BLOOMINGTON— Coach Mike Woodson calls Xavier Johnson “X,” as if he is one of those Marvel comics super heroes saving the world. Saturday night, at least, Johnson shaking off extended injury residuals, was the X factor.

The Indiana men’s basketball team out-struggled Ohio State, 71-65, at Assembly Hall to take a Big Ten victory that would rate much higher on the dig-down scale than in beauty pageant rankings.

Over the last year, Johnson, a sixth-year, 6-foot-3, 200-pound point guard, has had the type of luck of a gambler who went to Las Vegas to break the bank. He missed the second half of the 2022-23 season with injury and recently missed seven games this season with a fresh injury, a cracked bone in his foot.

He only returned to active duty last Wednesday with a depressing performance – for himself and the team – looking as rusty as the Titanic did upon being rediscovered. In that mess of a loss at Nebraska, the Hoosiers committed 19 turnovers and Johnson had zero points in 14 minutes.

Woodson got all over his case and Johnson was steamed. This game versus the visitors from Columbus, Ohio, IU committed just four turnovers – zero by Johnson accompanied by 18 points, as the Hoosiers improved their record to 11-4 and 3-1 in league play.

“I thought he was huge tonight,” Woodson said of Johnson, of whom he also said “his 14 minutes were awful,” in that 86-70 loss to Nebraska.

Whether he got tired from inactivity, wasn’t sharp because of time missed, or what, Johnson did not appear crisp in his return game in Lincoln, yet along with Malik Reneau carried the Hoosiers over Ohio State (12-3, 2-2).

“You know, I did feel like I was out of rhythm,” Johnson said of the Cornhusker contest. “I only had a couple practices. I can’t make that excuse, though.”

Saturday’s first half was roughly even, the Buckeyes leading 38-37. At this point in the season, with a large body of video work available for scouting, you don’t have to be the film critic for the Hollywood Reporter to realize the Hoosiers are vulnerable to the three-point shot. The Buckeyes made five of them early, but ended up just seven-for-27 on the night. High man was Jamison Battle with 17 points.

IU shot only 46.6 from the field and was out-rebounded by an astonishing 49-27 (though as Woodson noted there were a lot of crazy long-distance bounds).

Yet after falling behind 46-37 early in the second half, Indiana rallied. While C.J. Gunn turned in a yeoman two-way (10 points, solid defense) effort, the game turned on the broad shoulders of Reneau, the 6-9, 235-pound sophomore.

Clearly emerging as a bona fide star, Reneau, who ran up 34 points in a recent game, totaled 23 points, 19 of them coming in the second half on eight-for-11 shooting.

For long stretches, Reneau was unstoppable. Teammates fed him the ball in the low post and he spun left, he spun right, he muscled up, and Ohio State had no answer. Assembly Hall fans are probably still on their feet cheering Reneau.

At times Gunn, a sophomore, has disappeared from Woodson’s rotation, but he played 24 critical minutes. Woodson said Gunn had been outstanding in practice and using that barometer deserved more game minutes.

“I thought these last two days he was right on par, man, in terms of what we wanted,” Woodson said. “C.J. stepped up and gave us some important minutes tonight.”

Johnson and Gunn laughed as they said Woodson is a demanding coach pushing them.

“Boy, every day,” Gunn said.

After falling behind by those nine points in the second half, the Reneau-led resurgence led to a 53-52 IU lead on a Johnson three-pointer. Also, at the very end of the first half Johnson made a three-pointer, was fouled, and converted the free throw for a four-point play.

During the Reneau-led stretch, IU went ahead 66-56 with three-and-a-half minutes remaining. At a couple of junctures, the Buckeyes seemed ready to fold like a poker player with a weak hand. But Ohio State fought back to within two points before Reneau and Johnson combined to put the game away in the final 1:15.

The Hoosiers have been inconsistent as a team, but Reneau has been a stalwart. From showing flashes of stardom last year, he has become a go-to man in the clutch.

“This summer, you know, he put a lot of work in,” Woodson said. “Never really left campus. Got his weight down. So, you’ve just got to tip your hat to him.”

The Hoosiers seem to have more than one X factor.