In blowout loss to Boilermakers, OSU ‘played best it has in a while’
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A lot can change in 45 days.
On Jan. 5, No. 1 Purdue went to Value City Arena and stole a two-point victory by scoring five points in the final 30 seconds. It was a battle between two teams that, based on results to that point, looked to figure in at least the upper half of the Big Ten standings. The Boilermakers had just one loss to their name entering the game and the Buckeyes had just finished off a decisive win at Northwestern.
It’s hard to fathom how different what transpired Sunday afternoon in the rematch at Mackey Arena felt. Although Ohio State opened with a spark, grabbing an 8-2 lead, No. 3 Purdue led for 34:38, pushed its advantage as high as 31 points and generally handled its business in an 82-55 win.
Forty-five days ago, two points separated these teams. Starting with that day, the Buckeyes have lost 13 of 14 games and are guaranteed to have their first losing record to close the regular season in 19 years.
Purdue coach Matt Painter said the Boilermakers didn’t alter much about their approach for Ohio State despite the losses.
“The personnel is the same and they’re still dangerous,” he said. “I know they haven’t had the success they’ve wanted, but they still have good pieces.”
Standing in the hallway outside the visitors’ locker room, OSU third-year wing Gene Brown III was asked how different this Purdue game felt to the last one.
“Honestly, it’s just rough,” he said. “Taking Ls. It was a close game last time and this time was a little different. Obviously they’re at home so that makes a difference, but just have to keep moving forward.”
In the first Purdue game, Ohio State
posted its best adjusted offensive efficiency mark of the season in a losing effort. Ohio State was at 114.9 points per 100 possessions in the 71-69 loss. This time, the Buckeyes finished with their third-lowest of the year: 84.6. Purdue’s defense held Ohio State to too many stretches without points while it rode 7foot-4 center Zach Edey and an emerging cast of characters to 126.1 points per
100 possessions.
That’s the third-worst mark of the season for the Ohio State defense, and it comes three days removed from the worst mark posted by the Buckeyes this season: 138.9 in Thursday’s loss at Iowa.
Despite the biggest loss of the season, Brown said the coaches did not fault the effort.
“I definitely feel like we played hard enough,” he said. “Coach was emphasizing we need to play the right way, continue to do what we do and the results will come. Today’s probably the best we played in a while, even though we didn’t get the result we wanted. It’s a tough team, but I feel like it’s the best we’ve played in a while.”
In what way?
“The stuff we work on, the stuff he’s emphasizing, playing together, smarter, tougher, he said it’s probably one of the most connected games we’ve played in a while,” Brown said. “Playing for each other. Playing the Ohio State way.”