Coach Jake Diebler Explains Ohio State's Defensive Strategy in Win Over Purdue

Ohio State coach Jake Diebler got a huge second half from his team in the second half against Purdue. He explained the Buckeyes' strategy vs. the Boilermakers.

Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler motions toward his team during the first half against Purdue | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

It was the tale of two halves in West Lafayette on Tuesday night. After trailing No. 11 Purdue 41-28 at halftime, Ohio State turned on the jets and outscored the Boilermakers 45-29, leading to a 73-70 upset win inside Mackey Arena on a cold January night.

Ohio State's hot shooting was a big reason for its second half success. After connecting at a 38% clip in the first half, the Buckeyes finished the game making 53.3% of their shots, including 11-of-23 from 3-point range. And while that proved to be a huge factor in the outcome, coach Jake Diebler gave a lot of credit to his team's defensive effort.

Primarily, the goal was to limit forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, who scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds in the first half. Although the junior finished the game with 12 points, Diebler was pleased with how his team defended Kaufman-Renn for a majority of the second half.

"Yeah, we wanted to limit his touches there, so we adjusted our ball-screen coverage," Diebler said. "He's a really good player, obviously got to it there at the end of the game. I felt like our execution was really good."

Arguably the most important statistic of the game was Purdue's lack of looks from behind the 3-point line. The Boilermakers shot just nine 3-pointers for the game, connecting on three of them.

Diebler said running guys like CJ Cox, Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith off the 3-point line was something Ohio State wanted to do coming into the game.

"Certainly, we didn't protect the rim at the level we're capable of in the first half, they got too many attempts at the rim," he said. "But, for the most part, we talked about guarding the 3-point line well. We were able to do that."

Purdue has struggled from behind the 3-point line in its last three games. On Jan. 12, the Boilermakers had a big day, connecting on 19-of-33 shots from distance in a 104-68 win over Nebraska. Since then, they've made just eight-of-34 from behind the arc.

Still, Diebler understood that Purdue is capable of winning games in a number of different ways. That's why Ohio State's defensive effort in the second half was critical to leaving Mackey Arena with a win.

"They're a really tough guard," Diebler said, "and I thought our guys stepped up in a big way in the second half."

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