Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Upset Boilers with Strong Effort on the Glass
By John PorentasNo. 13/12 Purdue's six-game winning streak came to a halt at the Value City Arena last night as Ohio State (16-5, 6-4 Big Ten) pulled off the upset with an 80-72 overtime win that had an unexpected script.
The Buckeyes have not been a dominant rebounding team the last two seasons but hit the glass to outrebound Purdue (17-5, 6-3 Big Ten) by a 36-19 margin.
"Wow. Is that a misprint?" asked Matta when he looked at the post-game stat sheet.
"Coaching I guess," he quipped.
"We felt that if we could win the rebounding war that we would have a great chance to win the game."
Win it they did, and according to Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter, it was the difference in the outcome of the game.
"We were doing some good things but we weren't getting any second-chance opportunities on the glass and we were allowing them to get one and done," said Painter.
"I think that was the difference in the game even though it's an overtime game. They just kicked us on the glass," Painter said.
The Boilermakers were without the services of star performer Robbie Hummel who ranks third in the Big Ten at 7.5 rebounds per game. Hummel was held out of action by Painter due to back spasms that have plagued him most the season. The result was a smaller Purdue lineup that just could not match the Buckeyes on the glass.
"Their lineup was a little disheveled and at times small, and they really didn't attack the glass that much," said Matta.
The Buckeyes controlled the glass but the Boilermakers managed to stay in the game with a pressure man to man defense that forced 19 OSU turnovers. The Boilers also got a strong offensive effort from forward Jajuan Johnson who scored a game-high 30 points on 10 of 16 shooting from the field and 10 of 11 shooting from the free throw line.
Johnson's effort was solid, but in the end it was no match for the onslaught of OSU sophomore Evan Turner and freshmen William Buford and B. J. Mullens.
Turner slashed and dashed for a team-high 26 points to go with 12 rebounds and seven assists. Buford added 22 on 10 of 14 shooting from the field that included two of three from three point range while Mullens made eight of nine from the field. Coming into the game the Boilermakers were allowing the opposition to shoot just 37 percent from the field, best in the Big Ten in that category, but the Buckeyes made 60.4 percent of their shots against Purdue's pressure man to man defense. Painter said it was obvious why the Buckeyes were able to accomplish that feat.
"They have Turner and Buford. It's in the product, those guys are fantastic," said Painter.
"William Buford especially. He hit a couple that were open but a majority of his we were right on him.
"You can't allow Evan Turner to get to the basket and you can't allow Evan Turner to get to the free throw line 14 times and we did, but William Buford, he was amazing. That kid's good," said Painter.
Early on the Boilermakers looked like they might make short work of the Buckeyes. They jumped out to a 10-2 lead forcing Matta to call a timeout to try to regroup his team. His message to them during the timeout was brief.
"Honestly I said 'Hey fellas, I don't know if you know this or not, but the game started.' That was kind of the gist of it," Matta said.
Matta also brought in P. J. Hill at the point guard. Hill brought an immediate spark at the defensive end and also hit a three point goal to help the Buckeyes get back into the game with a 17-6 run that put OSU up 19-14.
"He brought a lot of energy and a lot of pressure, his poise with the ball going up against that pressure," said Turner of the play of Hill.
"He's working hard in practice just dribbling and getting prepared for the pressure. He got our offense going and he stepped up and made some big shots and played some good defense."
The Buckeyes appeared to be in control late in regulation with a five point lead at 64-59 with 1:50 left to play, but a three pointer by Keaton Grant cut the lead to just two with 1:27 remaining and a steal by Chris Kramer led to a dunk by Kramer to tie the game at 64 with 1:05 remaining. A turnover by Turner with 27 second remaining on the clock gave Purdue the last possession in regulation but Lewis Jackson's shot at the buzzer did not go to send the game into overtime.
OSU outscored Purdue 16-8 in OT. They took the lead for good when Turner made two free throws to put OSU up 68-66 with 3:37 remaining. OSU stretched that lead out to 10 on a dunk by Mullens off a pass off the backboard from Diebler on a fast break opportunity, a play that did not particularly please Matta.
"My thing was just lay it it, but that's going to happen," said Matta.
"I missed a dunk one time in high school and my dad told me he's kill me if I ever did it again. I didn't go that far with Jon. Times I guess have changed."
Painter said the rebounding advantage and the scoring outburst by Turner, Buford and Mullens were just too much for his team to overcome.
"I like our guy, I like Kramer (who was assigned to guard Turner), and I'd say Evan Turner got the best of him. Twenty six (points), 12 (rebounds) and seven (assists).
"Even though Kramer has a broken nose and a mask he's our guy and you've got to take it as a challenge and you've got to get him stopped, but Turner got going, Buford got going, and then B. J. Mullens got 17 and eight (rebounds) and had a great night.
"When you throw those three guys together having those kind of nights you're probably going to get beat."
Purdue's Grant Keaton reached double figures with 14 points as did OSU's Jon Diebler with 10. Jackson led Purdue with nine assists and just two turnovers from his point guard position. He also pressured OSU point guards P. J. Hill and Jeremie Simmons into seven turnovers. Turner and Diebler each had seven assists to lead the Buckeyes. Hill added six.
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