Rebound

 You know what you were thinking. Come on, 'fess up, it's not like you hadn't seen this movie before.

Hero needs a win to ease himself off the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Hero's at home, it's Senior Day, fickle old Assembly Hall is not only willing but literally starving to pour out its love.

Hero ... craps all over the occasion.

Falls behind early.  Can't hit the broad side of a championship banner, missing 21 of 30 shots in the first half. Trails an equally desperate (but severely average) Ohio State team 46-36 with  12:12 to play after Devin Royal flushes a 3-pointer.

It's the seventh three of the afternoon for the Buckeyes. And, yeah, you know what you were thinking.

Ah, geez. Here we go. Same old Hoosiers, sinking to the occasion again.

Sound about right?

Sure it does. But you know what didn't?

Indiana 66, Ohio State 60.

Indiana clawing its way back into it, throwing a blanket over the 3-point arc and shutting down the passing lanes on the defensive end. Getting two monster triples down the stretch, on Senior Day, from Trey Galloway, one of the senior-est of seniors. Outscoring Ohio State 30-14 the rest of the way, including a 12-0 burst in the final four minutes that sealed it.

Galloway's first three kicked off that run with 4;27 to play and Indiana still light on the scoreboard by five.

His second was the dagger, everyone in the Hall gasping as he rose up from NBA range with 1:24 showing.

Nothin' but net, baby. The place erupts; the scoreboard changes to Indiana 61, Ohio State 56; and just look at Galloway, trotting back down the floor wearing a Christmas-morning grin you couldn't have erased with Janitor In A Drum.

Oh, and Ohio State?

After Royal's three at the 12:12 mark, the Buckeyes make just one more. Their last field goal, period, comes with just under six minutes to play.

I don't know what your definition of lockdown D is. But that sounds an awful lot like it.

It also sounds like another rebound in this crazy bounce of a season, when the Hoosiers couldn't win for losing for long stretches and Mike Woodson lost his job because of it. And then, somehow, they found their mojo, or at least some reasonable facsimile. 

Now they've won five of their last seven games -- winning at regular-season conference champ Michigan State and blowing out Purdue at home along the way -- and they've earned a first-round bye in next week's Big Ten tournament. 

Stay tuned for more Reasonable Facsimile. Or not, this being Indiana and all.

But after yesterday, who bets the homestead against it?