After a roller-coaster regular season for the Ohio State basketball team, it’s now win or go home time. The Big Ten Tournament is set to get underway today, with Ohio State preparing for its first game on Thursday against No. 10 seed Purdue.
During the only meeting of the regular season, the Buckeyes beat Purdue easily in Columbus by sixteen. But that was in front of the home crowd. This one will be on a so-called neutral court in Indianapolis, but just down the road from the Purdue campus. It could be a much more pro-Boilermaker gathering.
Purdue has the skill and shooting to not only give Ohio State a game, but to pull off the mild upset. So how will it all go down? We’ve got everything to dig into this matchup.
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Records
Ohio State 21-10, (11-9), Purdue 16-15, (9-11)
All-time series record
69-54 Ohio State leads
Last meeting
Ohio State won 68-52
Broadcast, TV, Game Time
Date: Thursday, March 12
Game Time: 6:30 PM
Venue: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
Network: BTN
Next … The Ohio State Game Plan
Ohio State cliff notes game plan
If it worked the first time around, why not go back to it? Well, aside from the sixteen turnovers that is. The Boilermakers pressure the ball really well and forced more turnovers in the Big Ten than any other team. In Columbus, OSU fell prey to a slew of turnovers but shared the ball with balance that resulted in a good shooting night.
Chris Holtmann and staff often pulled Wesson out on the perimeter to open up driving lanes and post-ups from other players, and went with the guy with the best matchup and shot. The same should apply here.
On defense, there’s no need to get fancy, and there’s not one player that demands significant game-planning around. Each defender has to play solid defense on his own man, help out, then rebound like crazy.
Next … Key Player And Prediction
Key Player For Ohio State
Kaleb Wesson. At tournament time, you need your best players to step up. It’s time Wesson provides a big-time scoring option in the bright lights. He’s a matchup nightmare when he’s hitting his outside shot and finishing at the rim. Unfortunately, rarely are both in concert in the same game. If he can get a double-double with at least fifteen points and ten rebounds, this one is likely in the win column for the Buckeyes.
How It’ll All Go Down
Ohio State has shown through the latter half of the Big Ten season that it’s the better team here. But it won’t be easy. Purdue will be extremely motivated because the only way it’s getting into the NCAA Tournament is with an improbably run through the Big Ten Tournament, so it’ll be playing with a lot of motivation.
It won’t matter. Ohio State will be able to lock things down on the defensive end and will use balanced scoring to beat the Boilermakers for the second time this season. It’ll be closer than the easy sixteen point win back in February though.
Final Score
Ohio State 67, Purdue 60
Line
Coming …
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