Indiana vs. Ohio State: 2019-20 college basketball preview, TV schedule

The Ohio State Buckeyes hope to snap a losing streak, while the Indiana Hoosiers aims to start a winning streak and move above .500 in conference play.

TV Schedule: Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 12:00 PM ET, FOX

Location: Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana

The Ohio State Buckeyes and Indiana Hoosiers are two of the more traditional powers of the Big Ten, but each still has plenty to work through in 2019-20.

Ohio State is the better team with the more promising long-term prospects. In fact, they even soared as high as No. 2 in the AP poll. Recently, however, things have not been as good for the Buckeyes.

The Buckeyes have only lost four games this season, but that includes their last three contests, losses to West Virginia, Wisconsin and Maryland. The offense has run dry in each of those losses, as Ohio State failed to reach 60 points in any of those games.

One good performance will be enough to break Ohio State out of that slump, as a solemn Buckeyes Nation will turn their eyes to Kaleb Wesson. The junior forward is nearly averaging a double-double, sporting 14.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. He has played to that level during this stretch, but the required help hasn’t been by his side.

The absence of Kyle Young (appendectomy) has been a big factor for the Buckeyes recently. Chris Holtmann’s team may get good news on that front, however, as Buckeyes Wire reports Young will be a game-time decision for Saturday afternoon.

Indiana is a game ahead of Ohio State in the Big Ten standings, as the Hoosiers have two home conference victories over the league’s most elite, Nebraska and Northwestern. Indiana won those games by a combined ten points.

Meanwhile, the Hoosiers sport two conference losses as well, at Wisconsin and at Maryland. The combined margin of defeat from those two games? Thirty-six points.

Perhaps that says something about how Indiana plays at home versus how they play on the road. More likely, however, it says something about how Indiana plays against different levels of competition.

That’s not to say the Hoosiers don’t have the ability to play up to the more prestigious programs of the sport this year. They handed Florida State one of their two losses this season and it wasn’t particularly close, with Indiana winning by 16 points. By and large, however, the Hoosiers haven’t had the opportunity to play good teams in 2019-20. Their next most impressive wins are over UConn and Notre Dame, impressive in years past but much less so this year.

Indiana has more than enough talent and good coaching to play Ohio State tough. But if the shots are falling for the Buckeyes – which they haven’t been over the past couple of weeks – the Hoosiers will have a hard time keeping up.

If the Buckeyes aren’t hitting their shots and the crowd messes with their offensive rhythm, it could be an ugly game. Assuming Young plays, the Buckeyes should still have a slight advantage on Saturday afternoon.

Prediction: Ohio State 66, Indiana 59