Buckeyes stun Purdue in interim coach’s launching

Feb 18, 2024, 04:00 PM ET COLUMBUS, Ohio– Ohio State stunned No. 2 Purdue on Sunday in the launching of the Buckeyes’ interim coach, winning 73-69 a day after the NCAA tournament choice committee picked the Boilermakers as the early preferred to be the No. 1 overall seed during March Madness.Bruce Thornton

scored 22 points and Jamison Fight included 19 to help Ohio State (15-11, 5-10 Big Ten) pull off the upset in Jake Diebler’s very first game at the helm.Chris Holtmann was fired Wednesday after numerous disappointing seasons. The beleaguered Buckeyes had lost nine of their past 11 games.Diebler became the second head coach because

1996-97 to beat an AP top-10 team in their Division I coaching launching, according to ESPN Stats & Information.Purdue(23-3, 12-3)had actually been preferred by 7 1/2 points, according to ESPN BET.

Ohio State fans stormed the court after the final buzzer.”What a durable group,”stated Diebler, who was overcome with feeling when he greeted his family on the crowded court.” We have some great young men in there who came together at a high these last couple of days in such a way that I don’t understand if any of us completely expected that they might get to in a brief quantity of time.” Editor’s Picks 1 Related Ohio State had fun with energy from the start, led 35-30 at the break and was up by 12 six minutes into the second half.With the Boilermakers shutting down the stretch, it appeared like only a matter of time up until Zach Edey took control of the game, but that didn’t happen.Lance Jones struck a 3-pointer for Purdue to tie ball game at 65 with 1:39 left. However Battle hit a jumper and then, with 34 seconds left, made a pair of complimentary tosses to bump the Ohio State lead to 69-65. A simple dunk by Edey decreased the deficit to two with 16 seconds left. The Boilermakers then fouled Thornton, who went to the line and made both nasty shots to just about seal the game.Edey ended up with 22 points and 13 rebounds, the 58th career double-double for the Purdue star.But the

Boilermakers turned the ball over 14 times, causing 22 Ohio State points.” We simply require to make sure

of the ball,”Edey stated.”We outrebounded them. We got more possessions by doing this, but we can’t let them get on shift. We have to play on a half-court game. … It’s tough to win the game when a group scores 22 points in shift. “Purdue coach Matt Painter was impressed with how the Buckeyes carried out after sustaining an emotional week that saw the sacking of their much-loved coach.”

That’s what you do not understand– can you get them down and keep them down, and after that like, they go away, which certainly didn’t occur. They win the game,”he said.

“So you understand, where’s their fight? What’s it going to be? I believe they addressed that. Their battle was great. “The Associated Press contributed to this story.