By Rusty Miller
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - At halftime of Ohio State's basketball game with Indiana on Saturday night, coach Jim Tressel's 14-0 football team presented the national championship trophy to the university's president.

A capacity crowd stood and cheered for several minutes as quarterback Craig Krenzel, defensive lineman Will Smith and Tressel each spoke briefly.

The basketball Buckeyes didn't see any of the ceremonies but fed off the fans to beat No. 15 Indiana 81-69.

"It was a great crowd," said power forward Shun Jenkins. "They had energy. They were into it. Just the whole energy from the whole crowd motivated the team."

Balancing a punishing inside game with guard Brent Darby's 28 points, the Buckeyes's lead never dropped below 10 points in the second half.

With the Buckeyes beaten up and bruised and missing two starters, coach Jim O'Brien went with a big lineup that included physical frontcourt players Shun Jenkins and Zach Williams and 7-foot center Velimir Radinovic.

Jenkins, whose career best coming in was seven points, had 22 points and seven rebounds for Ohio State (8-5, 1-1 Big Ten). Williams added 13 points and seven rebounds and Radinovic had eight points and six rebounds.

"We really hadn't done that before," O'Brien said of the big lineup. "Jenkins was terrific. He and Zach and Velimir were three very hungry guys on the glass."

The Hoosiers (11-3, 1-1), who had won three in a row, suffered through a miserable night of 3-point shooting and rebounding. They were 9-of-34 on 3s and - despite leading the Big Ten in rebounding coming in - were beaten on the boards 41-32.

"When you go on the road you've got to fight - and we didn't fight," Indiana coach Mike Davis said. "This was our first true road game. From what I saw sitting and standing on the sideline, we weren't very impressive on offense. We settled for outside jumpers."

The Buckeyes improved to 12-3 against ranked teams at Value City Arena.

Down as many as 18 points early in the second half, the Hoosiers pulled to 64-53 on Jeff Newton's 3-pointer with 3:14 left. Williams hit two foul shots before Tom Coverdale made 3-pointers on consecutive Indiana trips down the floor to make it 67-59 with 2:46 remaining.

Ohio State came right back with Jenkins scoring on a power move inside off a fast-break feed from Radinovic, with Radinovic then making two free throws after an Indiana missed shot.

Jenkins' was the Buckeyes' only field goal over the final 6 minutes.

"He was so physical," Davis said of the junior college transfer. "He'd miss it, go back and get it and shoot it again."

Jenkins said the game plan worked to perfection.

"The whole thing with the three big guys was to get a lot of rebounds and to crash the boards," he said. "Coach O'Brien had a good strategy and it worked."

With the Hoosiers forced to foul, the Buckeyes scored 15 of their final 17 points at the free throw line. For the game, they were 27-of-38 to the Hoosiers' 12-of-18.

The Buckeyes were also 6-of-10 on 3-pointers.

"If they were playing a YMCA team they wouldn't have shot 60 percent," Davis said. "That just tells you how poor we played."

Bracey Wright led the Hoosiers with 20 points and Coverdale had 18 points and six assists and Newton added 16 points.

Kyle Hornsby, averaging 9.0 points, missed all nine of his shots from the field including eight 3-point attempts.

Darby was 5-of-7 on 3s and 9-of-10 from the line even though he played with a deep thigh bruise sustained in the Buckeyes' 66-55 loss at No. 25 Michigan State on Thursday night.

"Brent Darby was just fantastic tonight," Davis said. "He's one of the best players in the Big Ten. He really carried them."

Before the game, the 2002 Big Ten tournament championship banner was unfurled from the rafters.