A day after being the projected overall number one seed by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, the Purdue basketball team was dealt a disappointing loss at Ohio State against a Buckeyes squad that entered reeling.
In a week that saw Ohio State fire former head coach Chris Holtmann, the Buckeyes kicked off the Jake Diebler Era with a resounding 73-69 win over the second ranked Buckeyes. Ohio State had lost nine of 11 against Purdue coming into today’s contest.
The major difference?
Ohio State outscored Purdue 22-7 in points off turnovers as Zed Key grabbed a career-high five steals, harassing Purdue big man Zach Edey all afternoon.
“Thought we got off to a good start in the game. We just didn’t sustain. At the same time, Bruce Thorton made some plays to keep them afloat. As the half went on, our attention to detail just wasn’t great. They had more rebounds than us and fewer turnovers than us. Give them credit. They played well. They did some really great things. Points off turnovers was the game. We didn’t play well enough to get the win. Their attention to detail was better than our attention to detail,” Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter said after the loss.
An emotional Diebler credited his players for the way they bounced back with all that happened.
“What a resilient group. We have some great young men in there who came together at a high these last few days in a way that I don’t know if any of us fully anticipated that they could get to in a short amount of time,” Diebler said.
Purdue basketball started strong, faded with Edey hampered with fouls
The Boilermakers got off to a strong start behind the play of Trey Kaufman-Renn, who scored seven points early to put Purdue basketball (23-2, 12-3) an early 12-6 advantage. However, Ohio State took advantage of poor shooting, turnovers and Edey being sidelined with two fouls.
“I don’t want to speak on fouls too much. I’ve got to play better. I’ve got to play smarter. I’ve got to stay out of foul trouble. We’ve got to play better,” said a dejected Edey, who admitted he focused on the calls against him too much, letting it distract him.
For the game, Ohio State limited Purdue to a season low nine 3-point attempts and their second lowest offensive output of the season.
Despite all that, Purdue still had a chance late in the game.
The Boilermakers found themselves knotted at 65-65 after Lance Jones buried a three with under two minutes left, but Jamison Battle scored on a jumper and Key stripped Edey to put the game out of reach.
Turnovers haunt Boilermakers again
Painter said he has seen a theme with all three of Purdue’s losses this year — turnovers.
“Our three losses are all turnovers. Our record is off the charts since I’ve been at Purdue when we have fewer turnovers and more rebounds. We are 6-48 when we have more turnovers and they have more rebounds than us. Give them credit, but we have to generate some turnovers too,” Painter said.
Edey, who responded three consecutive times with “next question” agreed with Painter’s assessment.
“We just didn’t take care of the ball. Obviously, we outrebounded them and got more possessions that way, but we can’t let them get into transition. It’s tough when a team scores 22 points in transition,” Edey said.
As for what the Buckeyes did differently on defense, especially against himself, Edey responded, “next question.”
“Their post defense was definitely unique. Not much I can say. Next question,” Edey said.
Painter said the Buckeyes looked the same today as what he had seen on film.
“Nothing. They didn’t run anything different, they didn’t do anything different. They are the same team. It’s a player’s game. They have good players. Give them credit. They defended well in the post and defended the three point line. I told our guys don’t look at their record. The guys who start for them can start anywhere in the country. I recruited a couple of those guys. Sometimes in basketball, you just aren’t good consistently. Don’t doubt their ability. They have a lot of ability, they have talent, they have good basketball players. They just haven’t been consistent, and maybe this win can help them push on. They were damn good at the end of the year,” Painter said.
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