A steady diet of Purdue forward Trevion Williams was not conducive to the health of a short-handed and size-disadvantaged Ohio State team Wednesday, as the Buckeyes were handed their first loss of the season in the conference opener on the road.
Without sophomore forward and leading scorer and rebounder E.J. Liddell, No. 20 Ohio State (5-1, 0-1 Big Ten) struggled to find an answer for Williams, the Purdue (5-2, 1-0 Big Ten) big man who approached a triple-double with 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in a 67-60 win.
“I think the physicality and playing with more force, I do think that’s a bit of a learning experience for some of our guys that have not seen this kind of physicality before,” Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said. “And we’ve got to help them get better with it.”
Despite a 14-point Boilermaker lead in the middle of the second half, the Buckeyes hung tough to make it a competitive game inside the final two minutes.
A 3 from Ohio State guard Duane Washington at 2:56 cut the Purdue lead to six points, but a basket from Boilermaker guard Brandon Newman at 1:48 all but closed out the game in Mackey Arena.
Ultimately a woeful 29 percent team-shooting performance in the second half doomed the Buckeyes, who could not quite get back in a game that Purdue began to pull away in midway through the second half.
“I think we did some good things, but didn’t finish the game like we needed to and got beat in stretches that kind of kept it within a two or three-possession game," Holtmann said.
A 3 from Purdue junior guard Eric Hunter made it a 14-point Boilermaker advantage with 8:36 to play, and after a pull-up mid-range jumper 40 seconds later, Hunter had scored the last seven points for his team.
Hunter’s work was part of a 13-4 run that began to put the Buckeyes behind the eight-ball on the road.
Holtmann threw all kinds of lineups at the Boilermakers early, starting Bucknell transfer guard Jimmy Sotos, redshirt junior guard Musa Jallow and freshman forward Zed Key for the first time this season, but it did little to hinder Purdue's size edge in the matchup.
Regular Ohio State starters CJ Walker and Kyle Young began the game on the bench for the first time this season.
"He just wanted us to play harder and be more leaders on both sides of the floor," Walker, a redshirt senior point guard, said after the game. "Give more effort, more vocal, so he just wanted to make that statement that he wanted us to play harder, a reality check to not be entitled."
The Boilermakers shot 11 free throws in the first half, hitting all 11, as four different Buckeyes picked up multiple fouls in the opening 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Ohio State got to the free throw line just five times, and was out-rebounded 18-11.
Purdue took a 38-33 lead into halftime, but the lead might have been even greater if not for an and-one layup from Sotos –– his first 2-point field goal of the season –– to stop an 8-0 Boilermaker run. Four points in that run came from Purdue freshman guard Jaden Ivey.
The Sotos bucket and subsequent free throw cut the Purdue lead to 36-31, and a fastbreak dunk from Jallow got the Buckeyes within three points with 1:06 to play in the half.
Four Boilermakers finished the game in double-digit scoring, and redshirt junior forward Justice Sueing led the way for the Buckeyes with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting.
The Buckeyes move on to Saturday’s CBS Sports Classic in Cleveland, where they will take on UCLA at 4:30 p.m.
