Breakdown: #6 Purdue's win over #16 Ohio State

The ball was supposed to go inside to Zach Edey.

After No. 16 Ohio State had roared back from 20 down in the second half — 11 down with two-and-a-half minutes to go — to tie sixth-ranked Purdue at 78-all with 25 seconds to go, Purdue wanted to get Edey a touch on the interior.

"I messed up the play actually," Jaden Ivey said afterward, "so it was my fault."

Consider him forgiven.

Ivey's three-pointer ripped the net with a fraction of a second left, his second game-winning buzzer-beater over the Buckeyes in as many years. Purdue won 81-78, a critical win for the Big Ten race and yet another that didn't come without some unexpectedly anxious moments.

When Ivey's game-winner splashed, Matt Painter didn't even flinch.

"What I try to do is get them to do their job, do what you're supposed to, play as hard as you can and live with the results when you do those things," Painter said. "But when you don't do some of those things, it just eats at you.

"That's why I didn't flinch. We didn't do what we were supposed to do and normally the basketball gods are not with you at that time. We were very lucky they were with us, because Ohio State was great the last four or five minutes of the game."

PDF: Purdue-Ohio State statistics

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Painter said Purdue was lucky it had the "basketball gods" on its side to finish the game, but it takes both a supreme talent and a supreme gamer, too, to atone for a mistake the way Ivey did.

After Eric Hunter orchestrated things after Purdue's play went sideways, Ivey drilled the three on the move, left to right, with Eugene Brown closing in on him. When the shot went in, Ivey was seated on the floor in his own bench area, having fallen backwards into his teammates' legs.

"This year was a little different because last year we had to fight back," Ivey said when asked to compared this Buckeye-beating buzzer-beater to last year's Buckeye-beating buzzer-beater. "This year, we let them back in the game. We aren't proud of that and it's probably my fault because I made some defensive mistakes and missed some easy buckets. I'm not proud of my performance, to be honest."

Purdue did let Ohio State back in the game.

There were empty possessions, defensive breakdowns and the "Achilles" — Painter's term — that is the Boilermakers' foul shooting. Eleven more misses today, the third game out of the past four that Purdue's missed double-digit free throws.

But Ohio State held up its end, too.

Buckeye star E.J. Liddell was 0-for-5 from three for the day until he made two threes in the final 33 seconds to tie the game. The first was a breakdown by Purdue, the second came off the Boilermakers turning the ball over on an in-bound, a steal by clever veteran Kyle Young.

"We made mistakes," Painter said, "and they made tough shots."

Purdue looked home free with 14-and-a-half minutes to go, when it was up 20, shortly after opening the second half with an 8-0 run.

The Boilermakers definitely looked home free with 2:27 left, when Eric Hunter's three following Mason Gillis' offensive rebound of a missed free throw seemed like the game's final dagger. It put Purdue ahead 76-65 with just 147 seconds to play.

Nope.

Ivey fouled Malaki Branham (20 points) shooting a three, and the three foul shots started a 7-0 Buckeye run. After another second chance generated by Gillis resulted in two free throws for him, Purdue led by six, before Liddell's only two threes of the game knotted the score. Liddell finished with 20.

It was quite a departure from the first 35 minutes or so, when Purdue was clearly the better team on this day, the foul line being the glaring exception. Purdue was 15-of-26, with Zach Edey going 6-of-11 and Trevion Williams 1-of-5.

Ivey led Purdue with 21 points.

Edey scored 20 on 7-of-9 shooting and drew 10 fouls, clearly rattling Ohio State.

"That's what happens when I play physical and get deep post touches," Edey said. "It's hard to guard me without fouling when I get that post position."

Sasha Stefanovic scored all 11 of his points in the final five minutes of the first half, the basis for Purdue's 39-30 halftime lead.

Gillis contributed seven points and 11 rebounds and accounted for more points and possessions than his stats would reflect.

He also led a defensive effort against E.J. Liddell that had the Buckeye All-America candidate at just 5-of-14 from the floor for 14 points, and 0-for-5 from three, prior to the final 33 seconds.

Liddell finished with only three rebounds. In Ohio State's last game, he grabbed 15 at Minnesota.

"He's a great player, one of the best players in the country," Gillis said. "I knew I had to bring my A game today. It was a great game. I loved playing against him. There were little battles on the court and the refs came in. It was nothing personal, just two competitive people going at it, wanting to win the game."

Survive and advance, right?

This is another game similar to the first Iowa game where Purdue was borderline dominant for 30-plus minutes, yet almost let it get away. Ohio State had a lot to do with this today, but the Boilermakers have to learn to be better when playing from ahead. Remember, robust second-half margins already got away in the losses to Rutgers and Wisconsin.

This is Big Ten basketball. Every possession matters pretty much all the time, and that seems to be an area where Purdue still must grow with its understanding.

Big win, though, and a heck of a thrill for the fans.

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