Breakdown: Purdue's win at No. 15 Ohio State

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Those around Jaden Ivey — teammates, coaches, friends, family, whoever — know how much of himself he puts into this whole basketball thing: Every ounce.

So when the freshman nailed the go-ahead three-pointer with five seconds left, and then Purdue hung on to win 67-65 at No. 15 Ohio State Tuesday night, there was more than one reason to celebrate.

"Nobody deserves it more than Jaden," teammate Trevion Williams said.

It was just two days ago — Purdue traveled to Columbus on just one-day prep for this rescheduled game — that Ivey followed up his clutch three-point shooting at Indiana with an 0-for-5 shooting game vs. Penn State, a regression to his struggles in the area of the game he's put so much time, energy and emotion into.

Before the skeleton-crew crowd had even dispersed Mackey Arena, Ivey was back on Keady Court, by himself, just him and a ball, and the cardboard cutouts looking on. He joined his teammates in the locker room to briefly celebrate a win, then went right back to work, work that may have paid off immeasurably at Ohio State.

This was Purdue's biggest win of the season, and its fourth in a row. Purdue's now won three straight on the road. The Big Ten's least experienced team has won at Michigan State, Indiana and Ohio State in succession, and scored a Goliath for its NCAA Tournament résumé just now.

It comes courtesy of not just Ivey's game-winner, but also the triple he hit with 3:11 to play, 24 seconds after Duane Washington's sixth three-pointer put Ohio State up a half dozen. Purdue looked cooked at that moment, before Ivey had his say.

Before those two clutch threes — and all Ivey's threes seem to be big ones, whether it was Maryland, Indiana or now Ohio State — he was 0-for-4 from three-point range and had missed his last nine.

The magnitude of the moment and the personal meaning of his work being rewarded — with his mother, Niele, again looking on from the stands — brought Ivey to tears afterward.

"I'm still just gathering myself a little bit," Ivey warned when asked about the game-winner.

Then, a setback.

"At the timeout, I told myself, 'This game's over, I'm hitting this shot," Ivey said, before grappling with a groundswell of his own emotions. "I've been in a slump. ... I wanted this game so bad, and I've been struggling, mentally ... I want to win so bad, and just to see that shot go in, it just means everything."

This was Ivey's time, the moment a player Purdue expects to be great, and who holds himself to that exact standard, was just that.

Ivey scored 15 points in 27 minutes, the last several of which highlighted Matt Painter's faith in a young player who's rode a wave of ups and downs this season, from injury to inconsistency to the normal challenges of being an 18-year-old playing in the most competitive conference in college basketball, during a pandemic no less.

Through it all, one thing has never wavered: Ivey's overwhelming belief in himself, that confidence that can sometimes make a good player a great player or a great player a special player. That belief is largely a product of the commitment he's made.

"I've wanted it since I was a little kid, watching NBA basketball on TV," Ivey said. "Seeing all the greats out there, I just wanted to be like them. I just wanted to go to the gym. That's all I've ever wanted to do."

Ivey's Hollywood-ish heroics are the story from the Ohio State game, but one of many.

Much like the win at Michigan State, Purdue again did most everything right to finish a game that appeared lost on several occasions.

The Boilermakers trailed by double-figures in the first half and looked like their best efforts would fall just short after Justin Ahrens made a back-breaking three-pointer to put Ohio State up five with 2:08 left, not to mention the six-point lead it held earlier. This easily could have been a loss chalked up most notably to a special shooting night from Washington, who was 6-of-9 from three, many of them far from easy, and scored 21.

But after Trevion Williams scored the last of his 16 points and Purdue forced a shot-clock violation, Sasha Stefanovic's one and only three-pointer of the game tied it at 64 with under a minute to play.

Another excellent defensive possession ended with Aaron Wheeler — an easily overlooked crunch-time hero himself — blocking Ahrens' three-pointer from the corner with 27 seconds left.

Twenty-two seconds later, Ivey won it, though it wasn't official until Wheeler grabbed the rebound of E.J. Liddell's purposely missed free throw, then chucked the ball down the court as the clock expired.

For Purdue, another sign that maybe everything's starting to come together for this group defined by its youth.

"Never satisfied," Williams said. "We're never going to settle. We have to keep getting better."

Purdue's shown some substance, though, beyond its years. Road wins in the Big Ten — fans or not — are precious and for the Boilermakers to have won three straight, two of them harrowingly close, says something.

"Everyone in the Big Ten's tough," Stefanovic said, "and in order to get wins, you have to play tough and be resilient on both ends of the floor. Sometimes we don't show that, but late in games recently, we've shown what Purdue basketball is all about in how we play hard and get rebounds, play tough on the defensive end and execute offensively. That's the foundation of our program and what it's done. Lately, these past few games, we've really done that."

Prior to his game-tying three, Stefanovic, the Big Ten's leading three-point shooter, was 0-for-4, run off the line at all costs by an aggressive Ohio State defense.

He used that aggression against the Buckeyes, though, by scoring the first 12 of his 15 points off the dribble, off cuts or from the foul line. Four of his 11 two-point field goals this season came tonight against the Buckeyes.

"Not being a one-dimensional player is something I've been working on," Stefanovic said.

It didn't stop Stefanovic from being ready to shoot when the moment demanded it.

"That's the purpose of me being on the floor sometimes," Stefanovic said, "just being ready to shoot, knock down threes and provide our team that threat from the three-point line to spread out our offense."

Get this:

Purdue was 5-of-20 from three-point range for the game.

It finished 3-for-3.

After Ivey's three, Painter yelled for Purdue to foul as Ohio State changed ends. Aaron Wheeler heard him and did so. "Duane Washington got it and I said, 'Oh (dear), he's gonna hit a 30-footer," Painter joked. That was a nod to Washington. Years ago, Painter finished off a win over Ohio State at home by taking the same approach to D'Angelo Russell. ... Purdue won despite Ohio State making 14 threes. ... Williams was again limited to just six first-half minutes due to foul trouble, but came up big in the second half, finishing with 16 points for the game, with seven rebounds. Zach Edey gave Purdue excellent minutes in Williams' absence, finishing with eight points and five rebounds.

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