Ohio
Meet The Opponent: Ohio State, Indiana Battle For NCAA Tournament Spot
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana’s season of ups and downs culminates with a crucial bubble game on senior day Saturday against Ohio State.
The Hoosiers split their trip to the Pacific Northwest with a 78-62 win at Washington and a 73-64 loss at Oregon, dropping to 18-12 overall and 9-10 in Big Ten play. As of Thursday morning, Joe Lunardi placed Indiana among the last four teams in the NCAA Tournament.
Ohio State is in similar standing as one of the last four byes to the big dance, according to Lunardi. In their first season under coach Jake Diebler, the Buckeyes are 17-13 overall and 9-10 in the Big Ten after Tuesday’s double-overtime win over Nebraska.
That sets up an NCAA Tournament play-in game of sorts between the Hoosiers and Buckeyes at 3:45 p.m. ET Saturday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, though both teams could also need a win or two in the Big Ten Tournament, depending on bid stealers and results from other bubble teams.
Here’s a closer look at the Buckeyes ahead of Saturday’s matchup.
Key players
Key departures
(2034-24 stats)
2024-25 schedule (17-13, 9-10)
Head coach: Jake Diebler
Diebler is in his first full season as Ohio State’s head coach after taking over for Chris Holtmann late last season as the interim head coach. Diebler went 8-3 with the Buckeyes last season, including a four-game win streak at the end of the regular season, a win in the Big Ten Tournament and two wins in the NIT. Diebler has been on the Ohio State staff since 2019, beginning as an assistant and later being promoted to associate head coach and interim head coach. He was also an assistant at Vanderbilt from 2016-19 and at Valparaiso from 2009-13. Diebler, 38, played at Valparaiso from 2005-09.
Series history
Indiana leads the all-time series 113-87. The Hoosiers have won four straight games, including a 77-76 overtime win at Ohio State on Jan. 17. Luke Goode led the Hoosiers with 23 points, and Oumar Ballo scored 21. Woodson is 5-1 against the Buckeyes with a 3-0 record in Bloomington. Archie Miller went 1-6. Indiana is 21-23 against Ohio State since 2000.
Strengths
Ohio State ranks 25th nationally in offensive efficiency for a few key reasons. Opponents average just 4.2 steals per game, giving the Buckeyes the nation’s best mark. They shoot 37.5% from 3-point range, good for 32nd. They rank top 75 in both free throw attempts per game and percentage, as well as overall field goal percentage.
The offense is run by three-year starter Bruce Thornton, one of the Big Ten’s best point guards. His 2.85 assist-to-turnover ratio is third among conference point guards, behind Braden Smith and Jeremy Fears Jr. He’s also become a greater 3-point shooting threat with a career-best 43.2% this season on 4.4 attempts per game.
Ohio State’s 22.1 3-point attempts per game rank just 209th nationally, but it has several capable shooters. Along with Thornton, freshman John Mobley Jr. shoots 40.2% from three and leads all Big Ten players with 74 made threes. Micah Parrish also shoots a solid 36%, but Ohio State’s 3-point shooting options pretty much stop there. Opponents have shot just 30.2% from beyond the arc against Ohio State, placing it 19th from a defensive standpoint.
Weaknesses
Indiana’s biggest advantage in this game comes in the front court. Devin Royal is having a breakout sophomore season, going from 4.7 to 13.6 points per game, but at 6-foot-6 he’s giving up a lot of size to Indiana’s 6-foot-9 Malik Reneau and 7-footer Oumar Ballo. Fellow sophomore Sean Stewart starts at center and provides more size at 6-foot-9, but that’s still a mismatch against Ballo, who had 21 points in the first matchup.
The Buckeyes bring 7-footers Aaron Bradshaw and Ivan Njegovan and 6-foot-10 sophomore Austin Parks off the bench, but all three are still young and developing players. Bradshaw, a former top-five recruit and transfer from Kentucky, hasn’t lived up to expectations at 6.5 points per game.
Ohio State is not a strong rebounding team, ranking 215th in offensive rebounding percentage with a minus-0.2 rebounding margin. Expect Indiana to give Ballo and Reneau a heavy dose of touches inside and for its guards to attack the rim.
Season and game outlook
Ohio State was picked to finish eighth in the preseason Big Ten poll, and it’ll finish either ninth or 10th based on Saturday’s outcome. The Buckeyes are No. 36 in the NET rankings, making it a Quad 2 opportunity for Indiana. The Hoosiers are No. 55 in the NET, so it’s a Quad 1 game for Ohio State on the road. Both teams are squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble, and a win Saturday would certainly help them earn a bid. The loser would need to pick up a couple wins next week.
For Big Ten Tournament purposes, it’s pretty simple – the winner is the No. 9 seed and the loser is the No. 10 seed. After the first matchup went to overtime, KenPom projects a 75-74 Indiana victory and gives the Hoosiers a 54% chance of victory Saturday at home. Ohio State has the 3-point shooting advantage and the better point guard, but Indiana’s advantage in the frontcourt is significant.
MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio (WKBN) — The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Chardon Post is investigating a fatal plane crash that killed three people around 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
According to a press release, about one mile east of the Geauga County Airport, a Piper Comanche 250 crashed into a field.
The plane sustained major damage — killing three Ohioans who were identified as Thomas A. Cunningham, 76, of Rome, John W. Taipale, 71, and Alexander C. Taipale, 40, both from Geneva.
OSHP was assisted by the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office, Geauga County Coroner’s Office, Geauga County Emergency Management Agency, Middlefield Fire Department and Community Care Ambulance.
The Western Reserve Port Authority, Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport’s executive director, Anthony Trevena, reached out to our team with a statement regarding the crash.
“We were heartbroken to learn that members of our extended YNG and Youngstown aviation family, were victims in today’s crash in Geagua County. Our deepest condolences go out the Cunningham and Taipale families. We ask that their privacy please be respected during this difficult time. The FAA and NTSB are leading the investigation to determine the cause and will provide any updates as information becomes available.,” Trevena said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were notified of the crash.
The crash remains under investigation.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — As concerns have grown over the impact of social media on young people, lawmakers are pushing to keep protections in tact to keep children safe online.
This week the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ohio’s law, the Social Media Parental Notification Act, requiring parental consent for children under the age of 16 to use social media must be restored. Gov. Mike DeWine signed the act into law in July 2023.
Netchoice, the trade group that represents Tik Tok, Snapchat, Meta and other tech companies contested Ohio’s law in 2024, arguing that it was overly broad, vague and represented an unconstitutional impediment to free speech.
“An unconstitutional law protects no one, and we remain focused on ensuring the First Amendment rights of Ohioans are protected,” Paul Taske, NetChoice Litigation Center Director said.
Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit’s panel does not agree with this view point, determined that the law is not unconstitutional and had the block on the law’s enforcement vacated.
“At bottom, the Act imposes a parental consent requirement,” Judge Eric Clay wrote. “That requirement constitutes a marginal burden that precisely targets the multi-faceted problem that Ohio has identified: Children’s unsupervised assent to terms and conditions for use of platforms that take advantage of and harm them.”
The Social Media Parental Notification Act is a way to protect children’s mental health against the “intentionally addictive” nature of social media, according to U.S. senator Jon Husted.
The law requires companies to get parental permission for social media and gaming apps and to provide their privacy guidelines so families know what content would be censored or moderated on their child’s profile.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson says the ruling is “a win for Ohio families.”
“The court agreed that parents –- not social media companies –- should get a say in what kids see online,” he said in a statement. “We have an obligation to keep our children safe, and today, the most dangerous place for our kids is the internet. This decision gives parents the tools to be involved and provide oversight.”
LICKING COUNTY, Ohio (WCMH) — When you think of wild animals in central Ohio, a black bear likely isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. That’s why one Licking County family said they couldn’t believe their eyes.
It was an average afternoon drive home for father and son, Justin and Aaron Rhodes, when something walked into the road in front of them.
“I didn’t even think it was real at first, so that’s why I had to do the double take,” Justin said.
Aaron said he thought it was “just a weird looking dog”.
To their disbelief, it was a bear. The sighting comes just one year after the animal was spotted in Licking County for the first time in more than two decades.
“It’s kind of hard to believe that they’re even around this area,” Justin said. “I’ve lived in this area for about 24 years now, so it’s been quite a while, and I’ve never seen one before.”
These sightings are becoming more common. The Ohio Division of Wildlife said the black bear population is growing in the state, and they expect those trends to continue. Ohio saw a record number of confirmed sightings in 2025.
Lindsey Krusling, a wildlife communications specialist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said they are seeing more breeding females establish homes in the state, signaling the species is returning. Experts said the work restoring natural forest land is a big reason why.
“We’re starting to get some black bears coming in from neighboring states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky,” Krusling said. “They’re naturally crossing those state borders and coming back to Ohio because we have more of that habitat available to them, especially those forested areas.”
As the black bear population grows, the Division of Wildlife is expanding its research. They are putting radio collars on some bears they find in the state to help track data, such as if the bears are staying here, how far they’ve traveled and if they’re successfully having cubs.
“We’re trying to get quite a bit of data from these bears, and we’re super excited to see where this takes us,” Krusling said.
The research is in the beginning stages, but they expect population growth to continue, Krusling said.
Sighting reports can be submitted here to help the Division of Wildlife track black bear populations throughout the state.
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