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Ohio State Jumps On Purdue Early, Cruises to Easy Win

Purdue dug itself another huge hole in the first half Saturday, and it allowed Ohio State to roll to an easy 68-52 win
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COLUMBUS, Ohio —There's a big crowd in the middle of the Big Ten standings, and members of that huge group, all with NCAA Tournament aspirations, are having difficulty separating themselves.

Ohio State took a big step forward Saturday, pounding Purdue 68-52 at Value City Arena, and doing so in a way that will certainly impress the tournament selection committee. Winning at home is expected these days, and the Buckeyes did just that, winning their third straight league home game behind a career-high 16 points from Kyle Young and 13 from Kaleb Wesson. 

Ohio State (17-8 overall and 7-7 in the Big Ten) has bounced back nicely in the league after  losing six of eight game early. Win several impressive nonconference wins, the Buckeyes should be good with the NCAA committee.

"I thought our defense was as good and as sound as we've played all year,'' Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. "I have a lot of respect for this Purdue team, and we have a lot of really good stretches. To beat a team as complete as Purdue feels good.''

Purdue is another story all together. The Boilermakers (14-12 overall, 7-8 in the Big Ten) have several impressive victories all season long, but their overall record is starting to be a problem.

The reason for that is simple, too, because it's been the same thing all season for Purdue. On the road in the Big Ten, they fall behind early and never have enough to scratch all the way back. 

Purdue is just 2-6 on the road in the Big Ten, winning its last two against Northwestern and Indiana, but it trailed each of those games too, by seven and five points, respectively,

The margins in the other six games — all losses — is an average of 12.7 points per game.

Here are Purdue's rough road starts in the Big Ten this season:

  • Dec. 15 — trailed at Nebraska by 11
  • Jan. 5 — trailed at Illinois by 15
  • Jan. 8 — trailed at Michigan by 4
  • Jan. 18 — trailed at Maryland by 18
  • Jan. 28 — trailed at Rutgers by 16
  • Feb. 1 — trailed at Northwestern by 7
  • Feb 8 — trailed at Indiana by 5
  • Feb. 15 — trailed at Ohio State by 12 

The issues have been on the offensive end, where they shot just 32 percent in the first half and made only 2-of-9 3 pointers. It never really got any better, finishing at 35 percent forr the game and just 4-of-20 from 3 point-range (20 percent).

"That's the one thing when you get down. You're fighting just to get close instead of fighting to win,'' Purdue coach Matt Painter said of the constant deficits. "It's tough. Sometimes it just comes down to missing shots, but sometimes too, their defense was better than our offense.

Sasha Stefanovic, who had started 18 of the Boilers' 24 previous games, started Sagturday's showdown on the bench. You thought he would have provided a spark when he came in, but Purdue coach Matt Painter didn't get it. from him or anyone else on the bench, for that matter. The foursome of Stefanovic, Matt Haarms, Aaron Wheeler and Isaiah Thompson were just 1-for-9 shooting in the first half and had only two combined points.

It didn't get any better either, with none of the four bench guys making a shot in the second half when Stefanovic scored on  breakaway layup with 3:45 left in the game. 

Evan Boudreaux led the Boilermakers with 17 points and Jahaad Proctor added 15.