Oller: How to explain it? Ohio State shocks No. 2 Purdue after coaching change
We may never know how a team “dying on the vine,” as one media observer put it last week, blossomed back to life just in time to pull one of the biggest upsets in Ohio State men’s basketball history.
And that is no exaggeration. The unranked Buckeyes shocked No. 2 Purdue 73-69 Sunday at rocking Value City Arena in a game they had no business winning. Except for 40 minutes they were all business. Clock in. Go to work. Clock out.
Ohio State has had bigger wins, but not many more shocking than this one.
No one can fully explain how it happened. Players, coaches, media and fans will try, but the truth is that exact answers are like nuts buried by squirrels for the winter. Some get found. Some remain hidden.
What got found? Motivation inspired by mayhem. After athletic director Gene Smith fired Chris Holtmann on Wednesday, replacing him with assistant Jake Diebler on an interim basis, the Buckeyes pulled together like what often can happen during times of crisis. You know the drill: Circle the wagons because it’s us against the world. “We’ll show them,” and all that.
Another way to look at it is Ohio State needed chaos to create focus. Holtmann’s firing got the Buckeyes attention, and they carried their single-mindedness into Sunday. It helped that Purdue was a big target led by a giant of a man, 7-foot-4 Zach Edey. Who knows if OSU wins if the opponent had been Rutgers? But the Buckeyes (15-11, 5-10 Big Ten) found in the Boilermakers (23-3, 12-3) a foe to foment their focus. Playing on national TV didn’t hurt the cause, either.
What else was found? Zed Key. Buried on the bench for much of the season, the senior suddenly emerged from imposed hibernation with 9 points and five steals. That the performance occurred against Edey is somewhat startling, but not shocking. Key wanted to prove something. Is he a team-first guy? Yes. He also is human, and pride is a powerful emotional spark plug for our species.
In Key’s case, when your head coach – Holtmann – turns elsewhere for answers it’s not just the world you want to prove wrong. It's also your coach. With Holtmann out the door, Key had a chance to become a key to knocking off Purdue. Whether consciously or not, the 6-8 center saw to it that at least for one game he would be labeled as something more than “just a guy.”
“Zed can’t BS us anymore,” OSU sophomore point guard Bruce Thornton said. “We know what he can do, especially against the No. 1 big in the country.”
Can he do it again? We shall see. Regardless, when it mattered, Key delivered. Good on him.
What remains hidden? How much of Sunday’s win can be, or should be, attributed to the coaching change, as it relates to preparation and strategy?
To be blunt, was this proof that Smith made the right call in firing Holtmann when he did? Undoubtedly, many of Holtmann’s critics will make that claim.
“See? Should have made a coaching change months ago. We don’t beat Purdue if Holtmann was still in charge.”
Except it’s not that clear cut. Players rallying to win for a freshly-fired coach is straight out of Psychology 101, even if many fans will call it "Introduction to Logic." No Holtmann + Now Diebler = Win. (accurate deduction.)
True, the offense looked less stop-and-start with Diebler at the helm, but don’t get carried away just yet. He has been in charge of the offense for two seasons. Let’s wait a few more weeks before declaring Diebler the diamond in the rough the Buckeyes needed. I liked what I saw, but want to see more.
But neither should the coaching change be dismissed out of hand as the reason Ohio State suddenly looked rejuvenated. Diebler brings a fresh start for players who were bolted to the bench. He brings new enthusiasm. His coaching personality is not necessarily better or worse than Holtmann’s, but it is different. And after struggling for nearly two full seasons, the Buckeyes probably needed different.
To hear players and Diebler tell it, the roster was still listening to Holtmann, still engaged and believing in his game planning and in-game adjustments. But what else are players going to say? “We lost faith in the guy?” This isn’t the NBA. Coaches hold the power, not players.
I have no clue if the Buckeyes had tuned out Holtmann. Guess what? Neither does Holtmann. Neither do the players, because “losing the locker room” is not easily measured. More feel than fact. It may well be that no one ever knows for certain why things went from good to bad to worse over Holtmann’s seven years in Columbus.
Some problems can be properly identified, like too many strikeouts in the transfer portal. But many factors come into play for a program like Ohio State to fall this far this fast. Some reasons rise to the surface. Some remain buried in perpetuity.
All we know for certain is that for one day, this was the Ohio State that fans pay to see. And 18,353 just got their money’s worth.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State men's basketball pulls shocker against Zach Edey, Purdue
