Ohio State loses Zed Key, double-digit lead against top-ranked Purdue
COLUMBUS — Ohio State had a 12-point first half lead and a three-point advantage over No. 1 Purdue with 40 seconds to go.
But, as was the case against North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic earlier this season, the No. 24 Buckeyes — this time without center Zed Key, who suffered a shoulder sprain less than four minutes in — ended up on the wrong side of a dramatic, back-and-forth final leg.
With 24 ticks remaining, sixth-year Ohio State forward Justice Sueing turned the ball over after receiving an inbound pass. Then Purdue guard Fletcher Loyer subsequently hit the go-ahead 3-pointer. The final blow to the upset bid saw Buckeyes star freshman Brice Sensabaugh lose his handle in the waning seconds, preventing him from even getting off a potential game-winner before the buzzer.
“That’s what it comes down to in Big Ten play,” Sueing said. “The teams here, they’re all good. At the end of the game, those last couple of possessions, every possession counts. We didn’t make enough plays at the end, especially, and we paid for it.”
Purdue head coach Matt Painter: “We’re not better than Ohio State. In this game, we were one possession better.”
The Buckeyes (10-4, 2-1 Big Ten) controlled most of the opening period, even though Purdue (14-1, 3-1) controlled the glass and not so coincidentally got an array of good looks. Unfortunately for the Boilermakers, who piled up 10 first-half offensive rebounds, their shots weren’t falling until the final four minutes of the first stanza.
And National Player of the Year candidate Zach Edey didn’t enjoy his normal success in the paint. In fact, the 7-foot-4 standout center was a mere 2-of-6 from the field with two times as many rebounds (eight) as points (four).
That allowed Ohio State to build its dozen-point lead.
The Buckeyes scored six of the game’s first eight points, starting with a Sensabaugh dunk. Sueing found the Orlando native cutting to the basket for a two-handed, game-opening dunk.
Then came the injury trouble for Ohio State, which entered the night with just about as healthy of a rotation as it’s had in years. Key got hurt jostling with Edey for a rebound. It’s the same shoulder Key injured at Duke earlier this season. The junior never missed time because of it, but he wasn’t able to return Thursday against Purdue.
Buckeyes head coach Chris Holtmann said postgame that not having Key forced them make more rotational plays in the post, trapping even more than they intended.
A few minutes after Key left for the locker room, Ohio State sharpshooter, and West Virginia grad transfer, Sean McNeil twisted his ankle while attempting a 3-pointer from the top of the arc. As McNeil fell back to the court, his foot landed directly on the foot of Purdue guard David Jenkins Jr.
Unlike Key, McNeil returned to action in the first half.
But, in the absence of both McNeil and Key, the Buckeyes staked themselves to their double-digit advantage. They used an 11-0 run to put themselves in the driver’s seat. It was a sequence that included a Bruce Thornton 3-pointer, a pair of Sueing jumpers and a Sensabaugh and-one in transition (courtesy of a Felix Okpara block and a Thornton outlet pass).
Speaking of Okpara, the freshman Nigeria native was thrust into his biggest role of the season with Key sidelined. Okpara was given the tall task of defending Edey. And, although, the 6-foot-11 backup center didn’t score in the first period, he made an impact with two blocks and two rebounds, limiting Edey inside.
Purdue, which began the game 3-of-16 from the field, caught fire from outside before intermission. The Boilermakers — who entered 302nd nationally in 3-point percentage (30.5%) — drilled four triples to completely erase Ohio State’s lead.
“That’s what gets you,” Painter said. “Those threes. You can make them in run, you can make two or three in a row. It can be the difference in a game.”
In his third game back from concussion protocol, Buckeyes wing Eugene Brown III stopped the bleeding. The junior wing knocked down a 3-pointer of his own to put Ohio State back on top, 36-33, going into the break.
The theme of the Boilermakers’ second half was resilience. Not only did Edey struggle in the opening 20 minutes, but so did Loyer — Purdue’s second-leading scorer.
Those two teamed up for 23 points in the second period after shooting a combined 2-of-12 in the first frame.
Edey finally made his scoring presence known in the paint with eight points in the first seven minutes of the second half. During that span, Purdue embarked on a 10-0 surge that featured 3-pointers from Loyer and fellow first-year guard Braden Smith.
Ohio State’s four freshmen gave the Buckeyes, and The Schottenstein Center, a much-needed spark.
First Roddy Gayle Jr. knocked down a long 2-pointer. Then, moments later, Okpara — playing a career-high 30 minutes — blocked Edey. Thornton corralled the rebound and kicked the Buckeyes into full-gear transition offense before Sensabaugh capped the sequence with an electrifying one-handed dunk, drawing Ohio State within one possession of its Big Ten foe.
From that point forward, Ohio State and Purdue took turns gripping to the lead.
The Boilermakers got hot from 3-point land again and ended up making four in the final 9:54. They finished with a season-high 13 triples.
Initially, however, it looked like an Ohio State 3-pointer could decide the game. McNeil drilled his lone field goal from that range to put the Buckeyes in front, 69-66.
Except, just about everything that could go wrong for Ohio State in the next 40 seconds, went wrong. An Edey basket, Sueing turnover, Loyer 3-pointer and failed set-action play for Sensabaugh spelled doom for the Buckeyes.
The final seconds saw Sensabaugh swarmed by a double-team of Smith and Ethan Morton after receiving a pass from Thornton, who Holtmann admitted should have spaced the floor better.
But Holtmann made it clear postgame that the play was on him, not Thorton.
Holtmann was also frustrated by the Okpara screen that was blown up by Morton.
“They ran through the screen,” he said. “They just bullied the screen. It really very easily could have been, I think, a foul, and we have to clean that up. But they just bullied us to be honest with you. I just watched it five times.”
No foul was called, and no shot was taken before the buzzer by Sensabaugh.
Instead, the Buckeyes were left with the empty feeling of another blown lead and close loss. They’re inevitable in college basketball.
It’s just a matter of if, and when, you can turn those close losses into tight, resume-building wins.
“We’ve got to go through em,” Holtmann said, “and this group has to grow through them together.”
