Our Honor Defend

The last minute of regulation was a primer on how not to close out a lead in the last minute of regulation, but the ensuing overtime period proved to ultimately be the difference in the Buckeyes’ 80-72 victory over the 13th ranked Boilermakers.

The first half didn’t bode particularly well for the Buckeyes.  They committed 4 turnovers in about as many minutes to start the game and quickly found themselves down 10.  However, a Buckeye run, capped off by a PJ Hill 3pter¹ and a William Buford dunk, knotted the score at 14 and set the pace for the duration of the game.  BJ Mullens made his presence felt during the first half, finishing with 10 first half points, all on dunks.  Indeed, his play around the rim played an important role in keeping the Buckeyes even with the Boilermakers during the first period.  However, the Buckeyes entered the second period down 3 on the heels of a Keaton Grant 3pter and a turnover on the inbounds from Grant’s ensuing basket.

Grant picked up where he left off, putting the Buckeyes in a 35-29 bind out of the gates.  Fortunately, William Buford particularly caught fire in the second half and put the Buckeyes well on the path to winning in regulation.  He had 14 second half points, missing only 3 of his field goal attempts during the second half.  A Jon Diebler 3pter put the Buckeyes up 60-57 with under 4 minutes left to play, but poor shooting from the charity stripe, including a series of misses by Evan Turner, made sure the Boilermakers were never down more than a possession for most of the final minutes of the second half.  A Turner layup finally gave the Buckeyes the breakthrough they needed, extending their lead to 5.  Then, things got kind of ugly.  After a Keaton Grant 3pter, Chris Kramer jumped a poorly timed pass by PJ Hill for a fastbreak dunk to tie the game with under a minute left.  The Buckeyes had time to consume most of the clock, but Evan Turner coughed up the ball.  The ensuing Boilermakers’ final possession was poorly executed, thus saving the Buckeyes’ from a total collapse.

The first overtime was all Ohio State needed to ultimately wear down the Boilermakers in front of the increasingly excited Value City Arena patrons.  The Buckeyes continued their hot shooting while Purdue sputtered, relied on 3pt shots, and ultimately put themselves in an 8pt hole that held for the final margin.

With the victory, the Buckeyes remain 6th in the Big Ten standings, but did knock Purdue down from 2nd to 5th.  The Buckeyes next host the #19 Gophers while the Boilermakers visit Champaign to play the #21 Illini.  Both teams are in the second place logjam behind the Spartans.  The Buckeyes and Boilermakers conclude the home-and-home in early March.

Miscellaneous Observations

• JaJuan Johnson (#25) was absolutely unstoppable for the Boilermakers, especially in the second half.  He finished with 30pts off 10/16 shooting.  Normally a 69% free throw shooter, he was 10/11 from the charity stripe tonight.  He scored 23 of those in the second half and overtime periods.  He scored all of Purdue’s overtime points, albeit in a losing effort.  He was the only source of offense for the Boilermakers for basically the final 10 minutes of the second half.  It wasn’t really bad defense by either Mullens or Lauderdale, just an excellent shooting night… especially shooting over both Buckeye post players.
• The Buckeyes shot 60% from the field tonight.  They shot 67% in the second half and 71% in the overtime period.  They shot 76% from the field in the second half against Indiana.  The offense is clicking.
• William Buford is playing a huge part in the turnaround for the offense of late.  It’s his second straight game scoring 20 points or more and 12th time in 14 games for the true freshman from Toledo.
• The 60% from the field for the Buckeyes is particularly surprising considering that the Boilermakers are probably the best defensive team in the league.  Their season average for FG% defense is 36%.  On average, they hold teams to 57 points a game.
• All of BJ Mullens field goals came from dunks.  That’s just as good, because part of that shows that the Buckeyes were looking for him inside, especially in the first half.
• At least half the time, I don’t have a clue in hell what Steve Lavin is talking about.  I really don’t.  Do you?
• PJ Hill is now easily my favorite player on the team.  Point guard will be an issue for this team for the duration of this season and PJ’s offensive abilities are rather limited.  Yet, with no clear point guard and a preference for Jeremie Simmons at the moment, it’s comforting to know that the backup at that position will, at the very, very least, go balls deep every time on defense.  Part of me wonders if he’s playing the wrong sport, especially with that one-on-one cover abilities.
• I really like Dallas Lauderdale.  Everything I’ve read about him from his freshman year and into this year has characterized Lauderdale as ultimately nice and humble.  That said, this is consecutive string of games where he’s been reckless and has had more fouls or turnovers than points.  His first (and only) points of the game came on a dunk in overtime.  The rest of it was kind of hard to watch.  I don’t pretend to know the inner workings of the Buckeyes’ small rotation, but it might be worth exploring if Mullens should start next week and Lauderdale should come off the bench as the gamechanger at the position.
• Evan Turner had 26 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists.  What is most shocking is that ESPN.com’s box score has not credited any turnovers to him this game.  Woot.  No turnovers.
• No really, he had 5 turnovers this game, but we can all dream.
• After Chris Kramer’s dunk to tie the game in the final minute of regulation, the camera panned to some woman in Purdue gear, cheering for a second, and then turning both complexion and profile and barking something vicious at the vicinity of the old people that occupy the real estate behind the scorer’s table.  I gotta tell you ESPN, that… that was unpleasant and a little uncomfortable.
• It took most of Value City Arena almost all of the game before they got off their asses and cheered.  You can do a LOT better than that.  Even in the final minutes of regulation, with the Buckeyes seeming to be on their way to a close victory over the hottest team in the conference, there was camera shot upon camera shot of young well-to-dos sitting behind the south basket looking bored or old people doing needlework, watching the Rockford Files, talking about cute things the cat did or waiting for their grandchildren to call… or whatever it is that old people to do.  It’s troubling that they couldn’t sell those tickets and go do something else because it’s clear to me that the game is of only passing importance to that entire section.
• On that note, all you young college age chilluns: GET YOUR ASSES TO THE SCHOTTENSTEIN CENTER.  That place looked to be about 60 percent full on the lower level at the most and tickets are now on sale for $5.  GO.

1. Oh yes.  It happened, and it can’t unhappen. [↩]