the next three games.”
The Buckeyes take on the Indiana Hoosiers at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus on BTN.
