WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A.J. Harris played arguably the best game of his career Thursday night in Ohio State’s 75-64 loss at Purdue. The Buckeyes’ freshman point guard scored a career-high 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting and also grabbed a pair of rebounds.
The numbers certainly aren’t eye-popping, but for a backup point guard they are more than formidable. Harris was in control of the game for the duration of his time on the floor against the Boilermakers — one of the Big Ten’s best defensive teams. Purdue pressured both Harris and JaQuan Lyle end-to-end on seemingly every possession.
But a quick glance at the stat sheet shows Harris played just 12 minutes and only four in the second half. Lyle, meanwhile, played 28 minutes, scored just two points and was 0 for 4 from the field with four turnovers.
Lyle is the starter, but Harris was better Thursday night against the Boilers. So it begged the question: Why did Ohio State head coach Thad Matta stick with Lyle instead of going to Harris in the second half of what was a one-point game with under eight minutes to play?
I asked Matta that very question following the game.
“We were hoping Quan could get going a little bit,” Matta said. “I thought A.J. was tremendous tonight, I thought he did a great job, but we were hoping Quan was going to sort of snap out of what he was doing there because we liked his size there.
“But I’m very, very happy with the way A.J. played tonight.”
Matta’s answer was about what I expected it to be. He wanted to stick with Lyle with the hopes he could break out of the funk he was in against Purdue’s pressure. Lyle has shown at times this season the ability to be a very good player for the Buckeyes and Matta wanted to see if Lyle could find that gear against the Boilermakers.
The thought process makes sense because Lyle’s best is better than Harris’ best right now. Lyle is the one guy on this particular Ohio State team who can break a guy down off the dribble and finish inside or create shots for teammates. Harris has that ability, but at just 5-foot-9 it’s difficult for him to finish once he gets inside amongst the trees — Purdue had a trio of them in case you didn’t notice.
There was probably an opportunity for the Buckeyes to go with both Lyle and Harris in the backcourt together, but we didn’t see that either Thursday night. It’s a lineup Matta has used occasionally of late, but Ohio State’s pair of point guards did not play together against Purdue.
This season is a learning process for a young team, but it’s a learning process for Matta, too. He’s still trying to figure out the right buttons to push, the right combinations of players to use at certain points in time to give his team an advantage. Lyle and Harris are complete opposites; Ohio State plays a completely different style when Harris is in the game as opposed to Lyle.
Perhaps a change at point guard down the stretch Thursday night could have sparked the Buckeyes in the second half, but Matta wanted to give Lyle, the better player, a chance to work through his struggles.
Next time, maybe that won't be the case, though, and maybe Matta will ride the hot hand. On Thursday, that belonged to Harris.
“We know what he’s capable of," Ohio State sophomore forward Jae'Sean Tate said of Harris. "It’s not a real surprise to us because we see it every day, we just need him to continue to bring that every game and build off that. He gives us great minutes and leads the team when he’s in the game.”
