Sophomore guard Roddy Gayle. Jr. (1) lets out a scream after throwing down a slam dunk. Ohio State upset No. 2 Purdue 73-69 at the Schottenstein Center Sunday. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor
Sunday’s contest felt like Buckeye basketball again.
A near sold-out crowd — only five days post-firing of former head coach Chris Holtmann — and the No. 2 team visited Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center, headlined by the best player in the country — this was no ordinary game; no player in an Ohio State jersey had an ordinary game.
Yet, led by interim head coach Jake Diebler, the Buckeyes rallied together in the most difficult week of their season, perhaps their careers, to pull out a 73-69 victory over the second-ranked Purdue Boilermakers and Zach Edey.
“Things happen — it’s life,” sophomore guard Bruce Thornton, Ohio State’s leading scorer, said. “We experienced it firsthand that each and every day, you’re just gonna have to get better, you really got to put it to the side almost. It’s hard to do. It’s a weird time, but we found a way.”
From freshman center Austin Parks, who played the most meaningful minutes of his career, to fifth-year forward Jamison Battle returning to his 3-point shooting glory, the Buckeyes played with “swagger,” as Thornton said four times in the post-game press conference.
Senior forward Zed Key
Before Sunday’s contest, in 110 games as a Buckeye, Zed Key’s career-high steals was two.
However, when going up against the best center in the country in the Boilermakers’ senior Zach Edey, Key decided this was the game to set a new high: five, all against big man Edey.
In fact, when the Buckeyes trailed Purdue 14-8 with 15:17 remaining in the first half, Key stripped Edey, leading to a turnover, and in their next possession, a triple from Key, only his third this season, which brought his team within 3 points.
Thornton recognized Key’s impressive defensive performance and said he’d never seen him play like that before.
“We know what Zed is capable of doing,” Thornton said. “We know he’s capable of doing a lot of things at a very high level, that’s why Holt[mann] recruited him, that’s why he’s still here.”
Sophomore guard Roddy Gayle Jr.
With 10:24 left on the first-half clock, an escape and dunk by Roddy Gayle Jr. tied the game at 16 apiece. Following the equalizer, Purdue led for under seven more minutes before giving the lead up, almost for good.
Overall Gayle didn’t have a typical outing, going 2-for-6 from inside the arc and 0-for-2 from three. Diebler said, though, that he appreciated him upholding an aggressive mentality.
“The motto all week has been stay aggressive and keep swinging,” Diebler said. “I think that mentality was our guys embrace that.”
Freshman guard Scotty Middleton
After Gayle’s equalizing dunk came six consecutive Boilermaker points. The Purdue fans, who made up what seemed like half of the Schottenstein Center’s crowd, began chanting “boiler up” over and over.
At the 7:48 minute mark of the first half, Scotty Middleton silenced the Boilermaker’s crowd with a dagger 3-pointer to bring the game within three, 22-19. He hadn’t scored from beyond the arc in over four contests prior, but this one stunned Purdue and put a damper on its momentum.
“Good players stepped up and I think the biggest thing was just the collective mentality of our family out there — it was we were gonna stay pressing the whole game, no matter what,” Diebler said.
Freshman center Austin Parks
With a score of 28-27 Purdue, Parks checked in for only the second time this season and scored his first career points for the Buckeyes — and it was against Edey.
His bucket gave Ohio State its first lead of the game, 29-28, and he was surrounded by many youth. Sophomores Thornton and Gayle, along with freshmen Middleton and forward Devin Royal celebrated his score next to him.
Diebler said during the game he wasn’t thinking about the age of players he had on the court and didn’t feel like the decision was “well-received” on the bench, however, he had confidence in his guys. And what did he know — Parks put the team on top.
“[Parks] had a huge bucket, so it was a lot of fun,” Diebler said.
Sophomore guard Evan Mahaffey and fifth-year forward Jamison Battle
Battle, who had been 8-of-21 the prior five games from three, went 3-for-5 Sunday, highlighted by a 9-0 run all to himself, three after three after three.
After his first that put Ohio State up by six with 15:21 remaining in the game, a wild sequence happened on the court where a rare Edey missed dunk turned into a 3-pointer for the Buckeyes, all facilitated by Evan Mahaffey.
After Edey failed to put it in for two due to high press from Mahaffey, the ball was flying out of bounds before Mahaffey pitched in at the last second — while falling to the ground — and was caught by Battle. Battle swung it out to graduate guard Dale Bonner, who found Battle back in the corner, and then, he shoots, he scores.
Battle dropped in a three, which brought Ohio State in front by nine with 14:48 remaining.
Just 28 seconds later, Battle drilled in one more 3-pointer. He said Mahaffey was the playmaker and all he did was find the basket.
“That’s not me,” Battle said. “I made the shot, but in the end, Evan was the one who was the catalyst for that, both of those shots, and I think that’s what it is for us is understanding that no matter who gets the credit, everyone’s gonna put in the work.”
Diebler said the full-team play and rallying behind him, especially given the outcome, made him emotional postgame and he couldn’t be prouder of the players.
“The way guys just, they hugged me and I hugged them, and again, I got emotional in there [the locker room] just thinking about how proud I was of them,” Diebler said. “This is all about them and serving them well and helping them finish this season well, and for them to buy into just the small tweaks we’ve tried to make in the last few days was really special.”
With five games remaining in the regular season, Diebler said he hopes they can ride this high until the end.
