Buckeyes seek rebound against Knight's Hoosiers

Buckeyes seek rebound against Knight’s Hoosiers

Can there be Big Ten life after being thumped by Northwestern?The Ohio State men’s basketball team will find out tonight in a sold out St. John Arena against third place Indiana.Coming off a 31 point loss to the last place Wildcats, the Buckeyes will need to stay focused if they want to be successful, coach Randy Ayers said.’They’ve got to come back,’ Ayers said of his players. ‘It will be interesting to see how they react.’To add to the problems Ayers has experienced with his team, sophomore center Jermaine Tate will sit out against the Hoosiers. Tate missed practice this week due to heart trouble. Tate was in the hospital yesterday afternoon undergoing tests and was scheduled to be released last night, said OSU team physician Dr. Trent Sickles.’We don’t know what’s causing this and so at this point we’re not going to let him participate until we are as certain as we can be what’s causing it,’ said Sickles.Ayers hopes the team won’t be affected by Tate’s absence. He expects guard Damon Stinger to pick up the pace, but not too much.’He’s tries to do that all year,’ Ayers said about Stringer’s attempts to help the team. ‘Obviously we need to get him more involved. He accepts challenges and that’s what I love about the kid. But at the same time he’s toned his game down a little bit and, I think, for the better.’The Hoosiers are 17-4 overall, 4-3 in the Big Ten. Led by Ohio State graduate Bobby Knight, Indiana comes to Columbus with a big 15 point victory at Penn State. Knight is only five wins from being the seventh Division 1 coach to win 700 games. The Buckeyes will need to contain Hoosiers’ forward Andre Patterson and guard Neil Reed.Patterson had nine points and four rebounds in Indiana’s 70-55 victory over Penn State, all in the second half of play. Despite recovering from a knee injury that caused him to miss playing Michigan, Patterson is fourth in league scoring and blocks.On the other side of the court is Neil Reed. His defense helped hold Penn State’s Pete Lisicky to seven points, 11 under his game average.’I’ve been really impressed with what he brings to the mix,’ Ayers said about Reed’s recent performances on the court.To add more to Ohio State’s trouble, Indiana is the only team in the Big Ten to shoot over 80 percent from the free throw. The series between the Buckeyes and the Hoosiers is 88-62, in favor of Indiana. Indiana won both meetings last year by 17 points in Columbus and 18 in Bloomington. Ohio State holds the series at home 43-31.