OSU’s Jamison Battle (10) gets fired up with teammate Dale Bonnor (4) after Battle’s 3-point shot extends OSU’s lead in the second half. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
The celebration of Jake Diebler’s first win in his first game since taking over for the fired Chris Holtmann took over the Value City Arena court and the emotions of the new head coach. Because for 40 minutes the Buckeyes played with the urgency the new coach demanded.
Columbus, OH – Fans stormed the court Sunday at Value City Arena, surrounding the Ohio State basketball players, jumping up and down with them, letting off the steam of the past four days and a second straight season gone wrong.
Nothing has felt this good in the Ohio State men’s basketball program since … well, who can really remember. And who really cared at that moment. Because the team those court-stormers nearly packed the arena for – 18,353 – didn’t just win any old way.
The Buckeyes didn’t merely play well enough in their first game since Wednesday’s firing of head coach Chris Holtmann. They played consistently and urgently for 40 minutes, they played their best game of the season (especially on defense), they played passionately for interim head coach Jake Diebler, themselves and, as they like to say, Buckeye Nation.
Logan Services sponsors the best area sports stories on Press Pros Magazine.com.
They beat the No. 2 team in the nation, the best team in the Big Ten, and they kept 7-foot-4 Zach Edey, the most dominant player in the nation, from owning the day. They quieted the “Boiler Up” chants from Purdue fans scattered throughout the arena.
Roddy Gayle, Jr., battles for control of a loose ball with Purdue’s Braden Smith.
Wilson orthopedics proudly sponsors the best sports coverage on Press Pros Magazine.com.
And in the final 1:38, after Purdue rallied to tie the score, the Buckeyes did something they didn’t do in a Big Ten game all season for Holtmann. They were clutch, they were resilient and they won a game you figured they would lose.
Jamison Battle, who scored all 19 of his points in the second half, broke the tie with a difficult shot in the lane. Zed Key stripped Edey in the lane for the fifth time and his fifth steal. Battle made two free throws with 34 seconds left. So did Bruce Thornton at :08 and so did Battle again at :01.2.
The final score: Ohio State 73, Purdue 69.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
“What a resilient group,” were Diebler’s first words. “We have some great young men who came together at a high level these last few days in a way that I don’t know that any of us fully anticipated. They deserve so much credit. I’m so very happy for them and proud of them.”
The Buckeyes had no choice but to respond in the most positive ways to have a chance against Purdue. They were 2-6 in January, 1-3 in February and 4-10 in the Big Ten. They lost their head coach. And they had to prepare the past three days for the best team on their schedule.
The looming question for this performance is why now? What difference did Diebler make?
“What he did in practice, just that intensity he brings, that’s who he is,” Battle said of Diebler. “So we changed a little bit of things up with the pace and urgency in practice to replicate who he is as a coach. And I think that really helped us and gave us that feeling that we could go out here and give it our all.”
Thornton, the point guard who scored 14 of his 22 points in the first half, understood the business of what happened this week with Holtmann’s firing. He also understood his responsibility to lead his team in a professional manner, to respond to the leadership of Diebler and to not be afraid of Purdue.
OSU’s Zed Key was lights out on defense, proving to be a more than suitable nemesis for Purdue big man Zach Edey.
“My hardest, my weirdest, most dramatic time of being a college basketball player happened this week,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter who we play, we’re going to show them how to play Ohio State basketball.”
Purdue coach Matt Painter defended Holtmann as coaches typically do when those among them are fired, especially during the season.
“If he was here, the score would have been 73-69 Ohio State,” Painter said. “He’s his assistant. They didn’t run anything different, they didn’t do anything different. It’s a players’ game. I know we’ve got to organize, we’ve got to structure, I know we’ve got to get them to believe, we’ve got to coach the hell out of them. But at the end of the day, it’s a player’s game. They have the players.”
Those players, the ones who have let leads slip away, who have not often played with the same energy they exhibited Sunday, did what they had to do at every start and turn of momentum.
Supporters of area sports and good things for the future on Press Pros Magazine.
In the big picture, the Buckeyes (15-11, 5-10) defended well enough to hold Purdue (23-3, 12-3) almost 15 points below their average in Big Ten games. Edey had an impressive stat line of 22 points on 7 of 11 shooting and 8 of 8 at the free-throw line. He had had 13 rebounds and blocked three shots.
But Edey, the favorite to win again national player of the year, had six turnovers. Key stripped the ball from him five times for five steals helping fuel Ohio State to score 22 points off 14 turnovers, a backbreaking set of stats for Purdue.
Thornton’s quick answer to whether he had seen Key play defense like that before Sunday was no.
Purdue’s Braden Smith is defended by OSU’s Evan Mahaffey during the second half of the upset win over #2 ranked Purdue.
“But we know what Zed’s capable of doing,” Thornton said. “We know he’s capable of doing a lot of things at a very high level. And he showed it tonight, so he can’t BS us no more. I’m really proud of how Zed played, and if he keeps doing that, we’ll be a very good team down the stretch.”
The Buckeyes did lots of things well. When Purdue jumped to an 8-0 lead, the Buckeyes didn’t wilt. They kept the score close until two baskets by Devin Royal and one by Thornton put them ahead 35-30 at halftime.
The most exciting and some of the most crucial moments came early in the second half when Battle made three 3-poointers in the space of 61 seconds to take the lead from 41-38 to 50-38 with 14:20 left.
The first one came after Evan Mahaffey grabbed an offensive rebound. The next came in transition off a turnover. Painter called timeout, and the fans broke into a “Let’s Go Bucks” chant coming out of the timeout. Then another turnover and another Battle 3-pointer and the Buckeyes were having fun.
Battle continued to throw gas on the Boilermaker fire, pouring on 19 second-half points in the upset of 2nd ranked Purdue.
The bench production was out of the ordinary for both teams. The Buckeyes owned that advantage 26-4 behind nine points from Key, seven from Dale Bonner and five from Royal. Because of that production the Buckeyes survived foul trouble to Okpara, who fouled out, Battle and Key. Nine players logged 14 minutes or more. And little-used guard Taison Chatman and post Austin Parks even played in the first half.
Everyone contributed, everyone played loose and everyone responded to every Purdue challenge.
“There was a great sense of pace and urgency to what we were doing,” Diebler said. “We prepared to win this game. And I told our guys last night we’re going in this to win, and we’re not going in this to be close.”
The moment of his first game as head coach and it being against the team the NCAA Tournament committee revealed Saturday as the current No. 1 overall seed did not escape Diebler.
Thornton said during the first timeout he saw his coach’s hands shaking.
“Full transparency, I was nervous, absolutely,” Diebler said. “The advice from all the people that have reached out to me, including Gene (Smith), is that you’ve got to be yourself. I didn’t know my hands were shaking – I’ll try to hide that a little better next time.”
OSU Interim Head Coach Jake Diebler’s debut was one for the ages.
What no one could hide, especially Diebler, was the emotional display after the game. He paused alone before going through the handshake line.
“I just I had to take a moment to thank God – that made me emotional,” he said. “Going through the line I was fighting it. And then my wife made it to the court and then my parents and it was trouble after that. I couldn’t keep it in anymore. But I won’t get into those details because I will get emotional again.”
Diebler’s immediate future as a head coach will be determined by Smith and incoming athletic director Ross Bjork. Diebler’s job for now is to keep the Buckeyes playing with urgency and showing Ohio State and other possible future suitors that he has what it takes to be a head coach.
His players, especially ones like Battle who were recruited by Diebler, believe in their new leader.
“We’re super happy for him,” Battle said. “For him to come out here and be able to coach us and treat us the way he did, is pretty special. And I think that shows what kind of coach he is and what kind of coach he’s trending to be in the future.”
The Buckeyes hassled Edey all night long, causing multiple turnovers during their 73-69 victory in front of 18,000 at the Schott.
The next accomplishment for the Buckeyes would be a be a first road win this season. The Buckeyes play at Minnesota on Thursday.
“We have to practice with a sense of urgency that we have the last few days,” Diebler said.
Then play like that for 40 minutes.
The Dave Arbogast family of dealerships proudly sponsors Ohio State sports coverage on Press Pros Magazine.