Head coach Matt Painter’s #11 Purdue Boilermakers (15-2, 7-2 Big Ten) faced an unfamiliar sight on Tuesday night: a loss on their home floor. Not just a loss, but a full-blown collapse against an Ohio State Buckeyes (11-8, 3-5 Big Ten) team that came to West Lafayette as losers of four of their last five games. Leading 41-28 at halftime, the Boilermakers appeared to be cruising to their eighth consecutive victory before an ice-cold second half sank the hopes of both the team and the 14,000 Boilermaker fans packed inside Mackey Arena.
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The 73-70 loss, sealed when Purdue’s 2023-24 All-Big Ten guard Braden Smith missed the second of two free throws with 0:02 remaining on the clock, snapped a 26-game home winning streak for the Boilermakers that stretched back to February 25, 2023. Ohio State guard Micah Parrish was electric in the second half, leading the Buckeyes with 22 points on incredibly efficient shooting splits, hitting 80.0% of his shots from the field and 75.0% of his three-point attempts. The Buckeyes as a team shot 53.3% from the field and 47.8% from three-point range.
Matt Painters’s Post-Game Response
During Matt Painter’s post-game press conference, he was blunt in his assessment of Purdue’s efforts at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second:
“A big part of the game is finishing the (first) half and then starting the second half… We messed up our assignment at the end of the first half, didn’t do what we were supposed to do and give up a three. And then we fall down to start the second half and give up another three. So now they’ve got it to 10 instead of it being at 16.”
The sequences Painter referred to occurred in the waning moments of the first half. Leading 41-25 with 0:24 left on the first half clock, the Boilermakers gave up a three-pointer to Buckeye guard Bruce Thornton to close the half. Thornton then drilled another three within the opening ten seconds of the second half, quickly cutting Purdue’s lead from 16 to 10 points. Ohio State opened the second half with a 17-2 run, taking a 45-43 lead after the half’s opening six minutes.
Painter praised the Buckeye’s offensive quality in the second half:
“I thought they played really well, made shots, did some good things… I thought they were geting pretty quality shots… they have good pieces. They have a good team. I told our guys they were 2-5 coming in but (if) three possessions are different, they’re 5-2 in the league.”
Purdue, after connecting on 60.0% of their shot attempts in the first half, converted only 37.9% of their second half shot attempts. They also struggled from the free throw line, making only 55.6% of their second half free throws.
Braden Smith had an uncharacteristically poor night shooting the ball. Despite being a 40.2% shooter from beyond the three-point arc, Smith connected on only one three point attempt against Ohio State and was 3/14 from the field overall.
Purdue Boilermakers Out-Muscled In The Second Half
Ohio State, in addition to shooting the Boilermakers out of the building, were the more dominant team on the glass on Tuesday night. The Buckeyes refused to let Purdue make any gains on the offensive glass in the second half, outrebounding the hosts 19-11 in the second half and holding the Boilers to only 2 second-chance points after halftime. Matt Painter credited the Buckeye’s offensive movement, saying his team got lost in their defensive rotations in the second half:
“That normally happens if you have to over-help and you don’t have clean rotations. There’s no question… they were quicker to the ball than we were in the second half.”
The poor rebounding effort continues a concerning trend for the Boilermakers, who currently rank 15th in the Big Ten in rebounds per game.
Despite the loss, Painter stressed that this team will press on and pick itself up:
“You always pick at yourself when you lose. If you really want to improve, you’ve got to really pick at yourself. So, that’s what we try to do with our guys. We’re doing some really good things sometimes wehn we lose a game. Keep that in perspective. We also have some struggles… try to make some improvements from there. That’s what we’ve always tried to instill in our guys. Let’s learn.”
Matt Painter and the Boilermakers will hope to right the ship on January 24 in a matchup with the #21 Michigan Wolverines (14-4, 6-1 Big Ten).
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