The Indiana Hoosiers entered Saturday's matchup against the Ohio State Buckeyes with everything to gain. Firmly on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, a win would have moved the Hoosiers to 10-10 in Big Ten play and given them another road Q1 win to boost their resume. However, Saturday night in Columbus was a forgettable performance for Darian DeVries' squad.
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The Hoosiers gave up a whopping 50 points in the first half and took a 17-point deficit into the locker room at halftime. They hung around for a bit in the second half, but ultimately fell by a score of 91-78. The loss dropped IU to 18-13 on the season and 9-11 in conference play, and triggered a predictable move from ESPN's Joe Lunardi in his latest bracket projection.
Indiana's NCAA Tournament hopes take a major hit following Ohio State loss
After entering Saturday's matchup against Ohio State among the teams in the "Last Four In" category according to Lunardi, the Hoosiers are now on the outside looking in.
In his latest NCAA Tournament bracket projection released on Saturday night, Lunardi now has Indiana in the "First Four Out" category.
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) March 8, 2026
The Hoosiers are joined in the "First Four Out" category by Virginia Tech, New Mexico, and Cincinnati. The "Last Four In" category now features Santa Clara, SMU, VCU, and Auburn.
However, Lunardi's projection was released before Auburn lost 96-84 to No. 16 Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night. Could that mean Indiana is back in the mix? Possibly, but the Hoosiers didn't do themselves any favors losing by double-digits to the Buckeyes.
Indiana has now lost five of its last six games to close out the regular season. That's not exactly what you want to see in March. Indiana's tournament hopes are still alive, but barely. DeVries will need his team to put forth a strong performance in the Big Ten Tournament to impress the committee at the last possible second.
The official Big Ten Tournament bracket will be finalized on Sunday night. As it stands, the Hoosiers are currently projected to be the No. 10 seed, which would mean their first game of the conference tournament would be on Wednesday, March 11 against the winner of No. 18 Penn State and No. 15 Northwestern.
At this point in time, the Hoosiers would likely need multiple wins in the conference tournament to further boost their tournament resume and have a chance of sneaking into the big dance.