The Boilers managed to overcome a chilly start to the evening and bounce back from a double-digit deficit to defeat one of the best teams in the country on the road to ohio state. The Boilers again earned a late three-pointer from rookie Fletcher Loyer to push their lead to two points before holding on playing tough defense with less than 10 seconds left.
A look back at the important matches that ended in an advantage.
1 | The size of Purdue vs. OSU’s lack of height
This one really got on display after Zed Key went off with what looked like a sprained or dislocated shoulder about 4 minutes into the first half. Okpara ended up playing 30 minutes as OSU’s tallest player and did an admirable job but couldn’t make up for what he lost to Key. Purdue ended up dominating OSU on the offensive glass and had a ten-rebound advantage overall in the game. Also, as the game progressed past Purdue on the inside, the OSU shots really started to affect the inside after getting what they wanted in the first 10 minutes of the game.
Advantage: Purdue
2 | Defend the Arc 3pt
Purdue did a good job running shooters out of the arc and limited OSU to just 14 attempts from the three-point line, but the problem was they ended up making it 6-for-42, 9%. Purdue wants to take shooters out of the bow and force them to do mid-range jumpers and floats, but when an opponent has two guys who thrive on that type of play in Justice Sueing and Bryce Sensabaugh, they’ll put you down problems. That’s why these two went to OSU scoring 15 and 21 respectively. That being said, limiting a team to just six made lines can win you a few games and Purdue was finally able to start hitting their own lines. after starting 0-7. After that cold start, Purdue ended up shooting 13-24 for 54.2% and that was the reason Purdue was able to come back in this game (18-39 advantage scoring alone).
Advantage: I understand looking at shooting percentage alone can be bad, but Purdue did what they wanted to do. I give them the edge here when looking at the whole picture.
3 | Dominate offensive and defensive rebounds
This one is easy to see as Purdue managed to grab 16 offensive rebounds against OSU’s 9 and three of those 9 came out of a streak around 4:30 into the second half. Because of that overwhelming number of offensive rebounds, Purdue also topped the second chance scoring 16-4, which was a big part of why the Boilers ended up winning in Columbus.
On the defensive end, Purdue grabbed 21 rebounds to OSU’s 18, meaning Purdue was able to hold down a team that averaged 40.92 rebounds per game to just 27 who grabbed 37. Anytime you can outrun another B1G opponent by 10 or more, you have a high chance of winning.
Advantage: Clearly Purdue
4 | MATCHUP BONUS: Boiler Bench Points
Ohio State won that game with 18 points off the bench to Purdue’s 15, but a key member of Purdue’s bench in Brandon Newman was only able to play 4 minutes in the first half and none in the second due to a sickness. Trey Kaufman-Renn was also limited to just 7 minutes due to the need to ground Edey as much as possible to take advantage of his offensive rebound and defensive presence. Although those two didn’t score, David Jenkins Jr. contributed 9 points on a 3-3 shooting night from behind the arc with Mason Gillis getting 6 points on 2-7 shooting from behind the arc.
Ohio State had no major contributors off the bench, but everyone on the bench scored at least 2 points with Okpara leading with 5. Okpara got 30 minutes last night, which is way above his average because of Zed Key’s injury to his shoulder. about 4 minutes of play. With this injury, OSU needed to be on their bench more than before and they did a good job overall, also providing 5 total assists and 11 assists.
It’s sort of a push mainly because Purdue’s main bench scorer was limited due to illness and because OSU was really dependent on some bench players, but overall it went equalized.
Advantage: pushing due to similar numbers on the bench and contributing factors
Insight:
Purdue won those important matchups, but it didn’t seem like it in the first 13 minutes of the game as OSU led Purdue by 12 points (26-14). In the final 27 minutes of the game, Purdue ended up scoring OSU 57-43 and controlling the offensive glass.
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