For all the talk of Ohio State’s offense cranking up its aggression under interim head coach Jake Diebler, aggression on the opposite end of the floor is what ultimately made the difference for the Buckeyes against No. 2 Purdue.
The Buckeyes boiled over the black and gold with 22 points off of 14 Boilermaker turnovers.
“That’s the game right there,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. “If we take care of the basketball on those turnovers and we just miss shots, we probably win the game. We don’t score the ball on any of those possessions, now they’re not running out and getting layups, we’re getting behind plays and fouling them and stuff.”
Purdue’s 69 points were its third-fewest of the season and fewest among its three losses, and Ohio State held a Boilermaker squad that shoots 49.1% on the season – 18th in the country – to 43.4% from the floor.
“That aggressiveness that I talked about is for both sides of the ball,” Diebler said. “The pace element that we’ve been talking about is just, there’s an urgency we want to operate with. I felt like we were able to do that on both sides. Tried to mix in some pressure, full-court (press) today and we had some guys just like, individually, step up and guard really hard.”
Perhaps Ohio State’s biggest defensive revelation on Sunday was Zed Key.
Coming off the bench, his matchup with reigning National Player of the Year Zach Edey was daunting. The 7-4 Edey holds an eight-inch height advantage over the 6-8 Key, but Key neutralized that weakness by imitating a certain fox from Dora the Explorer.
He was swiping everything.
No less than five times as Edey attempted to either rise up for a shot or make a move in the post, Key swatted the ball out of his hands. Three of those dislodgings resulted in a steal.
“Zed and I had a conversation, and he deserves a ton of credit because he followed through on everything he said in that conversation,” Diebler said. “I think that just speaks to who he is. We didn’t say, ‘Zed, every time Zach Edey goes up for a shot, swipe down.’ That was a feel thing, I think, for him. And he’s done that throughout his career. ... It was just some huge, huge plays.”
Key collected five steals in total against Purdue. In his previous 110 games as a Buckeye, he never recorded more than two. He added nine points and an assist on the offensive end.
Bruce Thornton had a succinct response when asked if he’s ever seen Key play that caliber on defense.
“No,” Thornton said with a laugh. “But at the end of the day, we know what Zed’s capable of doing. We know that he’s capable of doing a lot of things at a very high level. That’s why (Chris Holtmann) recruited him, that’s why he’s been here for the past four years because of what he can do, and he showed it tonight.”
Evan Mahaffey was another defensive standout, blocking a team-high two shots and coming up with a steal of his own. Purdue attempted a season-low nine 3-pointers, hitting three of them, which shows the impact that Thornton, Dale Bonner and others had defending the perimeter.
Ohio State’s game plan coming in, to no one’s surprise, centered around Edey. Tops in the Big Ten and third in the country with 23.3 points per game, the Buckeyes wanted to contest every catch and every move he made while still getting back out to defend Purdue’s shooters. While Edey did collect 22 points, he turned the ball over six times.
“We couldn’t give Edey any easy looks,” Thornton said. “He’s 7-4, over 300 pounds. It’s not easy. We had to throw bodies and make sure we came with high hands every time he posted up, make sure we close out the shooters appropriately because with (Lance) Jones and (Braden) Smith and (Fletcher) Loyer, they’ve got good shooters around him.”
Diebler made sure to credit his assistants for implementing a concrete plan of attack. Ohio State played well above its defensive numbers on Sunday, as it entered the contest just 201st in points allowed per 100 possessions (103.8) and 161st in opposing field goal percentage (43.3%).
“Our staff, they deserve as much credit as our players for focusing on the task at hand and buying into some of the tweaks,” Diebler said. “Our defensive game plan was phenomenal. Our offensive game plan was great. I had comfort just knowing who was surrounding me and with me there. They don’t get to sit up here (in the postgame press conference) – they probably should be here with me. They deserve a ton of credit too.”
“That aggressiveness that I talked about is for both sides of the ball. The pace element that we’ve been talking about is just, there’s an urgency we want to operate with. I felt like we were able to do that on both sides.”– Jake Diebler on Ohio State's defensive aggression Against Purdue
Now Ohio State will hope its defense translates on the road against Minnesota, where the Buckeyes are hoping to avoid setting a new school record with their 17th consecutive road loss. For now, they can celebrate their response – and particularly that of their defense – following the firing of their head coach on Wednesday.
“What a resilient group,” Diebler said. “We have some great young men in there who came together at a high level these last few days in a way that I don’t know any of us fully anticipated, that level we could get to in a short amount of time. They deserve so much credit. I am so very happy for them and proud of them.”
