Fletcher Loyer's game-winner propels No. 1 Purdue to win in Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Fletcher Loyer‘s three-pointer with 10 seconds left goes down as one of the biggest shots of Purdue’s season, as No. 1 Purdue rallied from 12 down in the first half to win at No. 24 Ohio State 71-69.

With a chance to win it at the buzzer, Ohio State couldn’t get a shot off.

Fellow freshman Braden Smith scored 16 points, matching Zach Edey, while Loyer added 11 and Ethan Morton 10, along with a critical backcourt steal setting up the possession on which Loyer won it.

After starting the game 0-for-7, Purdue wound up shooting 42 percent from three, making a season-high 13 on 31 attempts, including a red-hot first half stretch that erased a deficit of a dozen points.

Loyer made the game-winner one game after making the go-ahead three against Rutgers and an hour or so after Matt Painter opted to not start him to open the second half, replacing him with David Jenkins, who made three threes himself in a breakout game of sorts for the senior.

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THE FRESHMEN RESPOND IN A BIG WAY

Fletcher Loyer was 0-for-6 from the floor with a ghastly four turnovers at halftime, so sideways that Matt Painter didn’t start him to open the second half, though Jenkins’ first-half spark played into that calculus also.

None of that matter as Loyer stepped into that open look with the game on the line, after Bruce Thornton had drifted away from him to help on Zach Edey, allowing Edey to make a simple pass out to the freshman. As Purdue’s outside shooting finally surged, Edey feasted on such simple plays, none bigger than this one.

“It was rough,” Loyer said of his first half. “I played probably my worst half of college basketball so far. But everyone in the locker room kept talking to me, telling me to keep playing hard. Coming off the bench in the second half, I knew I had to focus, play hard and play defense, focus on that. I happened to get a few open looks and it went from there.

“I always try to stay positive, but when you play like that (first half) it can be pretty tough.”

It was just a few days ago that Braden Smith — such a revelation for the Boilermakers this season at point guard — played what Matt Painter seemed to go out of his way to mention was his “worst game of the season.”

This, this might have been his best, especially in context.

He was 6-of-10 from the floor, scored 16 points and dealt out six assists. He was a commanding presence often, both in transition and in getting Edey involved more in the second half than he was in the first. Edey scored 12 of his 16 points after halftime, partially due to Smith finding him in pick-and-roll, an element of Purdue’s offense Rutgers mostly took away a few days ago.

Smith, known for his competitiveness, among other things, played with a distinct edge.

“(Coaches and players) were telling me to be confident,” Smith said, “that when I’m confident, good things happen.”

For both Loyer and Smith, this season has been defined by their unflappable natures, belying their collective age. The Rutgers game was one of the few exceptions.

Their respective circumstances were different at Ohio State, but broadly, they could not have responded better in a win that seems especially significant given how hard-fought it was.

“I just think it was another game for us,” Smith said of his team. “We’re going to look at it the same way. It’s in the win column and that’s all that matters, but we’re moving on to the next one.”

THE THREE-POINT FLOODGATES OPEN, FINALLY

Matt Painter has constructed his roster offensively around two things: 1) Giant humans and 2) gifted three-point marksmen.

For pretty much a month now, the latter haven’t really held up their end of the deal.

“That’s the one thing that’s kind of shocked me, our inability to make perimeter shots,” Coach Matt Painter said. “We made 13 threes tonight and we haven’t done that in a long time. I just feel like our shooting is much better than we’ve shown.”

Until — for one night anyway — Thursday night.

The Boilermakers missed their first seven threes. The Buckeyes took advantage and led by a dozen with just under seven minutes to play in the half.

Then, Ethan Morton connected from deep, the first of four threes Purdue would make before halftime en route to tying the game late in the half. The Boilermakers made 6-of-8 from deep after that 0-for-7 start.

Jenkins, one of the most accomplished three-point shooters in college basketball from his career prior to Purdue, had been mired in a terrible shooting slump, until he connected nine minutes into the first half, getting Purdue on the board. In just under 19 minutes of playing time, Jenkins made all three threes he took.

“It gives you momentum, seeing threes go in when we haven’t been shooting as well overall,” Jenkins said of Purdue collectively. “We have a bunch of good shooters and we know that. We knew it couldn’t rain forever and at some point we were going to get hot and it’ll continue for us, because we have guys who work on their game each and every day. I’ve never seen a team work on its game as much as here.”

ZACH EDEY CARRIES PURDUE DIFFERENTLY

By his standards, Edey’s 16 points and 11 rebounds were just kind of an OK night, as those standards are heavy.

But two games in a row, the big man has helped get the Boilermakers great looks from three for potential game-winning shots. One missed, one fell.

“Zach did a good job making that play,” Painter said, of Edey, whose matchup with Zed Key didn’t last long as Key hurt his shoulder early in the game. “A lot of people talk in theory about your best player needing to take the last shot. Your best player has to make the best decision. You can’t dictate everything. The other team will dictate some things. They came hard on the trap and he made a great decision.”

Three of Edey’s assists led to threes and the other a Loyer jumper, accounting for 11 points Edey generated passing out post doubles.