Ohio appeared headed for a blowout when Purdue, who made the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament last season, was on its schedule for a December nonconference contest in The Convo.
The Bobcats, who hosted their first Big Ten opponent since 2001, were in their first season with first-year coach Jeff Boals. Their roster, which had only seven players from last season and eight freshmen, didn’t appear to stand much of a chance against the Boilermakers, who entered with the top defense in the Big Ten.
Ohio fell 69-51 to Purdue on Tuesday, but the Bobcats arguably displayed more improvement against the Boilermakers than against any other opponent thus far.
“I thought we battled. I thought we competed,” Boals said. “That’s really what you want to see. We got some good looks, and we knocked them down.”
Why did an 18-point loss feel like an improvement?
Ohio’s three losses before Tuesday came against other major college basketball programs in Villanova, Baylor and Utah. Those schools all had players with taller, stronger and better skills. The Bobcats, predictably, could rarely compete against the stiffer competition.
That looked to be the case again when the Bobcats trailed 37-17 at halftime against Purdue. Ohio had 12 turnovers, and Nate Springs, who’s played off the bench thus far, led the Bobcats with just six points.
A big blowout seemed inevitable. With its young roster, Ohio wasn’t a strong bet to make things interesting in front of a crowd of 5,663 fans eager for a possible upset. The Bobcats struggled to close scoring gaps in their previous three losses, too, so why would that change now against a team on the cusp of breaking into the AP Top 25?
Ohio solved its turnover issue — it only committed four the rest of the night — and found ways to produce without the touch of Jason Preston, who entered Tuesday fourth in the nation with 8.6 assists per game and led Ohio with 15.9 points per game.
Instead, redshirt senior Jordan Dartis powered the Bobcats with 12 points in an 24-10 scoring run that brought the score to 47-41 with 11 minutes left. Freshman Lunden McDay, who is a frequent starter because of his defensive talents, contributed seven quick points, too.
Ohio received no points in that 10-minute stretch from its usual top scorers in Preston and redshirt sophomore Ben Vander Plas.
Purdue coach Matt Painter had the Boilermakers focus on that duo the most, but Ohio found ways to work around the game plan from a coach who has reached the NCAA Tournament 11 times since 2005.
For Ohio, that’s a significant improvement.
“They were just doing a good job of finding people,” Painter said. “A couple of (the points) were just breakdowns from us, a couple of them were just better offensive plays than defensive plays.”
The Boilermakers found cushion after the brief scare, but Painter, who coached Purdue to a 95-67 blowout over former Ohio coach Saul Phillips last season, credited Boals with developing a challenging game plan.
“(Preston and Vander Plas) are great building blocks,” Painter said. “I know Boals has a lot of guys hurt. He’s got a lot of young guys, but he’s in a unique situation. He’s in a good place, and they’ve obviously had a lot of success.”
Ohio may not play an opponent as tough as Purdue the rest of the season. The Bobcats have two nonconference games left in Morehead State and Campbell, and no Mid-American Conference team is currently receiving votes for the AP Top 25.
When MAC play begins Jan. 4, Ohio will likely be in position to compete in the MAC East.
That seemed to be a stretch in the preseason, when the Bobcats were an unanimous selection to finish last in the division in the conference coaches poll.
Ohio has a 7-4 record despite injuries to top freshman recruit Ben Roderick, Conner Murrell and most recently Nolan Foster. All three of those players would have sizable roles if healthy.
Injuries, nor the game plan from Purdue, phased Ohio against a perennial NCAA Tournament team.
Now, it no longer seems far-fetched for the Bobcats to find MAC success.
The improvements Tuesday against the Boilermakers showed that more than perhaps any other game this season.
