Indiana's Poor First Half Leads to Disappointing 80-63 Loss vs. Ohio State

Indiana has digressed in the last two weeks of play, and it's not good. This team was looking like they could be in the hunt for a Final Four just two weeks ago after knocking off then-No. 2 Ohio State 74-70 at Assembly Hall on New Years Eve.

Since then, Indiana has now gone 2-2 with two straight losses to Minnesota at home and the 80-63 loss to Ohio State today in Value City Arena.

The biggest problem as to why Indiana has digressed is the intensity on the defensive end and the inability to shoot the ball on the offensive end.

Indiana came into this week as the nation's top three-point shooting team. Now, they're a combined 8 for 30 the last two games in which both have resulted in losses.

Today, the Hoosiers were only 7-of-20 from behind the arc. Nothing against Ohio State, but I don't give them any credit for stopping Indiana's offense. The Hoosiers had many open looks, but their shots just wouldn't fall.

You can say Ohio State put on ball pressure, but I don't credit that to have anything to do with Indiana's inability to put the ball in the hoop.

The Hoosiers just didn't hit open shots like they normally do. It wasn't Ohio State.

The other big reason for the loss today was the inability to guard Lenzelle Smith Jr.

Who??

Smith Jr. is the last option the Buckeyes look for and he had a career high in scoring in the first half. He finished with a team-high 28 points today and only averages just over five points per game.

Indiana should be embarrassed. Nothing against Smith Jr., but he should never score more than 10 points in a game.

Smith Jr. was also the reason why Ohio State got going in the beginning. He scored seven of Ohio State's first 18 points and was the key to a 13-2 Buckeye run early in the game. Smith Jr. was 7-of-9 in the first half alone and scored 18 of Ohio State's 35 points at the half.

The Hoosiers also committed 12 turnovers in the first half and 16 for the game. They only average 13 turnovers a game, so the 12 in the first half was ridiculous. Mix that with the 27.3 field goal percentage in the first half, and you see why Indiana never got going.

In order to beat Ohio State, you have to expose their weak bench, bring DeShaun Thomas and Jared Sullinger out of the lane and don't turn the ball over.

Indiana didn't do any of those things like they did on New Years Eve, and when you don't do that you get beat. It's as simple as that. There's a reason why Ohio State won 35 games in a row at home going into today's matchup.

The Hoosiers were led by freshman Cody Zeller who paced Indiana with 16 points and six rebounds. Junior Christian Watford added 13 points of his own, and Jordan Hulls was the only other Hoosier to reach double figures with 11 points.

Indiana must regroup and turn this thing around. They travel to Lincoln, Nebraska for the first time since 1942 and take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Wednesday night.