∏ Zach Edey At 4:30 remaining in the first half, he was flagged for his second foul, and that’s when the game changed. With him off the field, Ohio State went on an 11-2 run and led by five points at the half. In the first minute of the second half, he passed Joe Barry Carroll to become the program’s all-time leading rebounder before going down and scoring on a simple hook. In the end, he scored 22 points, pulled down 13 rebounds, and made an impeccable 8 of 8 free throws. However, he committed six turnovers as the OSU big men were excellent at smothering him and using their hands to swat Edey’s ball away. After the incident, Matt Painter remarked, “That wasn’t something that’s really happened to him, all year.” Edey
The person Trey Kaufman-Renn Having scored three of Purdue’s first five baskets, he had some nice early moments. However, he was unable to have any effect for the remainder of the first half, particularly after Edey was substituted. TKR typically becomes more aggressive and attacks when that occurs, but Ohio State’s defense did a great job of making things challenging for the Boilermakers forward. In the second half, he added two more field goals, but in his 22 minutes, he only pulled down three rebounds. In the end, he scored 12 points, his highest total since January 5. Score: 5.5
∏ Lance Jones — After making an open three in transition to give Purdue a five-point lead, the X-factor for Purdue did not score again the remainder of the first half. After going 1 of 7 in the first half, he watched Ethan Morton enter the game to attempt a different defensive strategy against Bruce Thornton, who had scored 14 points in the first half. Jones was 3-for-11 from the field despite nailing two 3-pointers in the second half, one of which tied the game at 65-65 with 1:30 remaining. Score: 5.0
