Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Rebound from Indiana Loss with Road Win Over Purdue
By John Porentas
Ohio State Head Coach Thad Matta was worried about how his team would respond after their first loss of the season last Sunday against the Indiana Hoosiers. He had to wait just until the first media timeout in West Lafayette to get a hint. His Buckeyes were up 12-2 and were obviously playing with purpose.
"I was a little apprehensive," said Matta.
"I didn't know exactly how they would come out. Monday and Tuesday we had two terrific practices. When you have a guy like Je'Kel Foster leading the way he's going to make sure guys are ready to play."
The No. 16/19 Buckeyes (12-1, 2-1 Big Ten) were indeed ready and had little trouble in taking a road win in the Big Ten at the expense of the Purdue Boilermakers (6-8, 0-3 Big Ten) by a final of 80-64.
The closest the Boilers could come after OSU's initial salvo was within four points at 24-20 on a three pointer by Chris Lutz, but OSU went on a 7-0 run to stretch the lead back out to 11 and never really were threatened after that. The run was fueled by three point field goals by Je'Kel Foster and Ivan Harris. The three point shooting was an emerging theme at that point. The Buckeyes hit eight-of-13 three point attempts in the first half as the Boilermakers tried to take Terence Dials out of OSU's offense. The Buckeye perimeter players made them pay, raining down threes on them. J. J. Sullinger made three of five in the first half and Ron Lewis two-of-two, including a half-ending trifecta from NBA range with the clock running out. The Boilermakers simply could not guard the Buckeyes.
"They stretch you," said first-year Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter.
"And with Dials, it's pick your poison, because when J. J. Sullinger is making shots and you have Sylvester and you play those guys at the four, and you're bringing in Sly Mayes and Ivan Harris as your eighth and ninth man, you have a pretty good team," Painter said.
"They came out and they were hot right from the get go shooting," said Boilermaker forward Matt Kiefer who scored a team-high 15 points and added a game-high 13 rebounds in a losing cause.
"They can do a lot of things better than the other people we've played against. They can get into a rhythm dribble and just pop a three. I don't think we've played anyone else who can do that thus far," Kiefer said.
"I don't think we've played a better three point shooting team than them. They did a good job."
The Buckeyes shot 50% from three, going 11-for-22 in the game.
"We knew they would pack in their defense to try to stop Terence Dials, and why wouldn't they, he's one of the best players in the league," said Sullinger. "They left us open on the perimeter and we were able to take advantage," Sullinger said.
The Buckeyes were efficient on offense and downright disruptive on defense. OSU forced 21 Purdue turnovers and Je'Kel Foster produced seven steals. Ohio State scored sixteen points off turnovers in the game. Foster's most shining moments, however, came early in the second half.
After watching a lead melt away at the beginning of the second half against Indiana last Sunday the Buckeyes were determined not to let that happen again against Purdue. Foster came up with steals on Indiana's first three possessions of the half to keep them on the defensive and allow his team to stretch the lead.
"We need to improve in that area, the first four or five minutes of the second half, and fortunately for us we got some steals, we got some easy baskets, and I think that helped us really ignite our offense," said Matta.
"Coach talked about that at half time," said Jamar Butler.
"That really hurt us in the Indiana game so we really worked hard in coming out in the second half strong."
"I think the whole team reacts to it emotionally when Je'Kel is getting on the floor getting steals. That gets us going. It's a real momentum builder," Butler said.
Overall, OSU came up with 13 steals in the game.
Ohio State stretched the lead to as many as 25 in the second half, but a late flurry by Purdue cut the final margin to 16.
Matta was happy with the win and his offense, but was not real pleased with his team's defensive effort in the game, particularly in the last five minutes of the game.
"Obviously we're not a very good defensive team yet," said Matta.
"When we shoot the ball like we did tonight it's good, but we made a lot of mistakes defensively. We've got to get it corrected. I think that's the biggest thing we've looked for is consistency in our system and what we're trying to do and we're not there yet," Matta said.
Matta may not have been happy, but Painter said the OSU defense took its toll on his team, particularly their pressure on the Boilermaker guards.
"They wore us down. They keep bringing guys in there, especially in their backcourt," said Painter.
"You've got a tired ball handler. You've got a guy out there who's getting pressured. You've got to give credit to Ohio State's defense and what they were doing, but we were also being careless," Painter said.
Box Score
Game Photos