COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State coaching staff had one number on its white board in the locker room during halftime of its game against IUPUI.

47: the shooting percentage of the Jaguars through the first 20 minutes of play.

They had made nine of their first 19 shots from the field, including two 3s on five tries. After Ohio State started the game with a 9-0 start, IUPUI began to pace the Buckeyes a bit, with the home team out-scoring the third-worst team in the country, according to KenPom, by four after that initial run for the rest of the half.

Redshirt senior guard Jimmy Sotos knew something needed to change.

“We knew we had to pick it up, step it up, try and get kills — that’s three stops in a row,” he said. “I think we got four in the second half, a couple shot-clock violations. They like to hold the ball, use the entire clock and we just had to stay disciplined, which we did in the second half.”

In a game with really nothing to play for except reps, the Buckeyes found a bit of juice out of the locker room Tuesday night.

Ohio State allowed 13 points in the final 20 minutes, as IUPUI shot 19% from the floor, making only one of its eight tries from 3. The Jaguars did not record a single point in the final 6:54, giving the Buckeyes their first game allowing less than 40 points since the 2016-17 season.

Part of that momentum came from the play of Eugene Brown III.

The sophomore guard started the second half for Ohio State in place of senior forward Justin Ahrens, and showed head coach Chris Holtmann and the rest of the staff they had something to build upon, scoring eight points in nearly 11 minutes, making three of his four shots from the field, including a 3.

He finished with a game-high and career-high 14 points.

“He’s got to embrace the idea of being a guy that can guard multiple positions and be really good and detailed about playing great effort in rebounding the ball and make open shots,” Holtmann said. “He doesn’t need to hunt shots on this team because we have enough offensive weapons. He’s got to be a great cutter offensively and embrace what we have for him defensively.”

For Sotos, Brown’s a representation of what Ohio State needed in that second half.

“Gene’s very versatile,” the redshirt senior guard said. “He can guard one through five. He’s very active on offense: cutting, rebounding, keeping possessions alive. He makes stuff happen out there. Whenever Gene’s out there, he’s bringing energy, giving us full effort out there.

“He does all the little things.”

In Tuesday night’s seismic victory, Holtmann was able to play each of his available players at least four minutes, including walk-on Harrison Hookfin, who was given a scholarship this week.

In the Buckeyes’ victory against IUPUI, the head coach saw a chance to boost some confidence in his depth guys, players he may need to utilize as Big Ten play rolls on.

“They have to earn it, but absolutely,” Holtmann said on if he sees more playing time for depth pieces in the future. “I thought Jimmy had a good practice yesterday. He’s had good practices, played well. I thought Joey Brunk did some very good things, Cedric (Russell) did some good things. In this era of COVID, you are going to need everybody at any time. I think that’s as much as anything, you just know you are going to need guys and you can see in practice, but they feel differently when they do it in games. Gives them a different level of confidence.”

Holtmann said redshirt senior forward Justice Sueing is a bit further along in his recovery from an abdominal injury than redshirt senior forward Seth Towns is from his back injury, but remains hopeful that both will try and return this season.

However, both are eligible for another season of college basketball. The 2022-23 season would be Sueing’s sixth and Towns’ seventh.

Holtmann said he and Sueing have not talked about his potential return next year, instead focusing on his return for this year’s team, which the head coach said the redshirt senior forward is close to doing.

“It’s probably been the most I’ve been disappointed for a kid in maybe 20 years of coaching,” Holtmann said. “Just such a good player. I think he has not reached his ceiling as a player. So important for our team… I’m optimistic, but I think he’s been taking it one step at a time. We’ll sit back, after the season, and see what’s best for him. We’d love to have him back, but he has to see if it’s right.

As for Towns, Holtmann admitted the Harvard transfer is a bit older than Sueing, and that the forward will have to decide if he wants to return or now.

Focused on the 2021-22 season, the Ohio State head coach said he wants both Towns and Sueing back as quickly as possible.

“Given just COVID and all that, if guys want to play, I’m certainly going to be open for that because we’re already down considerably with numbers right now just with Meechie (Johnson Jr.) being out,” Holtmann said. “Those are three important guys for us.”