Thomas shakes slump, triggers Ohio St. romp
A lot of things were going Indiana’s way before a native son did in the Hoosiers.
Deshaun Thomas, last year’s Indiana Mr. Basketball, came out of a slump with 22 points to lead No. 2 Ohio State past Indiana 82-61 on Sunday in Columbus, Ohio. Thomas scored all the points during a 14-3 first-half run that spanned 3:36 and turned the game into a rout. He had managed just 13 points in his last seven games.
“After I hit my first two 3s, I felt kind of warm,” said Thomas, a 6-foot-6 freshman who’s prepared to pump up shots the minute he jumps out of bed. “I felt kind of comfortable.”
Thomas, whom Indiana coach Tom Crean had tried to recruit after he had verbally committed to Ohio State, was the story for the Buckeyes in the first half. He gave them a lift after starters Jared Sullinger, David Lighty and Dallas Lauderdale got in early foul trouble.
“Deshaun came in and gave us a tremendous boost,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. “He hit a couple of shots and I told him during a timeout that I liked him making shots but I thought he was really playing hard on defense as well. That was a big focus coming into this game.”
Said Crean: “He was hitting open shots. Give credit to him. He made big plays. He’s one of the all-time leading scorers in the history of Indiana, so he can score. And today it was his day and we didn’t do a good enough job of guarding him.”
The Buckeyes (27-2, 14-2 Big Ten) led 38-23 at the half, with Thomas totaling 16 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field, his only miss coming on a shot behind the arc. Indiana (12-17, 3-13) never seriously threatened again.
Purdue 67, Michigan St. 47:
JaJuan Johnson had 20 points, 17 rebounds and 7 blocks to lead No. 8 Purdue (24-5, 13-3 Big Ten) over host Michigan State (16-12, 8-8). The Boilermakers have won six straight to surge into contention for the conference title. They took control with a 16-5 run midway through the first half and turned the road game into a rout with a 19-4 spurt in the second half that gave them a 57-35 lead. Purdue won both regular-season matchups against the Spartans for the first time since 1997 and handed them their worst home loss since Duke’s 22-point win at the Breslin Center on Dec. 3, 2003.
Louisville 62, Pittsburgh 59 (OT):
Kyle Kuric scored 12 points, including 2 big baskets in overtime, and host No. 16 Louisville (22-7, 11-5 Big East) held on to defeat No. 4 Pittsburgh (25-4, 13-3). Peyton Siva led the Cardinals with 14 points. Gilbert Brown scored 20 points for Pittsburgh.