The seven-minute stretch that may have ended Indiana's season

As the cheers began to settle in Columbus on Saturday night following Ohio State’s win over Indiana, the sound of the postgame jibber-jabber was quickly displaced by the booming roar of Bob Christianson’s, and more famously CBS’, March Madness theme song reverberating throughout Value City Arena.

It is a sound college basketball has taught its followers to recognize instantly. It is the sound of March.

Although the instrumental eventually faded, making way for Senior Day speeches from Ohio State’s trio of seniors, the animated image of the March Madness logo dancing across each of the four video boards hanging from the rafters inside The Schottenstein Center lingered long after the final horn.

It was poetic in a cruel sort of way. The Buckeyes, celebrating a victory that all but secured their place in the NCAA Tournament, did so beneath the same pixelated reminder of the stage Indiana was watching likely slip out of reach.

The Hoosiers spent 1,255 minutes navigating the regular season. Thirty-one games came and went. Four months of starts and stops, streaks and setbacks.

In the end, the moment that effectively closed the door on the NCAA Tournament for the Hoosiers arrived in the regular season finale in the form of a singular seven-minute, 19-second stretch.

Indiana’s 91-78 loss Saturday night ultimately traced back to the closing stretch of the first half, when a game still hanging in the balance quietly tilted beyond recovery. What had been a three-point deficit suddenly stretched to 17 by the time the teams disappeared into the tunnel.

“It’s certainly disappointing,” head coach Darian DeVries said postgame.

Postgame Q&A: Darian DeVries, Reed Bailey react to Indiana’s loss at Ohio State

The Hoosiers had already absorbed Ohio State’s early surge. They trailed by as many as 11 points through the opening 10 minutes but gradually found their footing again.

With 7:39 left in the half, Conor Enright slipped through the lane for a layup that trimmed the deficit to three. For a brief moment, the game felt balanced again.

Twenty seconds later, Taison Chatman stepped into a triple. The shot landed cleanly, the net barely moving, and the building responded with a low rumble that quickly grew louder. It was the first tremor of a run that would quietly swallow the remainder of the half.

“We weren’t able to get a stop there at the end of the first half,” DeVries said. “That was a huge stretch right there.”

Five different Buckeyes scored during the closing push in the opening frame. Indiana’s defensive rotations arrived a step late, and each possession seemed to open another seam.

The Buckeyes hit three triples during the run, the final one arriving with a sense of ceremony. Bruce Thornton gathered the ball on the left wing, rocked into a stepback and released a soft, arching three.

It dropped through the twine and carried with it a piece of program history, making Thornton Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer.

Indiana managed only three baskets during the stretch, two from Tucker DeVries and another Enright layup, while the deficit widened possession by possession. By halftime, the Buckeyes had turned a tight game into 17 points of separation.

Ohio State went 9-of-11 from the field in that defining stretch.

“I thought the biggest thing there was just the threes,” added DeVries. ” … I thought we were back and forth a little bit in decent shape. And then, they got going, and started getting to the rim, splashing a few threes, and the lead exploded.”

Indiana still searched for life after the break. The Hoosiers cut the margin to 10 with 3:24 remaining, pushing the tempo and briefly quickening the pace with full-court pressure.

But the climb had already become too steep.

The damage had been done before halftime, in that quiet seven-minute stretch when the game — and perhaps Indiana’s season — slipped away.

Instant Analysis: Three takeaways from Indiana’s 91-78 loss to Ohio State

Now Indiana’s postseason outlook rests on a path the program has never traveled before. The Hoosiers must win, or at the very least win three or four games, in the Big Ten Tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament.

“I think we just have a lot of motivation to come into the Big Ten Tournament and show what we really can do,” forward Reed Bailey said. “Just having that bad taste in your mouth, I think it’s motivation enough to really come out and try and make a run.”

The task ahead is simple in theory, yet unforgiving in practice.

And as Value City Arena reminded Indiana throughout the moments following Saturday night’s defeat, through the glowing March Madness logos suspended above the floor and the triumphant echo of CBS’ familiar theme, March has already arrived.

Just not yet for the Hoosiers.

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