Ohio St. @ Purdue preview
Lucas Oil Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jan 19, 2021 ) Purdue 67, Ohio St. 65
A young Purdue team might have sneaked up on the rest of the ultra-competitive Big Ten, but the No. 20 Boilermakers are ready for the big stage when they play No. 9 Ohio State in a quarterfinal of the conference tournament in Indianapolis, Ind., on Friday.
The Buckeyes (19-8), the fifth seed, defeated 13th seed Minnesota 79-75 on Thursday to end a four-game losing streak.
"It feels amazing. Very happy, very satisfied with my team today," Ohio State guard CJ Walker said. "We've got to be better, improve in some areas against a really good team tomorrow."
Purdue (18-8) has won five straight and 11 of 14 to earn the fourth seed as the young players matured. The Purdue website notes that KenPom.com ranks the Boilermakers No. 328 out of 347 Division I teams in experience (1.04 years).
No wonder the Boilermakers are out prove themselves among the heavyweights of the conference.
"They pick us to finish ninth or 10th in the league, well, that's their opinion and they're right to say that. You look at what we lost," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "But they're not doubting our ability, they're doubting our inexperience.
"Some years you might use that as motivation, but in the preseason, half the guys on this team didn't even know anything. They had no idea what's going on. When you're young, you don't know what to expect. And now you have a pandemic and there's no fans, it's all different. Every day is different, and all these freshmen, they had no clue what to expect every day."
The Boilermakers' Jaden Ivey and Zach Edey each made the all-Big Ten freshmen team. Ivey moved into a starting role when Sasha Stefanovic missed three games because of COVID-19 protocol.
As good as Ivey and Edey are, though, Purdue looks to Trevion Williams in the clutch. He was named first team All-Big Ten by averaging 15.2 points and 8.8 rebounds.
Continuity has been the key to the Boilermakers' success.
"We've had guys keep a great attitude," Painter said. "This is about Purdue, and our guys have really done a good job. The advantage we've had is that we haven't had too many pauses. We had one guy miss three games, and we've had that adjustment and that's it."
Purdue won both games against the Buckeyes this season, 67-60 at home on Dec. 16 and a 67-65 thriller in Columbus, Ohio, on Jan. 19 when Ivey hit a jumper to break a 65-65 tie with five seconds left.
"Those results were in the regular season, so this game means a little bit more," Ohio State forward Justice Sueing said. "We definitely want to make another statement and survive and advance. More important is to just continue that Big Ten tournament play.
"It's going to be a good game. Purdue's a good team so it's going to be a tough game. We've definitely got to come ready to play."
-- Field Level Media