Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Win Ninth Straight with 63-56 Win Over Purdue
By John Porentas

The early wake up call apparently didn't agree with the Buckeyes.

With a 12:00 noon starting time for their game with the Boilermakers (16-9, 5-6 Big Ten) the No. 3 Buckeyes (22-3, 10-1 Big Ten) took the floor at 8:15 this morning for their pregame workout. It was evident that they just weren't quite with it.

"We didn't have a great morning practice today," said OSU freshman point guard Mike Conley. "I have no idea why. We just didn't come to play today from the get-go. It started early in practice and led into the game."

The Buckeyes have shot a gaudy 40 per cent from three point range this season, but against the Boilermakers made just three-of-17 (17.6 per cent) and only 43 per cent overall from the field. In the face of a poor shooting day the last thing they needed was for OSU center Greg Oden to get into foul trouble. You guessed it, that's exactly what happened. Oden picked up his second foul of the game late in the first half, then picked up his third just 1:24 in the second half to send him to the bench with most the game remaining.

"I screwed up today," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.

"I should have taken him out with 1:23 to go in the first half or whenever that dead ball was. The coaches were telling me to do it and I didn't do it. Greg and I had a long talk about that particular foul he got because I think that's the third time that's happened this year with right around a minute to go in the first half. I've got to be smarter than that."

OSU held a slim three-point lead at the half thanks to 10 first half points from Conley, but when Oden went out in the second half it looked like the door was open for the Boilers.

Matt Terwilliger and Othello Hunter gave the Buckeyes quality minutes with Oden on the bench and helped limit the effectiveness of Purdue star Carl Landry. Hunter scored two points and gathered three rebounds. Terwilliger scored five points, registered three rebounds, two assists and a steal in 14 minutes.

"I thought Matt Terwilliger really gave us a tremendous boost today," said Matta. "Matt has been playing great basketball and that's very exciting for us."

"They're bringing in a good player behind him," agreed Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter.

"Othello Hunter's a good player. He's got great size and he's a good defender down there. Matt Terwilliger is a good player also, so you're you're not bringing in guys behind him, obviously they're not the caliber of Greg Oden, but they're still very, very good high major basketball players that can defend and rebound."

The Boilers, however, found a chink in the OSU defense as guard Tarrance Crump was able to come off ball screens to get into the lane and make plays. The Boilers eventually moved out to a five point lead at 51-46 with eight minutes to play. That would turn out to be the high water mark for Purdue.

With eight minutes remaining in the game and trailing by five the Buckeyes switched from a zone defense to a man-to-man and put Jamar Butler on Crump. The move changed the entire complexion of the game.

"He was using that ball screen up top and getting into the paint and making plays so when tried to come off the balls screen I tried to I call it 'destroy it' and don't let him use it. Just square him up and stay with him and he couldn't get to the paint," said Butler.

The Boilers scored just one more field goal the rest of the way as OSU turned up the defensive pressure to outscore Purdue 17-5 over the last eight minutes and grind out the win. In the end, it was the OSU effort on the defensive end, that made the difference.

"Defense, defense and rebounding the ball. We got some stops and we got out in transition. and played our way," said Butler.

"It was amazing that when it got to the moment that the game was on the line we started doing the things we talked about leading into the game," said Matta.

"We had great activity, we had great hands, we were giving help on the weak side, but up to that point we didn't have enough of it."

"Today was one of those days," added Butler . "Things weren't going our way. We executed our system down the stretch and we won."

Carl Teague led Purdue and all scorers with 17 points, 15 of those coming on five-of-nine shooting from three point range. Landry added 13 but turned the ball over six times in the game. Crump added 12. Oden and Conley each scored 14 for the Buckeyes. Oden also pulled down nine rebounds, four of them offensive, in 21 minutes of play. Jamar Butler added nine points and three assists.

Box Score

Game Photos

Game Notes:

* With the win over Purdue the Buckeyes remain tied with Wisconsin for the Big Ten lead. OSU is the defending Big Ten regular-season champion, and Matta says that the pressures in chasing the title are different this season than last.

"Last year we were trying to climb up. People are trying to knock us off now. That takes a special element of toughness and a mindset every time you take the court," said Matta.

* OSU center Greg Oden continues to get beat on in the paint. Oden told Thad Matta that he has a solution for all the grabbing defenders do against him.

"He says he wants a tear away jersey. Unfortunately we can't get him one," Matta said.

Oden said that if could wear a tearaway, the result might be a little risque.

"I probably wouldn't have a jersey," Oden said.

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