INDIANAPOLIS — Purdue has the best defense in the Big Ten, and it showed on Saturday.
| TEams | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio State | 22 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 60 |
| Purdue | 20 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 71 |
A day after Ohio State scored a Big Ten Tournament record 99 points, the Boilermakers held the top-seeded Buckeyes to perhaps their worst offensive performance of the season, managing a season-low 60 points, one less than the 61 the scored last time they played Purdue.
"Purdue played great. They deserved to win the game," Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said after the game. "I though we played well, we just didn't play hard. That was the difference – they played better than we did. It wasn't our effort or our want-to; they just played better than we did."
Purdue's strategy was clear for the beginning – stop Kelsey Mitchell. Whenever she had the ball, the Big Ten player of the Year had two Boilermakers in her face. It worked; outside of her first shot, which was a deep, contested three-pointer, Mitchell was silent. She finished the game with just nine points, which is one shy of her career low and just the second time she's failed to reach double digits.
"She didn't have a good game. She's a spectacular player – one of the very best in college basketball – and tonight just wasn't her night," McGuff said. "But no one's going to work harder, no one's going to be in the gym more than she will. She's going to make sure her having an off night doesn't happen again this year, I promise you that."
| OHIO STATE | STAT | Purdue |
|---|---|---|
| 60 | POINTS | 71 |
| 25-73 (34%) | FGM-FGA (PCT.) | 21-56 (38%) |
| 3-23 (13%) | 3PM-3PA (PCT.) | 8-11 (73%) |
| 7-15 (47%) | FTM-FTA (PCT.) | 21-23 (91%) |
| 12 | TURNOVERS | 20 |
| 42 | TOTAL REBOUNDS | 45 |
| 21 | OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS | 14 |
| 21 | DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS | 31 |
| 25 | BENCH POINTS | 9 |
| 14 | BLOCKS | 2 |
| 6 | STEALS | 9 |
| 14 | ASSISTS | 16 |
The Ohio State offense, which usually runs through Mitchell, suffocated as a result. The Buckeyes moved the ball well in the first quarter, but had one of their worst offensively quarters of the season in the second. The team went 3-for-18 from the field in the quarter, at one point missing eight straight.
Defense kept Ohio State in the game as long as it could. The Buckeyes forced 20 turnovers and blocked a season-high 14 shots, with freshman Tori McCoy swatting a career-high seven. The defense was there, but the offense never came.
Purdue opened the second half on a 13-3 run and Ohio State never fully recovered.
The Buckeyes didn't quit – they continued to take good shots, protect the ball and play legitimately great defense. Shayla Cooper, the team's lone senior, put the team on her back late in the game. She was coaching her teammates between plays, oftentimes physically moving them into position, and scored 12 second-half points and pulled down five rebounds to complete a double-double.
"I was just trying to step up and do everything possible to get my team the win," Cooper said after the game.
It wasn't enough. When Mitchell missed two free throws that would have cut the Purdue lead to five with just six minutes left, it was clear it just was not Ohio State's day. Ohio State had chance after chance to cut into the Purdue lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Boilermakers held on to pull off a 71-60 upset, sending the Buckeyes home.
"I think one of the keys to the game was we didn't play well from behind," McGuff said. "Once they got a lead we seemed to get out of doing the things we've done all year that allowed us to be very efficient on offense."
Ohio State now awaits its NCAA Tournament fate. With a solid showing in the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes would have boosted their resume and earned a No. 3 seed or a high No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. With the loss, the Buckeyes are likely looking at a low No. 4 seed or a No. 5 seed, which would mean they would not host the opening weekend's games.
