By: Chris Liow | December 17th |

In an uncharacteristically empty Mackey Arena hosting a dangerous Ohio St. team to kick off conference play, the Purdue Boilermakers relied on the solid play of its experienced Juniors and plenty of exciting plays at critical moments to manufacture their own energy in the absence of a crowd en route to a hard-fought 67-60 win over the #20 Buckeyes. The Boilers were led by another dominant performance by Junior forward Trevion Williams in his 2nd game coming off the bench. Williams tested triple-double waters with 9 rebounds and 8 assists to complement his game-leading 16 points on 50% shooting from the floor and a pleasantly surprising 4/4 from the line. Other Purdue upperclassmen Eric Hunter Jr. and Sasha Stefanovic contributed 15 and 10 points respectively and forced costly OSU turnovers via steals and drawn charges at critical moments late. Aaron Wheeler rounded out the solid performance from our ‘veterans’ by putting up a quiet yet efficient offensive line of 2 for 3 from the floor (including 1 of 2 from deep) but playing very solid defense down the stretch, grabbing 6 rebounds in highly contested situations and leading the team with 3 steals to just 1 turnover. 

The Buckeyes were led in scoring by Juniors Justice Sueing and Duane Washington Jr. with 14 and 13 each and had plenty of key contributions and several of their own high energy plays from fellow upperclassmen Justin Ahrens and Kyle Young. With the absence of leading scorer and rebounder E.J. Liddell, the set-up here felt similar to the heartbreaker against Miami. A quality opponent having to fill holes and make adjustments from missing arguably their best player (preseason All-ACC guard Chris Lykes for Miami) presenting an opportunity to a young Boilermakers squad with plenty of questions and concerns surrounding them as well. While the ultimate difference here was Purdue holding on late to secure the win, this matchup was not without its share of scary moments and momentum shifts late. A competitive first half that featured 3 lead changes, 4 ties, and neither team leading by more than 5 points entering the final media timeout ended with the Purdue squad entering the locker room at halftime holding on to a shaky but hard-earned 5 point lead. An Ohio St. rally late that saw Justice Sueing answer an Eric Hunter 3 with one of his own and culminated with an absolute gut-punch of a 3 on the third shot of the possession from OSU guard Duane Washington Jr. whittled the Boilermaker game-high lead of 14 points with ~8 minutes left down to 6 with 2:54 to play and brought an all-too-familiar chill down our spines. Thankfully, Purdue was able to clamp down defensively and weather the storm allowing only 1 more point the rest of the way through and holding the Buckeyes team to 0/6 shooting from the floor and 2 turnovers in that same span.

First Half

Although both teams came out looking to attack offensively, the early stages of this game were a bit sluggish. The Boilermakers saw some sloppy turnovers early including 2 that were completely unforced from Junior guard and leader Eric Hunter. Ohio St. missed on solid opportunities including a couple of open looks from 3 on their first few possessions and fell deep into the shot clock multiple times early before finding their rhythm by attacking our guys off the dribble. Purdue eventually put themselves on the scoreboard with a Stefanovic 3 and cleaned up a bit on the sloppy play, only turning the ball over 3 more times the rest of the half after throwing it away 4 times in the first 4 minutes. Ohio St. rebounded from an 0/4 start from 3 to sink their next 3 of 4 approaching the midway point of the half to take an 18-15 lead. At the same time, Purdue went in the opposite direction going from making their first two 3-pointers of the game to missing their next 6 before Stefanovic sank his second shot from deep to even the score up at 22. 

In the midst of struggling from the 3-point line (3/11 on the half and 1/9 after the first ~4 minutes of play), the young Boilers turned towards Trevion Williams to keep the offense from stalling out. Needless to say, the big man stepped up to the challenge and delivered. Hitting a cutting Brandon Newman and a highlight-reel no-look pass to Aaron Wheeler on the opposite block on back-to-back possessions was only the start as he would add yet another no-look pass out of a double team to the weak side post, this time to Mason Gillis, for an easy layup. Trevion would wrap up his stellar first half by finding Gillis again under the basket with under a minute to go, finishing with 4 quality assists that resulted in 8 easy points to go along with 6 points of his own. Steals on three consecutive defensive possessions in the final minutes for the Boilermakers resulted in a couple of fast-break buckets for Jaden Ivey and helped give Purdue a 5 point lead heading into the half.

Second Half

At the start of the 2nd half, it was immediately clear that Chris Holtmann and his Buckeyes were prioritizing shoring up the backdoor/weakside lane that Purdue had exploited so many times by letting the 6’8'' Zed Key guard Williams 1-on-1 in the post the first two possessions. Purdue fed Trevion Williams the ball in the low post both times and Key handled his assignment pretty well. He contested well on a Trevion miss on the first trip and forced him to go to his left on the second trip which ended up being a bucket due to a goaltending call on his teammate. The very next trip, the familiar double team reared its ugly head as Trevion went with his strong hand towards the middle of the lane only to have him respond with yet another find to Mason Gillis via a dump down under the basket for an easy layup. From there it really felt Williams took command of the game, scoring on the next two possessions and continuing to be a pressing issue for Ohio St. on defense the rest of the way. After some early whistles against us including two offensive fouls on big men Edey and Williams for a moving screen and charge, a foul on Aaron Wheeler defending off the dribble put the Buckeyes in the bonus with over 12 minutes to go in the game. Fortunately, this did not translate to foul trouble for any of our guys or many trips to the line for Ohio St. the rest of the way. Several clutch three-point shots, including a smooth pass-fake, and shoot from Aaron Wheeler, and more offense facilitated by Trevion Williams helped propel the Boilermakers to a 14 point lead with 8:36 to play. Ohio St. would threaten at times, trimming the lead down as low as 6, but suffered from turnovers and cold shooting down the stretch. Purdue generally managed the clock well and benefited from several key buckets from Trevion such as a wild ‘circus shot’ out of what looked to be a midair pass and an absolute dagger of a hook 12 feet from the basket as the shot clock expired. By the time normally solid free-throw shooters Eric Hunter and Brandon Newman missed the front end of their 1-and-1’s, the window had already closed and the Boilers had managed to hold on for the well-deserved victory.

Player Spotlights

Game MVP: Trevion Williams

This won’t come as a surprise for anyone who tuned in to the game. The big man teased triple-double territory scoring an efficient 16 points on 6-12 shooting from the floor while pulling down 9 rebounds and 8 assists. In addition, Williams visited the line twice and managed to sink all 4 of his free throws. As outstanding as the stat sheet is already, it doesn’t tell the full story in illustrating just how beautiful some of Trevion’s passes were. When Ohio St. tried abandoning the double team in the 2nd half, Trevion punished them with multiple baskets of his own. While Trevion’s skills in the passing game, rebounding, and scoring are hardly unknowns at this point, perhaps the real key here was his ability to play disciplined defense and avoid having his playing time limited through early foul trouble. Outside of an ill-advised ‘swipe’ at a driving CJ Walker midway through the first half that was very fortunate to not get called, I didn’t really see any egregious instances of Trevion committing unnecessary fouls or putting himself in risky situations like he did several times in both our losses this season. With how impactful he was for us when on the floor and how teammate Zach Edey struggled throughout the game, it’s likely we would be looking at a very different result if Trevion had picked up some early fouls.

Honorable Mentions: Sasha Stefanovic / Eric Hunter Jr.

Stefanovic led the way with 10 points and 2 of our only 3 makes from deep in the first half. While he was quiet on the stats sheet the rest of the game, his effort on defense was crucial in holding on to our lead. A savvy charge drawn against C.J. Walker for his 4th foul kept the Senior guard limited and marked a turning point of sorts for the OSU guards and wings seemingly driving past our perimeter defense at will up until that point. Stefanovic was far more impactful on the defensive glass than his 2 rebounds would indicate. There were countless instances where Stefanovic would throw himself into the mix against larger opponents to tip the ball away or prevent what would otherwise be a clean follow-up basket with potential for an and-1 play. With just 23 seconds left in the game and the Purdue lead at 7, Stefanovic snags a long rebound over two taller OSU players off a missed 2nd free throw from Key to fully close out the game.

Eric Hunter Jr. had a slow start to the game, turning the ball over twice early in unforced situations and three times before the half. Needless to say, he found a way to bounce back on the way to finishing with 15 points on 6/11 shooting (1-3 from deep) and two steals while logging a solid 32 minutes. In a continuation from his sophomore season, Hunter found a way to score in virtually every way imaginable. He sank the 3 that pushed our lead to 14, had a fast break dunk stemming from his steal, knocked down an open elbow jumper resulting from an OSU defense that was overloading the low post, and wisely attacked a foul-laden C.J. Walker on a nifty stop-and-go drive. Oh, and he managed to make his way to the line and convert. Beyond the stats, Hunter often filled the role of running the point and played a key part in Purdue’s good clock management late in the game while adding solid defense with few lapses.

Key Takeaways

Turnovers

Purdue was able to recover from an ugly start to pull away by halftime and hold onto their lead the rest of the way. While an unfortunately high number of turnovers committed fell into the unforced category, it’s promising to see improvement not only over the course of the game but compared to our earlier losses against Clemson and Miami.

• Even though it’s only his 3rd game back, it’s clear that Eric Hunter Jr. is going to be the closest thing we have to a ‘primary point guard’ in an offense that is loaded with depth and fluidity at the 1 and 2 positions. His ability to shake off a rough start and play as well as he did the rest of the game (as well as his body of work last season) leads me to believe that much of his uncharacteristic mistakes so far this year are a result of coming back from his injury.

• While Purdue turned it over 16 times to Ohio St’s 13, the Boilers held the advantage in steals at 9 to 6. 

  • Two steals from starting guards Hunter and Newman in the final minute and a half of regulation were critical in not providing the Buckeyes the opportunity to follow through with their comeback.

Perimeter Defense

One of the aspects this young Purdue squad was expected to struggle with entering the season was something that hasn’t exactly been our strength in recent seasons either: defending the 2 man pick-and-roll game. This point hasn’t had a chance to fully manifest so far, largely because opposing teams are finding success simply beating our perimeter defenders off the dribble in 1-on-1 situations.

• Justice Sueing blew by Aaron Wheeler on two separate occasions, forcing a desperation reach-in/blocking foul both times. Starters Hunter and Stefanovic were generally very solid on defense but had a few moments where they were beaten or just out of position against a driving Duane Washington Jr. or C.J. Walker.

• While it would be extremely difficult to not improve by default on the utter collapse in the 2nd half against Miami, the story here was more discipline across the board and significant improvements over the course of the game. 

  • After being convincingly beat off the dribble by Justice Sueing twice so far, Aaron Wheeler plays great defense on the third attempt at the 7:20 mark and completely cuts off the driving lane, forcing Sueing to lose the ball in what could have been an offensive foul.

  • Wheeler had several other intelligent plays throughout the game, including phenomenal anticipation in a help-defense situation in the 1st half where Justice Sueing smartly put the ball on the floor against an over-extended and outmatched Edey trying to defend 20 feet from the rim. This resulted in a Purdue steal in a scenario that would have otherwise likely ended in an easy layup or kick out 3 for the Buckeyes.

  • Stefanovic played at a high pace for a team-leading 37 minutes and made the Buckeye guards fight for every bit of ground. An outstanding charge drawn against a C.J. Walker, who had been finding good looks off the dribble-drive penetration throughout the game, halted the momentum the Buckeyes were gathering and limited him the rest of the game.

Fouls & Free Throws

In short, going 11/11 from the line in the first half was the key factor resulting in us walking into the locker room with a 5 point lead at halftime.

• Despite this success in the first half, Purdue didn’t manage to find their way to the line a single time in the second half outside of intentional foul situations in the final minute of play. 

• That said, I don’t see this as much of a concern since we did well in continuing to feed the ball inside to Trevion and attacked the basket when appropriate. In contrast, a lack of attempts from the charity stripe in previous games this year as well as last season was usually indicative of a Purdue offense that had gone cold and relied too heavily on 3-point shots.

• While Purdue walked into the half with only 7 fouls, they quickly matched that total in the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half, putting OSU in the bonus with plenty of time to spare. 

  • Luckily, Purdue played clean basketball in fouling only 4 more times as a team the rest of the way with one of said 4 coming in the form of an offensive foul on Trevion Williams attacking Zed Key in a one-on-one situation.

  • Being able to clean up in the late stages of the game was huge for us, especially since the capable Ohio St. squad converted 5 out of the 6 points in 2nd half bonus free throws.

Solid Play at the ‘4’ Spot

At this point, the Boilermaker faithful know exactly what we have with Aaron Wheeler even if his performance on a given night is anyone’s guess. While the long and athletic forward has shown some brilliant flashes and produced some electrifying plays, his largest impact is more likely to be shooting us out of games entirely when cold from behind the arc.

• With plenty of offensive talent and depth in our backcourt that contains 6 scholarship players who I can realistically see shooting at least in the low-30% range from 3 by season end, we simply will not NEED Wheeler to be the guy making 4 or more from deep as the determining factor in close games. 

• What we could really benefit from is consistent play on the defensive end and simple, efficient contribution on offense in ways that caters to his strengths.

• In my opinion, punishing the aggressive double teams on Trevion or Edey from the weak-side post by having a strong finisher and offensive rebound threat like Wheeler staked out on the opposite block or along the baseline is way more beneficial than focusing on getting him an extra few wide open looks from 3.

• That aside, Wheeler did his part this game in delivering an overall solid performance with few mistakes.

  • He struggled at first staying in front of Justice Sueing, who is a dynamic scorer with some athleticism to boast as well. However, he recovered nicely with some great plays later on in the game including winning the final 1-on-1 matchup against Sueing and forcing a turnover. Plus, it’s hard to penalize him here given how Sueing had his way with virtually every defender Purdue had on him.

  • Additionally, he chipped in with 6 rebounds, many of which were highly contested by at least one other Ohio St. big man. Ohio St. had the depth and athleticism in their frontcourt to be a threat on the glass, and Wheeler’s ability to beat them by what looked like centimeters on several occasions played a critical role.

  • Wheeler’s 5 points came on only three attempts, all of which were very good looks. This game is a classic example of letting the offense run through the hot hand (Trevion) and letting the shots come naturally. At no point did we need Wheeler to be the one to take a 3 late in the game or attack his man in an iso-situation, but we certainly needed his rebounding and solid, error-adverse play.

• Similarly, Gillis delivered a nice offensive performance himself in making all 3 of his shots from the floor exclusively on passes from Trevion Williams. There’s not much to write about here, but it’s worth noting that Gillis has found the backdoor lane to the basket consistently in nearly every game this year.

Final Thoughts & Moving Forward

With this win, the 2020-20201 Boilermakers open conference play strong at 1-0 and snag their first victory over a major-conference opponent after falling short against Clemson and collapsing late against Miami. What is arguably just as important is how we were finally able to capitalize on a quality team missing their best player and adding a ranked win to our resume early on. Given their sub-par stats on the offensive end teamwide and less-than-ideal performance prior in scrapping out a win against 0-3 in-state rival Cleveland St., it’s hard to argue that the game would have at the very least looked quite different had EJ Liddell not been sidelined. That said, a win with whatever qualifiers affixed is better than a loss and that’s all that will ultimately matter come March.

The Boilers will next host in-state rival Notre Dame on Saturday before kicking off the full in-conference chunk of their schedule at #3 ranked Iowa the following Tuesday. Outside of the in-state rivalry aspect, the Notre Dame game will carry some additional weight and tournament implications in the sense that it is our final opportunity to walk away with a non-con win against a team from a major conference. While an absolutely loaded Big Ten will provide us with plenty of opportunities to make our case for the committee come March (and a ranked win on paper certainly helps as well), a 1-2 record against non-B1G, major conference opponents looks (and feels) a whole lot better than 0-3.

As always, Boiler Up, Hammer Down, Hail Purdue!