Ohio State Overmatched At Purdue, 82-55, As Buckeye Losing Streak Extends to Eight Games

Purdue extended Ohio State’s losing streak to eight straight games on Sunday as the third-ranked Boilermakers beat the Buckeyes, 82-55, in West Lafayette. With the win, Purdue swept the season series against Ohio State, which has now dropped 13 of its past 14 games.

Ohio State was overmatched inside from the get-go. Zed Key missed the game with a shoulder injury, and his absence springboarded a showcase performance from Big Ten scoring leader Zach Edey. The towering Purdue center scored as many points in the first half alone Sunday as he did in the Jan. 5 game.

Edey finished with 26 for the game, gashing the Buckeyes over and over in the paint to the delight of the home crowd at Mackey Arena. It was his highest-scoring game against the scarlet and gray to date.

The Buckeyes exhausted all options to slow down the Purdue big man, but nothing worked well enough to make the upset possible. The Boilermakers took a nine-point lead to halftime before widening the gap in the second half, leaving Ohio State to contemplate its shortcomings on another long trip back to Columbus.

First Half

Ohio State scored eight of the first 10 points to open the game and held a lead for nearly the first five minutes of action. But with Key sidelined, Edey quickly began to capitalize on the Buckeyes’ lack of depth down low.

The Boiler big man scored eight points in the first eight minutes of action alone, with four of those coming during a 12-2 stretch in which Purdue took its first lead of the game. Edey also used his size to put Ohio State in foul trouble early. 

When Felix Okpara was on the bench, 6-foot-7 guard Eugene Brown had to match up with the 7-foot-4 center. Okpara then picked up his second foul before 10 minutes passed in the period, and Owen Spencer – who began the season as a walk-on – saw his first minutes since Dec. 29.

In his first two minutes of action, Spencer committed three fouls. He picked up a fourth before halftime.

By the time Edey hit his fifth shot of the day, Purdue had already built an 11-point lead as momentum slipped away from the Buckeyes. Brice Sensabaugh led Ohio State with nine points in the period, but picked up his third foul with 3:06 to play in the half. The Buckeyes were whistled for 13 fouls in the opening 20 minutes while Purdue was called for just six, and the Boilermakers shot 15 more free throws.

Edey closed the half on a putback dunk that put Purdue up nine points and gave him 16, tying as many as he had in the entire first matchup with Ohio State.

Second Half

If Edey’s half-ending dunk wasn’t punctuation enough, Purdue began the second half with a 3-pointer from Ethan Morton that sent the home crowd into a frenzy. Just 90 seconds into the action, the Boilermakers had a 14-point edge, 43-29.

The next Edey bucket, which came as a result of three offensive rebounds, forced a timeout from Holtmann just 45 seconds later.

After hitting their first two shots of the half, the Buckeyes missed six of their next seven while Purdue continued to assert its dominance. Edey scored eight points in a 13-3 stretch that pushed the Boilermaker lead to 21 points by the midway mark of the half,

Even with Edey on the bench, Purdue continued to pile on. Boilermaker guard Brandon Newman got the bounce on a wing three at the 4:58 mark, and the triple gave Purdue a 26-point lead on the heels of a 7-0 run.

Ohio State didn’t score a point for four full minutes of game time while Purdue pushed forward.

Sensabaugh led the Buckeyes with 20 points before the final buzzer sounded, but no other OSU starter scored more than six.

Game Notes

• Ohio State has now lost three straight games by at least 17 points. Sunday’s 27-point margin of defeat was the most lopsided loss for the Buckeyes so far this season.
• Zed Key was ruled out of Sunday’s contest after re-aggravating his shoulder injury in the second half of Thursday’s matchup with Iowa. Felix Okpara replaced Key in the starting lineup to earn the third start of his college career.
• Roddy Gayle was listed as a game-time decision ahead of the matchup due to an ankle injury suffered against Iowa, but wound up getting the start in West Lafayette.
• Bruce Thornton, Brice Sensabaugh and Justice Sueing joined Okpara and Gayle as four true freshmen started for Ohio State.
• Purdue sweeps the season series after beating Ohio State 71-69 on Jan. 5 in a game that started a five-game Buckeye losing streak.