Ohio State junior guard Duane Washington Jr. (4) looks around a Purdue player to pass the ball to a teammate during the Ohio State-Purdue game on Jan. 19.
In a rhythm and leading 35-24 at home, it appeared the Buckeyes were primed to win their fourth consecutive conference game Tuesday.
But inefficient offense and defensive breakdowns led to a heartbreaking defeat in the final seconds of the game. No. 15 Ohio State (11-4) fell 67-65 to Purdue (11-5), and although head coach Chris Holtmann said the loss stings, he emphasized that the team he repeatedly has described as a work in progress would not get hung up on the result.
“We’re always trying not to be a prisoner of the moment. I think it’s always about progress and growth and getting better,” Holtmann said. “The only thing that matters is kinda what our locker room feels, and they’re disappointed, but we have to figure out how to respond to this and move forward.”
In a constant struggle to match intensity and physicality in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes attempted 35 3-pointers and made 14.
With the high volume of threes, the Buckeyes only took 18 shots from inside the arc. Holtmann said the high number of shots from deep “was a few too many” and that the inability to establish their offense on the inside was a result of Purdue’s physicality.
“I just think their physicality defensively took us out of some stuff. They poked a lot of balls loose, they bumped us off our cuts, but it’s how they play and we need to be better with that,” Holtmann said.
Redshirt senior guard CJ Walker missed another game for the Buckeyes as he continues to recover from an injury to his hand.
Although Holtmann said he thought about what it would have been like to have Walker on the floor, he said there were no excuses and that they “were capable enough out there” to execute.
Holtmann said there were stretches in which the Buckeyes fought hard and played well.
However, the fourth-year Ohio State head coach said his team played “just not quite hard enough.”
Holding a 5-point lead with just over two minutes remaining, the Boilermakers delivered a fatal 8-0 run before junior guard Duane Washington Jr. broke the spell with a free throw in the waning moments.
Washington said the team has made strides to be better every day, but emphasized the need to be better down the stretch of games.
“We didn’t do a great job today of staying poised and staying within ourselves and doing what we want to do: playing Ohio State basketball, moving it, getting the ball in our spots, being aggressive, physical, strong,” Washington said.
Although similar to the Buckeyes’ loss to Northwestern in which the Wildcats climbed back to win 71-70 at the end, Holtmann said he doesn’t see a concerning pattern developing with his team trying to close out games.
“I think it’s college basketball. I think it’s what you have in this league,” Holtmann said. “It never felt like a game that was in hand — one way or another. It always felt like it was like a couple-possession game.”
Instead of concerning himself with the negatives that came in the loss, Holtmann said the focus is on learning and improving.
The road does not get easier for the Buckeyes as they will travel to take on No. 10 Wisconsin Saturday, but Holtmann and his team are looking to use a disappointing loss as a stepping stone going forward.
“We’re trying to learn from every circumstance that comes our way,” Holtmann said. “Hopefully we can use it to improve and get better and that’s kinda on us to make that decision, but absolutely, that’s the beauty of playing in this league is it stings but hopefully we can use it to move forward.”
