Ohio State senior forward Kyle Young (25) and sophomore forward E.J. Liddell (32) regain the ball after a Morehead State shot during the Ohio State-Morehead State game on Dec. 2. Ohio State won 77-44. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Despite key injuries to the Ohio State backcourt, the Buckeyes have hummed their way along to three-straight conference wins.
The winning streak has raised Ohio State (11-3, 5-3 Big Ten) six spots in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll, making it the No. 15 team in the country. However, Purdue (10-5, 5-3 Big Ten) enters Tuesday’s contest on a three-game win streak of their own.
Head coach Chris Holtmann pointed to Purdue’s physicality as a reason for their Big Ten success to this point in the season.
“In Purdue, you have certainly one of the hottest teams in the country right now, given what they’ve done as their last couple of road wins have been extremely impressive,” Holtmann said Monday. “I’ve always felt like they’re a really physical team, I just think this Purdue team in particular is one of the most physical teams we’ve played against.”
Ohio State kicked off its Big Ten season against Purdue Dec. 16, and the opener proved to be a losing effort for the smaller Buckeyes.
Purdue junior forward Trevion Williams led the Boilermakers in that contest, posting a game-high 16 points alongside nine rebounds and eight assists in Purdue’s 67-60 win over the Buckeyes.
Holtmann pointed to Williams as the centerpiece of Purdue’s aggressive attack on both ends of the floor.
“They’re up there in terms of the most physical teams that we’ve played in the last couple years and it begins with Trevion (Williams),” Holtmann said. “He pursues the offensive glass as good as anybody we’ve played against and he’s got elite back-to-the-basket game.”
Williams comes into his second matchup with Ohio State coming off of a double-double performance in Purdue’s 80-72 win over Penn State Sunday. Williams provided 13 points and 11 rebounds in the win.
Holtmann said that it’ll be a team effort to slow the Purdue forward down.
“He made some tough shots, he also made a lot of plays for others which is what he does,” Holtmann said. “I think we’ll need to, obviously, do some things to try to make it really difficult for him, but it’s really gonna be on us collectively to slow him down.”
Although it may be a team effort to keep Williams in check, the assignment will largely fall on the shoulders of sophomore forward E.J. Liddell and senior forward Kyle Young.
Holtmann said the frontcourt duo will need to play their best defensive game of the season to slow down Williams.
The duo is coming off one of their better defensive performances of the season in Ohio State’s 87-81 victory over Illinois Saturday.
Although Illini center Kofi Cockburn finished the game with 15 points and 11 rebounds, the Jamaican native was frustrated all day thanks to aggressive double- and triple-teams, spearheaded by Liddell and Young, that limited his ability to work in the paint.
However, the team has been mediocre on the defensive end this season — sitting at sixth in the Big Ten giving up 67.7 points per game.
Holtmann said defense was an issue that was identified early in the season and they need to be better on that end of the floor.
“We recognized that could be a challenge for our group,” Holtmann said. “We need to be better, and we’ve got to embrace that more right now.”
The Buckeyes also trudged through the last week without their typical guard rotation as redshirt senior guard CJ Walker and senior guard Jimmy Sotos were out with injuries.
However, redshirt junior forward Justice Sueing, junior forward Justin Ahrens and freshman guard Meechie Johnson Jr. have all stepped into different and larger roles successfully.
Sueing has commanded the offense as the primary ball handler since Walker’s injury sidelined him. However, the transfer from California struggled in his Big Ten debut against the Boilermakers — scoring 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting and tallying five turnovers in the loss.
With Sueing in a new role at the helm of the Buckeye offense, Holtmann said Tuesday’s contest will be a significant challenge for him.
“He’s had to play through some mistakes, but he’s gotten better,” Holtmann said. “Tomorrow will be a huge test with how physical they are. They affected him in game one with their on-ball physicality, they bumped him off a lot of cuts and just made it very difficult for him and that’ll be the same thing tomorrow night, he’ll just have to handle it better.”
As the Buckeyes look to avenge their Dec. 16 loss, Holtmann said Ohio State will have to handle Purdue’s physicality better.
“I think we’ve gotten better with each passing week, even in spite of these injuries here, but they’ve also gotten better,” Holtmann said. “I’m not expecting us to handle [pressure] perfect but I hope we handle it better, particularly on the offensive end than what we did last time.”
