COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jake Diebler’s dominance over Purdue basketball since taking the head coach’s seat continued on Sunday.
The Buckeyes boosted their hopes of an at-large NCAA Tournament bid with an 82-74 upset over the eighth-ranked Boilermakers at Schottenstein Center.
Diebler, whose first game as head coach was in an interim role against Purdue on Feb. 18, 2024 after Ohio State fired Chris Holtmann, defeated Purdue in his debut, then snapped Purdue’s 26-game home court winning streak a season ago.
As head coach, Diebler is now 3-0 against the Boilermakers.
Purdue, which had hopes of a Big Ten title and No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament as recently as six weeks ago, lost for the sixth time in 11 games after a 17-1 start.
Purdue basketball turning point vs. Ohio State
CJ Cox’s 3-pointer put Purdue ahead 16-9 with 13:12 to go in the first half. After, the Boilermakers went 1-for-10 with three turnovers over a span of 4:26, a drought only stopped when Ohio State was whistled for goaltending on a Braden Smith jumper that spot out but was pulled off the rim on the rebound attempt.
The Boilermakers promptly missed their next two shots and added another turnover. Ohio State flipped the scoreboard in its favor, taking a 36-31 halftime lead.
The Buckeyes buried Purdue with a strong start to the second half, going up by double digits within the first two minutes, which eventually swelled to 16 points. The Buckeyes got 21 points from John Mobley Jr. and 20 from Bruce Thornton, while shooting 51.1%.
How many assists did Braden Smith have vs. Ohio State?
Braden Smith had 7 assists against Ohio State. Smith has 1,011 career assists. Smith passed former LIU Brooklyn guard Jason Brickman for fourth on the all-time list. He needs 65 assists to tie former Duke guard Bobby Hurley’s NCAA record of 1,076.
3 Purdue basketball stars vs. Ohio State
Braden Smith: Those who pleaded for a more aggressive shot taker out of Purdue’s point guard got their wish. Smith added 20 points and 2 steals to his assist total.
Trey Kaufman-Renn: The Buckeyes denied entry passes in the first half, but Kaufman-Renn was able to get his offense going in the second half. Kaufman-Renn scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half and also had 9 rebounds.
CJ Cox: Cox was an early zone buster, which gave Purdue life. The Boilermakers couldn’t complement its hot 3-point shooting in the first half (8 of 14) on the defensive end. Cox had nine of his 13 points in the first half.
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Jake Diebler’s Ohio State upsets Purdue basketball again