For the third consecutive season, Ohio State head coach Thad Matta is losing a talented freshman center to the NBA Draft. 7-footer B.J. Mullens announced his intentions to enter the 2009 NBA Draft in a press release issued by the university:

“After long consideration I have decided to enter my name in the 2009 NBA Draft. This was not an easy choice because I love Ohio State University but the many positive reasons for moving on outweigh the many good reasons for staying.”

While Mullens may very well be a late lottery/mid first round pick based on potential, another year under his belt would have done him wonders. But in the spirit of IU getting back in the thick of things in the Big Ten race next year, I say: So long, B.J. Could you take Evan Turner with you?

It was a record setting Saturday in Assembly Hall. Matt Roth tied a school record with nine 3-pointers made and Indiana tied a school record with their 11th consecutive loss, 93-81 to Ohio State.

The Hoosiers (5-15, 0-8 Big Ten) haven’t won since December 10 against TCU and Saturday’s 11th straight loss tied a record set by the 1943-1944 team.

“We knew it was a matter of time with him,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said of Roth. “He has been spending so much more time in the gym on his own. He is an excellent shooter and sometimes when you’re really good at something you can take it for granted once in awhile. He hasn’t done that.”

Roth finished with 29 points on 9 of 11 shooting from behind the arc and two free throws, but his remarkable display was overshadowed by Indiana’s inability to contain Evan Turner, William Buford and Jon Diebler.

“It’s really a hard situation there because they have so many guys that can score,” Crean said. “Like I said, they have four perimeter (players). I think you can make a case for this throughout the country but Turner is hard a matchup as there is.”

Turner scored 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Buford added 24 and Diebler 21. The Buckeyes (15-5, 5-4) shot 63 percent, including 10 of 17 3-pointers, and hit 25 of 30 free throws.

Besides Roth, two other Hoosiers reached double figures: Devan Dumes (13) and Nick Williams (11). Indiana shot 47 percent and hit 12 of 18 free throws.

Up next: The Hoosiers host Iowa on Wednesday night at 6:30 PM ET on the Big Ten Network.

Record tying performance: Roth’s nine 3-pointers made tied the mark set by Roderick Wilmont on February 28, 2007 at Northwestern.

• Box score
• Quotes
• Crean audio
• Roth audio
• Williams audio

THE GOOD:

THE GOOD, CONTINUED:

Verdell Jones looked incredibly competent in the point guard role tonight (I feel like this was the first time all year we didn’t get a lot of Daniel Moore dribbling all over the place, which was somewhat comforting), and it was nice to see Devan Dumes on the court, even if he was still a little hobbled by his ankle injury. For as feast or famine as he can be, we need him on the court. Tom Pritchard hit up another double-double with 16 points and 11 boards, though half those points came in the final five minutes.

IU came out somewhat strong to start the second half and held onto the pace for a bit, but the levee eventually broke for good.

Fifteen offensive boards ain’t too shabby, either.

THE BAD AND UGLY:

Defending the three. A trend is starting to develop early on in Big Ten season here, one in which IU is giving up wide-open 3-pointers all over the place. Michigan just happened to miss a ton in the first half of Indiana’s game against them, and that’s how the Hoosiers were able to amass such a lead — only to see it all come crumbling down. Illinois hit a million against us, and tonight it was more of the same. Ohio State tallied their season high IN THE FIRST HALF ALONE tonight, as they knocked down 11-of-16 in the first frame. Yeesh. When the three wasn’t the go-to shot in the second half, Ohio State continued to make the extra pass, and starting hitting layups and dunks.

Oh, also: We’ve now lost seven straight, the first time since the 1963-64 season, according to ESPN. Raise your hand if you were even born then. Sigh.

Ugh. Whatever that was last night, it was not pretty to watch. Eric Gordon’s game was way off, D.J. White had his share of struggles, and the Hoosiers oftentimes looked discombobulated and confused. Also, for whatever reason — partially because the refs didn’t do a particularly good job of reffing the game — IU complained about the refs all game. It got to be a little repetitive.

I think we can chalk most of last night’s game up to bad shooting. Look at the numbers: The Hoosiers shot far below their season average effective field goal, putting up 43.4 percent. Their season total is 10 points higher than that, at 53.6 percent. The turnovers were about even with their season average and the points per possession weren’t wildly different — IU just shot poorly. Fortunately, the Hoosiers rebounded well on the offensive end and held off a weirdly inconsistent Buckeyes team.

It’s hard to get a good feeling for where the Buckeyes stand. In their first 12 minutes on the floor, they looked disinterested, sloppy, outwitted, and boring. In their next 20 or so minutes, up until and after the half, Ohio State looked focused, efficient, and driven. The real OSU probably falls somewhere between that mix, which isn’t likely to be good enough to get them in the NCAA tournament.

– I’m pretty sure I saw a comment — lots of comments, actually — in the postgame thread last night complaining about Eric Gordon. That’s partially justifiable: Gordon had a bad game last night. A really bad one. 17 points in 40 minutes is not exactly stellar, especially given the awful shooting and the seven turnovers. Gross.

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It certainly wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing 40 minutes of basketball, but the Hoosiers held off a surging Ohio State in the second half and won in Dan Dakich’s home debut, 72-69.

Though Indiana had a poor shooting first half from three-point land — they finished a woeful 5-of-25 for the game — it lead by as much as 13 thanks to defense that limited Ohio State in the early going and Armon Bassett who tallied 13 points by the break. He finished with a game high 23.

But in the second half, IU got sloppy — I’m looking at you Eric Gordon — and freshman Evan Turner and Kosta Koufos took over for the Bucks. Koufos more than held his own against D.J. White — even tallying a few blocks and showing off his three-point range. He finished with 21 points and six boards. Turner has 13 points on the night.

Steve Lavin and Brett Musberger talked all night about the NBA scouts in attendance at Assembly Hall and you wonder if that affected Gordon at all. It’s clear at this point his ball handling needs work. It’s getting increasingly frustrating watching EJ drive to the rim, only to have it flutter away or an opponent draw a charge. He has seven turnovers in IU’s win. EJ shot 25 percent from the floor and finished with 17 points. Without his ability to draw fouls, Gordon might be finding himself with a much lower scoring average on the year.

With the win, IU stays in the hunt for at least a share of the Big Ten title. The Hoosiers are 24-4 on the year and 13-2 in the Big Ten. They return to action Sunday afternoon at Michigan State to take on the Spartans.

Related:

• Box Score

Goodbye Shon Morris, hello Erin Andrews.

Opponent: Ohio State

Date: Tuesday, February 26 | 7:02 p.m. EST

Arena: Assembly Hall (17,357) – Bloomington, Indiana

Line: Indiana by 8

All-time series: Indiana leads 100-72

Previous meeting: Indiana won 59-53 on February 10 in Columbus

TV: ESPN (Brent Musberger, Steve Lavin and Erin Andrews)

Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Todd Leary and Joe Smith)

Probable Starters:

• Ohio State (17-10, 8-6 Big Ten): Jamar Butler, Evan Turner, David Lighty, Othello Hunter, Kosta Kousfos
• Indiana (23-4, 12-2 Big Ten): Armon Bassett, Eric Gordon, Jamarcus Ellis, Lance Stemler, D.J. White

Game notes (Adobe Acrobat required to view):

• Ohio State
• Indiana

Gameday reading:

• Emotional Hoosiers have excelled (Indianapolis Star)
• White likely to win Big Ten POY (Indianapolis Star)
• Dakich, Hoosiers to host Buckeyes (Indiana Daily Student)
• OSU, Indiana face diverse challenges (The Columbus Dispatch)

As always, your predictions and analysis are welcome in the game thread.