BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — It took four days for No. 2 Ohio State to go from unbeaten to second place in the Big Ten.
If the Buckeyes don’t find a fix quickly, coach Kevin McGuff knows the slide could accelerate.
It’s a frightening thought in perhaps the strongest women’s basketball conference in America this season.
With four teams ranked in the top 11, six in The Associated Press Top 25 and all ix within three games of the league lead, every night seems like musical chairs. And every night, it seems someone else is being left out.
On Thursday, it was McGuff’s team again.
“I think there are several teams in the league, that if they play their best basketball down the stretch, can make a deep run in the (NCAA) Tournament and maybe to Dallas,” McGuff said after a 78-65 loss at No. 6 Indiana. “There are a lot of teams that have upperclassmen with great experience. Indiana is one of them, but that’s really across the Big Ten and, obviously, that makes it difficult.”
Mackenzie Holmes scored 26 points and Yarden Garzon added 20 as the Hoosiers won their seventh straight overall, this one in front of a record regular-season crowd of 10,455.
Cotie McMahon led the Buckeyes with 21 points before fouling out.
Ohio State has lost two straight since starting this week as one of only three unbeaten teams in Division I.
But this one turned quickly as Indiana charged back from a 38-32 deficit with 24-3 run. The Buckeyes never fully recovered.