Jake Diebler, Ohio State stun No. 2 Purdue at home, 73-69

Jake Diebler, Ohio State stun No. 2 Purdue at home, 73-69

For the first time in over seven years, Ohio State (15-11, 5-10) took the floor Sunday afternoon with a head coach (by title) not named Chris Holtmann. Gene Smith made the decision to terminate Holtmann’s contract this week in his seventh season, with the Buckeyes in 13th place in the Big Ten and once again looking like an NIT team at best. Associate head coach Jake Diebler, who has filled in for Holtmann twice over the years and won both times, is the “interim” head coach.

The Buckeyes’ challenge Sunday was twofold. Find a way to drown out all of the outside noise regarding Holtmann and the spiral of the program, and find a way to stop Zach Edey. It’s tough enough to do the latter without the former going on, but with all of the noise around the program, Diebler had one hell of a challenge on his hands Saturday afternoon.

Diebler’s first lineup as head man consisted of Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle, Jamison Battle, Evan Mahaffey, and Felix Okpara.

Matt Painter is in his 19th season at Purdue, and has taken the Boilermakers (23-3, 12-3) to the NCAA Tournament 14 times. He went with a starting lineup of Braden Smith, Flecher Loyer, Lance Jones, Trey Kaufman-Renn, and Zach Edey.

The Buckeyes looks out of sync and sloppy to start the game, turning it over on two of the first three possessions. Thornton was a man on a mission, however, scoring Ohio State’s first eight points. On the other end, Purdue’s first 12 points came from players all not named Zach Edey, meaning the Buckeyes could be in for a world of hurt once Edey started taking shots. At the first media timeout, Purdue led 12-8. Thornton and Key were playing with a ton of effort and aggression early on, with Thornton hunting his shot and Key’s active hands making Edey really keep two tight hands on the ball.

After Ohio State briefly tied it at 16, Purdue got three consecutive baskets from Cam Heide, Edey, and Smith to go ahead 22-16 with just under eight minutes remaining. A Scotty Middleton three-pointer made it 22-19, which was out score at the under-eight media timeout with 7:27 left. Buckeyes not named Bruce continued to struggle, shooting 33% over the first 12-plus minutes of the game. Edey was a factor as always but didn’t dominate in the first half, partially because Ohio State was willing to just foul the reigning National Player of the Year on the catch and not let him take a shot.

After Edey picked up his second foul of the game with 4:30 left in the first half, Ohio State went on a tear. The Buckeyes ended the half on an absurd and unlikely 14-2 run, taking a 35-30 lead into the locker room against the No. 2 team in the country. They outscored the Boilermakers 12-2 after Edey went out, and got massive buckets from Thornton, Key, and Royal in those final minutes.

Ohio State kept on making shots early in the second half, and increased their lead to nine points by the first media timeout. After Edey dropped a pass below the basket, Mahaffey was able to pop the ball out of his hand and into the air. The ball was tipped towards the Purdue bench, and Mahaffey chased it down with Edey and Smith on his heels. He was able to tip the ball inbounds before crashing into the scorer’s table, and Bonner came away with it. The senior transfer raced down the floor and passed it off to Battle, who canned a three with Lance Jones right in his face to make it 47-38 Ohio State with 14:45 remaining in the game.

The Buckeyes pushed that lead to 11 by the under-12 media timeout. Ohio State’s transfers were huge in the second half, with Battle knocking down three consecutive three-pointers and then Bonner scoring layups on back-to-back possessions to make it 54-43 with 11:22 remaining in the game. Key picked up his third foul at the under-12 timeout, but was still huge defending Edey. The senior from Long Island had a career-high four steals, and all of them came from Key slapping the ball out of Edey’s hands below the basket volleyball-style before Purdue’s big man could take a shot.

It seemed inevitable, but Edey started cooking in the second half and the Boilermakers cut Ohio State’s 12-point lead to seven points by the 7:30 mark of the game, 56-49. After scoring six points in the first half, Edey was up to 16 points and 10 rebounds. Ohio State continued to foul him at every opportunity, so Purdue began throwing him lobs, and Edey also helped himself out with five offensive rebounds.

By the time the final media timeout rolled around with 3:33 remaining, the Buckeyes were still clinging to a 65-58 lead. Nearly every Boilermaker basket was answered by a tough mid-range jumper from Thornton, as he and the feisty Buckeyes tried their damn best to hold off the No. 2 team in the nation at home.

Purdue just kept coming, but in the end Ohio State was able to answer most Boilermaker runs with one of their own — or at least stop Purdue’s runs before they got too big. After a tumultous week where Chris Holtmann was fired and none of the news was about this game, the players banded together and were able to defeat the No. 2 team in the country, 73-69.

If you weren’t around to see Jake Diebler’s Buckeyes pull off a miracle and shock No. 2 Purdue at home Sunday afternoon, here are a few key plays and moments that played a big part in the win:

One-man wrecking crews

15 of the game’s first 20 points were scored by two guys — Kaufman-Renn and Thornton. Thornton knocked down three early shots and scored Ohio State’s first eight, while Kaufman-Renn had 7 of Purdue’s first 12.

Purdue’s sophomore forward from Sellersburg, Indiana was averaging 6.6 points coming into the game, but outpaced his average in the first five minutes. Thanks to extra attention on Edey, Kaufman-Renn was getting some pretty open looks off of screens cutting towards the basket, and drew a foul on Okpara as well.

Thornton looked like the only player who gave a darn early on, knocking down three shots over Loyer and giving a ton of effort on Ohio State’s missed shots, even if he didn’t come up with the basketball. His effort kept the Buckeyes in the game early on.

Gayle ties the game, but only for a minute

Trailing 16-14 but having scored back-to-back baskets, the Buckeyes found themselves in a spot to tie or take the lead with 10:24 left in the first half. Key had the ball on the right block and was immediately double teamed by Caleb Furst and Kaufman-Renn, but he was able to find a cutting Gayle for an open dunk to tie it, 16-16.

However, Purdue answered a minute later with baskets from Edey, Heide, and Kaufman-Renn to go back ahead, 22-16. The Buckeyes would go without a basket for over two minutes after Gayle’s dunk, giving Purdue a chance to re-take the lead.

Ohio State goes on a 14-2 run to end the first half

Zach Edey picked up his second foul with 4:30 left in the first half, which was the start of a massive Ohio State run that put them ahead at the break.

Edey fouled Thornton driving to the basket, and was quickly benched. Thornton hit both free throws to make it 28-25 Purdue, but then the Buckeyes outscored Purdue 10-2 the rest of the way to go up 35-30 at half. Thornton was the driving force, but Devin Royal was a man possessed on the offensive glass, and even Austin Parks chipped in with his first collegiate basket in the 26th game of the season.

Ohio State’s strategy on Edey

The reigning National Player of the Year only took three shots in the first half of Saturday’s game. Edey still finished with six points and five rebounds in the first half, but the Buckeyes got into a habit of fouling Edey before the catch or immediately on the catch, nearly every time he touched the ball.

This strategy did cause Ohio State to commit nine total fouls in the first half, but it seemed Diebler and the staff preferred Edey score at the line than have chance after chance after below the basket.

Mahaffey panics Purdue, leading to a Battle three to put Ohio State up nine

After Battle knocked down a three-pointer to put Ohio State up 44-38, Purdue tried to force the ball to Edey below the basket. The National Player of the Year went up for a lob but the ball slipped out of his hands. He tried to collect it off the ground, but Mahaffey slapped at it and knocked it away, sending the ball rolling towards the scorer’s table.

Mahaffey, Smith, and Edey all went after it, but it was Mahaffey who got their first, knocking the ball back in bounds to Dale Bonner. Bonner raced down the floor and then passed behind himself to Battle, who knocked down a three with Lance Jones’ hand directly in his face. That made it 47-38 Ohio State with 14:35 left in the game, and the crowd lost its collective mind.

Battle’s free throws ice it for Ohio State

After Purdue tied the game 65-65 with a three-pointer from Lance Jones with 1:39 left in the game the Buckeyes got a big mid-range jumper from Battle to take the lead. Battle was fouled with 34 seconds remaining as well, and he knocked down both shots to give Ohio State a 69-65 lead that they would not relinquish.

Up Next:

Ohio State (15-11, 5-10) has three days off and then will travel to Minnesota (15-9, 6-7) on Thursday night. The Buckeyes beat Minnesota 84-74 in their first meeting back on December 3, and will be looking for the season sweep in Minneapolis. The Gophers are in a three-way tie for eighth-place in the Big Ten, but have lost back-to-back games to fall below .500 in conference play.

Ohio State’s game against Minnesota will tip off at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday and will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.