At halftime Tuesday, a flagging and drooping Ohio State team that should have been better appeared doomed to more underperformance, buried under a 13-point lead.

Then the second half started. A team shooting 30% from 3 in conference play hit one, then two, then a whole barrage of 11 big ones on 23 attempts. The Buckeyes (11-8, 3-5 Big Ten) outrebounded their opponents 19-11 after facing a healthy first half deficit in that department, too.

Corrections were happening all over the place, including for No. 11 Purdue (15-5, 7-2). The Boilers clanged jump shots and shooting stalwarts C.J. Cox and Braden Smith – dogged by foul trouble – both air-balled.

Though one of the Boilers' stars kept them in it til the end, it wasn't enough in a 73-70 loss in Mackey Arena, snapping a 26-game home win streak.

Player stats below, with ratings to follow:

Smith wasn't himself Tuesday – at least not when it came to putting the ball in the can. He found a way to end with 12 points, but 3 were the result of free throws in the game's final minute.

He didn't start that way. Early on, Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn were operating the pick and roll like lightning, running circles around their opponents.

Then came foul trouble midway through the first half, when Smith trailed his man after he couldn't quite slither through a screen, and the official didn't agree with Smith's heat-seeking pursuit. Smith, for what it's worth, didn't agree with the call.

He shot just 2-of-12 in the second half.

Fletcher Loyer, while imperfect, played a wily, veteran game, which gave Purdue a puncher's chance all night.

Loyer made a couple of huge plays in the mid-second half. In a stretch of play where C.J. Cox and Braden Smith both air-balled jumpers, Loyer hit two buckets and jumped Buckeye star guard Bruce Thornton for a steal.

His defense was sound on back-to-back daggers from Buckeye guard Micah Parrish late in the second half.

In the opening period, he sank an and-one jumper, took an offensive foul and fell down just right to coax a whistle on a baseline drive.

Wily, veteran stuff, per usual.

Trey Kaufman-Renn stayed white, piping hot. He started very fast in the first half, slowed as his team fell behind in the second, and then became unstoppable down the stretch.

He missed two shots late in the second half, mere feet from the basket, and committed a turnover shortly after that. But then he turned it around with a physical make, and brought Purdue within one possession, and then 1 point.

Kaufman-Renn won Big Ten Player of the Week last week, but it wasn't for his first halves. In wins against Washington and Oregon, the big man did his damage after the halftime buzzer, but on Tuesday night scored 14 points in the opening 20 minutes, and 12 in the closing 20.

He began the second half on the bench, surely resulting at least partially from his three fouls, but played an important defensive role down the stretch on Bruce Thornton.

He came in with Braden Smith in foul trouble in the first half and, on his second offensive possession, sank a floater off the glass as he spun and leaned toward from the basket. It was an example of a scoring rhythm that stuck with him throughout the first half – all his 9 points came before the break. The second half was no place for freshmen.

He showed inexperience as a ball handler with two turnovers.

Furst was leaned on in the second half, playing 14 minutes as Purdue searched for rebounding and defensive help. He didn't provide much of the former – three rebounds all game. He also didn't score.

The senior had trouble finishing through contact, an issue that has cropped up throughout his career.

He also couldn't escape the whistle-happy officiating crew, exiting the first half with five minutes to go and not returning before the break.

He played in smaller lineups alongside Camden Heide, which appeared to work in the first half against a smaller Buckeyes squad. But he hardly played in the second half, mixing in defense against Thornton.

Heide, too, was used in smaller first half lineups for his tenacious wing defense on a variety of players, including Thornton. He played six minutes in the second half but picked up two assists in them.

He primarily guarded Thornton in his 19 minutes, to uneven results. He is laser-focused in one-on-one defense against a ball handler, but was eaten up by screens as the Buckeyes went on their second half runs.

On offense, though, Harris nailed his only two 3s after struggling from deep all year.

Burgess was given some run in the freshmen-heavy lineup of the mid-first half. He induced a travel from Devin Royal in that stretch, and picked up an assist on a pass to a cutting C.J. Cox he threw from the top of the key. He didn't play in the second half.

A lot is anchored to Game Score, a metric invented by John Hollinger which (quite imperfectly) estimates a player's box score contributions. It's just a starting point for the grades, and it's readily available. During the game, I focus most of my attention on watching defensive reps, box-outs, offensive movement/involvement, and non-assist passing. I'll add all the off-ball value to these grades that my eyes can catch.

Further, these are role dependent – my grades answer a question that goes something like, "How well did a player take advantage of the opportunities they were given?"

Late game heroics earn bonus points, and the opposite is true for important errors. Oh, and I hate missed free throws.

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