After tumultuous week, Ohio State has chance to make statement against No. 2 Purdue
What happened Wednesday wasn’t something Ohio State’s players could directly control. Team captain Bruce Thornton made that clear Friday afternoon, that the decision to not finish out the season with coach Chris Holtmann was one made by athletic director Gene Smith and was way above their pay grade.
All the Buckeyes can control now is their response to the week’s events. That starts Sunday afternoon with a shot at a win that would at least put some shine on a tarnished tapestry that is the 2023-24 season.
After all, what better way to prove that there is still a good basketball team inside the home locker room at Value City Arena than by taking down the Big Ten’s juggernaut, No. 2 Purdue?
“I’m trying to make sure all my guys are on the same page,” Thornton said. “The confidence I feel like we still have, that we’re going to keep moving on. Take today, get better today, understand what we have to do to beat Purdue and I think everything will take care of itself.”
Of course, that’s easier said than done even in the best of circumstances. The Boilermakers come to town on a nine-game winning streak, the sixth-longest in the nation, and with a 23-2 overall record. Both of those losses are in road games, but since a Jan. 9 loss at Nebraska the Boilermakers have won at Indiana, Iowa, Rutgers and Wisconsin.
Purdue is 70th nationally in Division I experience per KenPom.com and ninth in minutes continuity. The Boilermakers are experienced and experienced with each other, two things the Buckeyes can’t claim about themselves.
Interim coach Jake Diebler said that while there’s only so much he can accomplish between his first practice Thursday and the game, that doesn’t change Ohio State’s goal for Sunday.
“It’s certainly well-documented, the task that will be at hand on Sunday,” he said. “Our guys were going into that game to compete at the highest level and win. I understand there’s some areas we’ve got to get better that we’re working on addressing quickly, but they want to win this game. They know the opportunity.”
The sticking point is that if this year’s team had taken care of a few other opportunities, this game would carry a little less gravity. Instead, Ohio State will play its first-ever game with an interim coach because the Buckeyes have lost double-digit Big Ten games in consecutive seasons for the first time since a six-year stretch from 1992-93 through 1997-98.
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Any chance to take down the nation’s No. 2 team is meaningful. In this case, it’s a chance for the players to show what Smith said largely led to Holtmann’s dismissal: there is talent on the roster that hasn’t been fully realized.
Yet, the notion that the Buckeyes have something to prove or an extra chip on their shoulders after their coach was fired is something Thornton downplayed. After all, Ohio State went 16-19 last season and 5-15 in the Big Ten. This year was supposed to prove that last year was a fluke.
“I feel like when (Holtmann) was here, we were still trying to prove people wrong,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to say that we’re doing it for Holt. Holt would want us players, the ones he recruited, to do it for ourselves. Do it the Ohio State basketball way. We know we’re playing for the guy next to us.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State has chance for season-defining win as No. 2 Purdue visits
