Meet The Opponent: Trouble Brewing at Ohio State

The Buckeyes have lost six of eight games and seem to be struggling to find answers to turn it around with Indiana coming to town on Saturday.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — There was a Sunday night back in December, in that first early week of Big Ten conference games, where the Ohio State Buckeyes were on the verge of becoming the No. 1 team in the country.

They were that close. The Buckeyes had won their first nine games, and were ranked No. 3 in th country. The two teams ahead of them at the time, Louisville and Kansas, had both lost. All that stood in the way of ascending to the top of college basketball's hierarchy was to get a late Sunday night win at Minnesota, and the Buckeyes would be — at least for the moment — considered to be the best team in all the land.

It didn't happen, of course. Back in week where EVERY Big Ten team won its home games, Minnesota stuffed the Buckeyes, 84-71. Instead, the Buckeyes dropped to No. 5.

And they've been dropping, swiftly and steadily, ever since. The Buckeyes have lost six of their past eight games, with the only two wins against Big Ten bottom-feeders Nebraska and Northwestern.

Those national rankings? Long gone. They are still receiving some votes, but haven't been in the top-25 for going on close to three weeks now.

It has been, to put it mildly, a bit of a mess around Columbus. There's been consternation, finger-pointing, frustration and now — somewhat shockingly — player defections.

Here are three things you need to know about the Buckeyes, who host Indiana on Saturday (Noon ET; TV: ESPN)

1. Freshman D.J. Carton leaves the team

Standout freshman guard D.J. Carton shocked everyone when he announced late Thursday night that he is walking away from the team in the middle of the season to deal with some mental health issues. The story broke very late Thursday night, so it's going to be interesting to see how the Buckeyes react to playing without him.

"I have been suffering with mental health issues for a couple years,'' said Carton, the freshman from Bettendorf, Iowa, who had also been a huge Indiana recruiting target. "I have been through a lot. I'm disappointed to say I'm not 100 percent right now. I am not doing my teammates justice if I don't work on this now. I am doing everything in my power to strengthen my mental health.''

I am a huge advocate for mental health issues and have written and published a lot on the topic I think it's great that Carton has the courage to put his own issues first, whether it be depression or something else that he's dealing with. It's real, and for millions of Americans, it's a struggle. It's a shame he has to do this, especially right in the middle of the season.

So you can NEVER fault the kid, but it will certainly affect his teammates on the court, where they are short-handed at the guard spots anyway. It will be interesting to see how they react to his absence as a team.

2. The confusing case of Kaleb Wesson

Indiana coach Archie Miller is always raving about how good Ohio State center Kaleb Wesson is, and how he's the most difficult big man in the country to cover.

The love affair among some Ohio State fans is waining, though. Many think he's working too much as an individual to help his NBA stock than he is to help his team.

For instance, in the recent home loss to Minnesota, the 6-foot-9, 270-pound junior was just 1-for-10 shooting, missed all three of his 3-point attempts and NEVER ONCE made it to the free throw line. He missed a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left and the game tied, and Minnesota won it on its next possession.

"I love our fans, and 90 percent of them have a real understanding of things,'' Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. "Sure there's a segment, as in every fan base, that takes things to the extreme. But listen, he's shooting 40 percent from 3, and the shot he had late against Minnesota was a wide open 3 that he's going to make a lot of the time. It's not like he's taking one a game.''

Holtmann said he doesn't consider Wesson to be selfish at all, and that he's a great team player.

"He's a very willing passer, he has the ability to make three or four 3s in a game and that really threatens the defense,'' he said. "He can pull a pretty good shot blocker away from the rim.''

Kaleb Wesson is averaging 13.9 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, tops in both categories for Ohio State. (Mandatory credit: USA TODAY SPORTS)

3. Not the beast at home that was expected

Ohio State was expected to contend for the Big Ten championship, but now they sit at 3-6 in the league and 13-7 overall, ahead of only Nebraska and Northwestern in the standings. What's most surprising is they have lost two conference games AT HOME already.  No one expected that.

Even more surprising is that the losses came against Minnesota and Wisconsin, two teams in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten. They have five games remaining at home, Saturday's game against Indiana, a game with Purdue and then three games against ranked teams, Rutgers, Maryland and Illinois.

It's going to be interesting to see which Buckeyes team shows up the rest of the way.