Led by interim coach, Ohio State stuns No. 2 Purdue
South Florida wins 11th straight game, beats No. 24 Florida Atlantic
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State stunned No. 2 Purdue on Sunday in its interim coach’s debut, winning 73-69 a day after the NCAA Tournament selection committee picked the Boilermakers as the early favorite to be the No. 1 overall seed during March Madness.
Bruce Thornton scored 22 points and Jamison Battle added 19 points to help Ohio State (15-11, 5-10 Big Ten) pull off the upset in Jake Diebler’s first game at the helm.
Chris Holtmann was fired Wednesday after several disappointing seasons. The beleaguered Buckeyes had lost nine of their last eleven games. Purdue (23-3, 12-3) had been favored by 8½ points, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Ohio State fans stormed the court. “What a resilient group,” said Diebler, who was overcome with emotion when he greeted his family on the crowded court. “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.”
Ohio State played with energy from the start, led 35-30 at the break and six minutes into the second half were up by 12.
With the Boilermakers closing down the stretch, it seemed like only a matter of time until Zach Edey took over the game, but it didn’t happen.
Lance Jones hit a 3-pointer for Purdue to tie the score at 65 with 1:39 left. But Battle hit a jumper and then, with 34 seconds left, hit a pair of free throws to bump the Ohio State lead to 69-65.
An easy dunk by Edey reduced the deficit to two with 16 seconds left. Running out time, the Boilermakers fouled Thornton, who went to the line and made both foul shots.
Edey finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds, the 58th career double-double for the Purdue star.
But the Boilermakers turned the ball over 14 times, leading to 22 Ohio State points.
“We just need to take care of the ball,” Edey said. “We out-rebounded them. We got more possessions that way, but we can’t let them get on transition. We have to play on a half-court game . ... It’s tough to win the game when a team scores 22 points in transition.”
Purdue coach Matt Painter was impressed with how the Buckeyes performed after enduring an emotional week that saw the sacking of their much-loved coach.
“That’s what you don’t know — can you get them down and keep them down, and then like, they go away, which obviously didn’t happen. They win the game,” he said. “So you know, where’s their fight? What’s it going to be. I think they answered that. Their fight was great.”
SOUTH FLORIDA 80, NO. 24 FLORIDA ATLANTIC: In Tampa, Fla., Selton Miguel scored a career-high 25 points, Chris Youngblood added 23 and American Athletic Conference-leading South Florida won its 11th straight game after nearly blowing a 25-point lead.
USF (19-5, 12-1 AAC), under first-year coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, is having just its second season with a winning record since 2011-12.
“We know that today is not solidifying anything,” Abdur-Rahim said. “We’re going to make sure we stay focused on our ultimate goal. The biggest thing we have right now is we control our destiny.”
FAU (20-6, 10-3), which had been favored by 5½ points according to FanDuel Sportsbook, got 23 points from Vladislav Goldin and 20 from Johnell Davis. The Owls, who made the Final Four last season, dropped to third place in the American Athletic Conference when they lost their second out of their last four games.
The announced crowd of 10,659 set a South Florida home attendance record.
“This is just a heck of a college basketball game,” Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May said. “The environment was awesome for our game and our sport. Wish we could have came out on the other side of the win column, but proud of our effort, especially in the second half.”
After trailing by 25 midway with 8½ minutes left, FAU cut its deficit to 87-86 on Jalen Gaffney’s layup and Davis’ 3-pointer with 23.1 seconds to go.
Youngblood made it 89-86 with a pair of free throws. After Davis missed a jumper, Youngblood secured the win by making one of two from the free-throw line with 4.6 seconds remaining.
“In the huddles, I kept on saying composure, composure and just relax because we’ve been in position on the other side,” Youngblood said. “So, we know what to do and how to go about everything.”
FAU got within 79-72 with 4½ minutes left on a strange 5-point sequence. Nick Boyd hit a 3 while Gaffney was being fouled. Gaffney made two free throws.
Youngblood made five consecutive free throws in the opening 10 seconds of the second half as USF grabbed a 51-31 advantage. The first two came before the clock started after Goldin was given a contact dead ball technical foul following the end of the first half.
Miguel had 16 points and Youngblood picked up 15 as USF took a 46-31 halftime lead.
“This ain’t the same old South Florida — it’s not,” Rahim said.
USF is one victory away from matching a school-record 12-game winning streak, set in 1980-81. The 11 conference wins ties the most ever for USF. The 2011-12 squad had 11 Big East wins.
The Bulls have never been ranked in the AP Top 25 but received votes in last Monday’s poll. They are seeking their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2011-12.