It was a meltdown of epic proportions. A hard, cold face-plant. That’s what their faces said, anyway.

Fletcher Loyer’s was red, flushed from 40 minutes of exercise, sure, but you’d believe it if the cause was embarrassment from a loss that shouldn’t have been. Not with the 13-point halftime lead Purdue had built, partially on the backs of freshmen.

In the postgame news conference, as he sat beside teammates Trey Kaufman-Renn, a fellow junior, and Gicarri Harris, a freshman, Loyer issued a diagnosis.

“We just didn’t start off good in the second half, had a couple turnovers, missed a few shots,” the guard said. “But ultimately I thought it was our defense. Just let them score easy buckets and get out and do what they want to do … Their record doesn't mean much, because they're a good team. They’ve got a lot of talent.”

Micah Parrish was one such example on an Ohio State team that entered Mackey Arena Tuesday night as losers of its last three games. Parrish sat in Loyer’s seat at the interview table after the Boilermakers had trotted up to the mics and slunk away from them. Not an hour before, the Buckeye guard had hit back-to-back 3s in Loyer’s face in the final minutes of the game, the difference in a 73-70 defeat.

Loyer defended well – “We were right there on those last two 3s,” head coach Matt Painter said – and there’s photographic proof: The image at the top of Parrish’s Ohio State roster page has already been changed to one of those shots, where the Ohio State guard’s curled fingertips snap mere inches away from Loyer’s outstretched hand.

“Fletch had to break his rhythm,” Painter said. Purdue’s opponents hadn’t had much rhythm to break over the previous 15 halves of basketball, as the Boilermakers built a seven-game win streak that looked bound to continue at Tuesday’s halftime buzzer.

The Buckeyes were shooting 38%; Purdue was just 1-of-5 from 3, but it had gone undefeated in two games the previous week with a grand total of five makes from deep. Instead of beating teams with marksmanship, the Boilers had done so in hand-to-hand combat: They’ve risen to the No. 1 team in Big Ten conference play at creating defensive turnovers, and center Kaufman-Renn garnered Big Ten Player of the Week honors last week for his post scoring efforts.

Once again, Purdue created defensive havoc – the Buckeyes committed 18 turnovers, including four from Parrish and five by forward Devin Royal. But those two shot better than 60% together, with Parrish 6-of-8 on 3s and Royal 8-of-10 on free throws. They combined for 22 points in the second half.

“They had a lot more one-on-one players that were going to go and try to make plays,” Kaufman-Renn said.

All too often in Tuesday’s second half, the Buckeyes’ dangerous ball-handlers found worrisome pockets of space, namely junior Bruce Thornton dribbling around ball screens into the middle of the court. Sometimes, the Boilers robbed the final pass of an otherwise effective Buckeye possession. Other times, and often in bunches, Ohio State would nail its shots or rebound its few misses.

“There's no question they were quicker to the ball than we were in the second half,” Painter said. “I think that's what happens when you see that ball go in, and you gain confidence. I think that helped them in the second half.”

To Ohio State coach Jake Diebler, his team’s second half and late-game play were the result of poise and execution. To Purdue, defense was not up to par. It’s likely the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

“The ball was getting where we wanted to get the ball,” Painter said. “We didn't convert a lot of times … Don't look at it like what we're doing is wrong. Stay process based. There are some good things that happened for us.”

More good things happened for Ohio State Tuesday. One night of that, the first in 26 at Mackey Arena that didn’t result in a Purdue win, was coming eventually.

The Boilers just can’t afford two – No. 21 Michigan visits Friday.

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