With Duke losing to Virginia Tech over the weekend the Buckeyes were able to gain the #1 spot in the polls again. After storming out to a 24-0 record to start, the Buckeyes suffered a couple tough road losses against Wisconsin and Purdue. With two regular season games remaining and a 27-2 record on the season the Buckeyes are back on top. All they had to do was beat up on an overmatched Indiana team 82-61 on Sunday.
Most of the heroism in this game belonged to 6′ 6″ freshman Deshaun Thomas. He scored a game-high 22 points for the Buckeyes who were struggling with foul trouble in the first half. Thomas was on fire though, nailing two threes and helping the Buckeyes take a 15 point lead into halftime 38-23.
The other usual suspects were also there for their typical production as David Lighty, Jon Diebler and William Buford dropped in 11, 11, and 15 respectively. Aaron Craft played 34 minutes and added an impressive six steals.
Strikingly absent, though was freshman phenom Jared Sullinger. Sullinger played only 12 minutes and scored only 5 points in the contest. Even worse, Sullinger was 0-2 from the field scoring 5-6 free throw attempts. You have to wonder if the significantly longer college season is starting to wear on him.
Regardless, the Buckeyes did what they had to do against Indiana. Next up they have Penn State on Tuesday before hosting Wisconsin in Columbus on Sunday March 6th to close out the regular season.
(AP Photo / Terry Gilliam)
