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Following Indiana's loss to No. 22 Ohio State in overtime on Monday, there was a clear theme. It was the inability to get a score when needed and also get a stop when needed. A common theme throughout much of the last five seasons.

Indiana's roster had had question marks for a large portion of the last few seasons and a reason for that is lack of wing production. That has reared its ugly head time and time again this year.

This offseason, Indiana filled two spots on the perimeter with Parker Stewart and Miller Kopp. Both were expected to play huge roles for this team and up to this point, they haven't quite filled the role as expected. Miller Kopp was a career 9.6 point per game scorer in 87 games at Northwestern and Stewart was a career 14 point per game scorer between his time at Pitt and Tennessee-Martin.

Kopp has struggled this year, averaging just 5.8 points per game on 36.2 percent from the field -- both career lows. Stewart has had a solid year, averaging 7.0 points on a career-high 44.3 percent shooting from three. The one thing both lack, however, is the ability to create offense off of the bounce for themselves.

On Monday, the perimeter play was completely outmatched by Ohio State and freshman Malaki Branham. Branham finished with 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting and was also 8-of-8 from the foul line.

"(Malaki) Branham is a good player," IU guard Parker Stewart said. "We wanted to force him to his left hand that was the game plan. In the second half we had to adjust our pick and roll coverage on him, to switching, to try to prevent him from getting downhill."

Branham had 17 points after halftime and was 6-of-9 from the field. He scored six of the last 10 points of the game for the Buckeyes and had the game-tying assist to EJ Liddell with six seconds left to send it into overtime. He accounted for 12 of the 26 field goals for Ohio State and in total, 42.5 percent of the Buckeyes total points.

"I thought Miller (Kopp) at one time was playing him well but hey, he got away and made plays and we had no answer for him," IU head coach Mike Woodson said of Branham. "As the game wore on, I don't know if the fatigue wore on but he was the guy they went to and we couldn't get the stops we needed to get."

"He made some tough shots, and we also made some mistakes guarding him letting him get to his right hand," Stewart added. "I take the blame for that because I guarded him most of the night."

On the flip side, Indiana has struggled this season to get key baskets. A large part of that is due to the inconsistent guard play but also that inability to give the ball to a wing player and have him beat his opponent off of the dribble.

Parker Stewart has shown that ability at times at his previous schools, but this year he is shooting just 29.4 percent on 2s and is making just 0.4 per game on 1.4 attempts. Kopp's numbers are slightly higher at 36.9 percent on 2s with just 0.9 makes per game on 2.5 attempts.

That inability causes the offense to be at a standstill at times and other times look totally disjointed. Against Ohio State, IU was up four points with 1:23 left in regulation and had the ball. After a timeout, the next three possessions for IU went: turnover, long three from Tamar Bates at the end of the shot clock and then the blocked Xavier Johnson attempt at the buzzer.

“We come out of the timeout, we throw the ball away. And that's kind of what triggered it. I thought it gave them hope again," Woodson added. "You know, if we come out of that possession at least shooting two free throws, or at least attempting a shot, eating into the clock. I mean, we didn't even eat into the clock. We threw it away trying to feed it inside, and then they came down and we fouled."

Despite Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis being an All-American and All-Big Ten player, he is not someone who you can give the ball to at the top of the key and say, 'go beat the defender'. Teammates have to be involved in getting Jackson-Davis the ball and that has led to sluggish offensive possessions late in games.

“We were we up four and we throw the ball away out of timeout," Woodson said. "That's the biggest possession of the night. I think."

"We just tried to get the ball down to Trayce and get (EJ) Liddell to foul him but we didn't get it down to him (Trayce Jackson-Davis)," IU guard Xavier Johnson added.

Indiana scored .972 points per possession on Monday, taking its average to 1.04 points per possession this year, 10th in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers also have the third worst turnover rate in the conference at 16 percent.

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