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Men's Basketball
Turner, Ninth-Ranked Buckeyes Looking for Encore vs. No. 4 Purdue
By Brandon CastelAfter rallying his team for a 70-66 comeback victory at Purdue earlier this year, Evan Turner called it the best win of his career.
Evan Turner rises for two while going "I've got you national player of the year right here" in the second half against the Boilermakers.
Photo by Jim DavidsonThe Buckeyes were 1-3 in the Big Ten at the time and trailed by 12 points on the road in the second half against the No. 6 team in the country before Turner went all “I’ve got your national player of the year right here” on the Boilermakers.
After watching Robbie Hummel hang 29 points on Ohio State in the first half, Turner went for 23 in the second half in West Lafayette, including 13 in the final 3:30 of the game as the Buckeyes earned their first road win of the season.
It was the start of something for Turner and his teammates, who have rattled off nine straight Big Ten victories to move into a first-place tie with Michigan State. They crushed Illinois 72-53 in Champaign over the weekend and afterward Illini point guard Demetri McCamey called them best starting five in the Big Ten.
“That’s the thing of having guys that have been in the program for at least two years. These guys have been together and what we’re striving for is five guys that are connected and playing well; especially on the defensive end,” OSU Head Coach Thad Matta said Tuesday.
If not Ohio State, it could very well be Purdue with the best starting five in the conference. After losing the heartbreaker to the Buckeyes, the Boilermakers surprisingly dropped their next game at Northwestern. Since then, they have won seven in a row coming into Wednesday night’s game at No. 9 Ohio State (6:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network) including wins over Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan State.
The fourth-ranked Boilermakers are 21-3 overall and 9-3 in the conference, just a game back of first-place Michigan State (11-3). A win over the Buckeyes would give them four top-10 wins in a single season for the first time in program history. It would also be there first ever at Value City Arena, where the Buckeyes are hoping to have a sold-out crowd thanks to buy-one, get-one free ticket offers from the university.
“I think it’s going to be a crazy atmosphere. Hopefully one where you can’t hear yourself talk,” said an optimistic Evan Turner.
“If it’s like that, it’s definitely going to be hard for Purdue to focus.”
Purdue is 5-2 on the road this season and they come to Columbus riding a three-game road winning streak after beating Illinois, Indiana and Michigan State in their respective buildings. A big reason has been their ability to hang on to the basketball. The Boilermakers lead in the Big Ten, and are one of the tops in the country, with a +4.8 turnover margin this season. The Buckeyes are second in the conference at +3.62, but Purdue has seven games this season where they have turned the ball over 10 times fewer than their opponent.
That leads to extra possessions and Matt Painter’s team is shooting 46 percent from the field this year led by JaJuan Johnson at 53 percent. The 6-10 center was named Big Ten Player of the Week after averaging 20 points and 8.5 rebounds in Purdue’s wins over Michigan State and Iowa. He scored only four points against the Buckeyes in their last meeting, however, as he was held in check by OSU center Dallas Lauderdale.
“I think Dallas is really understanding things a lot better both offensively and defensively,” Matta said.
The Buckeyes didn’t have an answer for Hummel in the first half of their last meeting. The 6-8 forward carved up their 1-3-1 zone for eight three pointers. Matta assigned David Lighty to cover him in the second half and there’s a good chance he will ask him to do it again Wednesday after the 6-5 junior held Hummel to just six points.
With Hummel (16 points per game) and guard E’Twaun Moore (17 ppg) leading the way, this year’s Purdue squad is on pace to be the highest-scoring group of Painter’s tenure with a mark of 74.5 points per game heading into Wednesday’s game. The Boilers have won 19 games in a row when scoring 70 or more points, and are averaging 72.6 points per road game this year.
Purdue Projected Starting Five:
25 C JaJuan Johnson (6-10, Jr., Indianapolis)
4 F Robbie Hummel (6-8, Jr., Valparaiso, Ind.)
12 F Kelsey Barlow (6-5, Fr., Indianapolis)
3 G Chris Kramer (6-3, Sr., Huntington, Ind.)
33 G E’Twaun Moore (6-4, Jr., East Chicago, Ind.)
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