Purdue Basketball Gets Bounce-Back Victory With 82-55 Rout of Ohio State

Purdue junior center Zach Edey led all scorers with 26 points, and the Boilermakers had 32 points from its bench in a decisive win over Ohio State on Sunday. The team had nine different players score at least four points.

D.J. Fezler | Feb 19, 2023

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Purdue Boilermakers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — It would be an understatement to say Purdue basketball needed a bounce-back win entering the final stretch of the regular season. After losing three of its last four games, which all came on the road, its lead atop the Big Ten standings was dwindling.

But the No. 3-ranked Boilermakers got back on the right track by dominating Ohio State in an 82-55 victory on Sunday at Mackey Arena. Junior center Zach Edey led all scorers with 26 points and was one of nine players on the team to put up at least four points in the matchup.

"People look at them, and just because they don't put up the crazy numbers doesn't mean they're not great offensive players," Edey said of his teammates. "Obviously, they help me out a lot on offense with their spacing. Everyone on our team can really shoot, so it helps me get a lot of room.

"We've got a lot of guys that can really play, and everyone is wearing the Purdue uniform for a reason. I'm not a top team in the country, we are. I think people don't give them the credit they deserve."

Ohio State was ready to pounce on Purdue in the early goings of the first half, quickly jumping ahead 8-2 by forcing two turnovers before the Boilermakers put together a 12-2 run to take control offensively. They never trailed after taking their first lead of the game.

Purdue hit on a pair of 3-pointers during the stretch but was just 2-of-7 from deep before halftime. However, fouls began to pile up for the Buckeyes, who put the Boilermakers in the bonus with 10:27 still to play in the opening period.

Ohio State was called for 13 fouls in the first half, and while freshman forward Brice Sensabaugh led the team in scoring with nine points heading into the locker room, he picked up three fouls. Purdue took advantage by going 14-of-17 from the free-throw line.

"I thought we played really hard at them. I thought we competed and followed the game plan really well," Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said. "I think the foul trouble hurt us a little bit. But I thought when we were good offensively, the ball moved better than what it had."

The Purdue bench recorded 10 points and spearheaded a crucial 11-2 run late in the first half to go ahead 31-20 with 5:33 left before the second half. Seven of those came from the foul line. The Buckeyes brought the deficit to within six but were held scoreless over two-plus minutes.

Edey was dominant in the paint, scoring 16 of his game-high 26 points in the first half to give Purdue a 38-29 lead at the break. He also added three blocks and seven rebounds, including five in the attacking half of the court.

The Boilermakers never let their lead slip away, crashing the boards and coming down with four offensive rebounds in the opening minutes of the second half. After being outrebounded in their loss to Maryland, they finished with a 44-21 rebound advantage against the Buckeyes.

Edey registered 11 rebounds in the game, and junior forward Mason Gillis — who made his first start since a game against Florida State on Nov. 30 — came down with a season-high 10, including eight in the second half.

"We got outrebounded pretty bad at Maryland," Gillis said. "The past couple of days, we just worked on it. More mental reps than physical. We're late in the season right now, so it's more about getting our minds right, preparing and going into the game with the right mindset."

Purdue’s 14 offensive rebounds led to 17 second-chance points. Behind Edey, who scored 10 points in the second half, redshirt freshman forward Trey Kaufman-Renn registered 11 points on the afternoon.

The team finished with 32 points from its bench, with Kaufman-Renn leading the way on 3-of-4 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 at the free-throw line in just 14 minutes.

With several players contributing on the offensive end of the court, the Boilermakers led by 31 points with 2:27 left to play. They made 4-of-7 from the 3-point line in the second half, including two from senior guard David Jenkins Jr.

"Just trying to have that balance. I think your percentages shooting are always going to be better when you make good decisions," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "You're putting the ball on the money when you're passing, you're not throwing the ball at someone's feet.

"You have to put the ball in position to where they can score it. And I think that, for us, is just having good ball movement, getting good screening actions, getting the ball from side to side no matter what we're doing."

The team made 21 of its 27 free throws in the contest and doubled Ohio State's points in the paint. Sensabaugh led the Buckeyes with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting while graduate guard Sean McNeil added 10.

Purdue, now 24-4 and 13-4 in Big Ten play, will have five days to prepare for a rematch with in-state rival Indiana on Sunday at Mackey Arena. That game is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on FOX.

"A win always helps," Gillis said. "It makes everybody's mood better, so we can build on this. I don't think we've necessarily completely turned, we still have a lot of work to do. We have Monday off and then Tuesday we'll put some work in.

"We got games to win left. This win isn't everything, we've got a couple more to reach one of our goals — our first goal of the season. We're in a good spot right now."

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