No. 17 Purdue can’t seem to lose at home. Ohio State can’t seem to buy a win anywhere.
That makes the Buckeyes’ visit Tuesday night to Mackey Arena particularly fraught with peril. But Ohio State (10-8, 2-5 Big Ten) needs to find a win somewhere soon to improve its NCAA Tournament prospects.
The Boilermakers (15-4, 7-1) have won seven in a row overall and 26 straight in West Lafayette, Indiana – including 9-0 at home this season — placing them just half a game behind Michigan State in their pursuit of a third consecutive Big Ten title.
The Buckeyes have lost their last three games by a combined five points.
Ohio State’s last outing on Friday was especially painful. An Indiana team that lost each of its previous two games by 25 points found a way to earn an overtime victory on the Buckeyes’ home court. That dropped Ohio State to 36th in the NET and 2-6 in Quad 1 games, which are primary ways to measure potential NCAA teams.
“It’s the little things throughout the game that are putting us in that position, that we’ve got to get better at,” Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said. “In general, I think we just need to play smarter: Our shot selection at times, our turnovers. We’re playing hard. We’re playing tough. We need to play smarter now, and that’s where the attention to detail comes into play. I don’t mean to oversimplify it, but it is literally just a couple more possessions.”
Ohio State’s final two possessions of the 77-76 loss to Indiana epitomized Diebler’s issues. On the next-to-last possession, with the Buckeyes trailing by 1, freshman point guard John Mobley Jr. tried a 25-footer with 13 seconds left on the shot clock that banged off the back iron.
On the final possession, Mobley drove into the paint and had his 12-foot stepback blocked by the Hoosiers’ Anthony Leal. The rebound caromed out to the Buckeyes’ Bruce Thornton just beyond the 3-point line, but his open 3-pointer at the buzzer tickled the inside of the rim before curling out.
Mobley delivered a team-high 22 points for the Buckeyes, so it’s not like Diebler is down on him. But he would have loved it if the freshman had made a few senior-level choices.
“I think (Mobley) also has to grow in his attention to detail and kind of making a couple better decisions,” Diebler said. “But I kept telling him throughout the (Indiana) game: ‘Stay aggressive, stay aggressive. It’s going to fall. Don’t flinch.’ ”
Ohio State’s chances for an upset of Purdue would increase if sophomore power forward Devin Royal (13.8 points, 7.4 rebounds per game) can play. He missed his first game of the season on Friday due to a sprained wrist.
Purdue, meanwhile, has been clicking in all facets during its seven-game winning streak, particularly on defense. The Boilers have surrendered just 60.1 points per game during their seven-game run. Opponents are shooting 41.4 percent from the floor, but only 26.7 percent on 3-pointers.
Between that and junior point guard Braden Smith (15.1 ppg, 8.9 apg this season) orchestrating an offense that has averaged just nine turnovers over the last seven games, opponents don’t have much margin for error against Purdue.
“We’ve tried our best to not let people get into the paint when they’re setting ball screens, posting up or transition,” said Purdue coach Matt Painter. “There’s some risk involved there because you can give up some perimeter shots at times, but we’d rather do that with this team than anything (else).”
–Field Level Media
