Ohio State upsets No. 2 Purdue in first game after Chris Holtmann's firing, fans storm court

There were very few people giving Ohio State much of a shot against No. 2 Purdue on Sunday. However, that didn’t stop the Buckeyes from upsetting the Boilermakers by a final score of 73-69.

This was the first game in the aftermath of Ohio State deciding to move on from head coach Chris Holtmann. It made for an emotionally charged effort from the Buckeyes on the court and in the stands, and once the game ended fans stormed the court.

You can watch Ohio State beat Purdue and fans storm the court in Columbus, here:

DOWN GOES NO. 2 🚨@OhioStateHoops upsets Purdue in Columbus. This is the Buckeyes' first win against a Top-2 conference team since 2018. pic.twitter.com/RqJixK2Uwr

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 18, 2024

Ohio State held a small lead for the majority of the second half, doing what the Buckeyes could amid foul issues to hold onto the win. In the end, with the Boilermakers intentionally fouling, Ohio State made its free throws and held on for the win.

In the final second of the game, Purdue threw to Zach Edey, needing a three-point shot and a foul to possibly tie the game. They didn’t get it, though, and the celebration was on for the Buckeyes. The team jumped up and down at center court while fans ran out to join them.

Bruce Thornton led the way for the Buckeyes with 22 points in 35 minutes. Behind him, Jamison Battle managed to put up 19 points in 26 minutes on the floor. On the other side, Zach Edey scored 22 for the Boilermakers despite getting into some first-half foul trouble.

One of the biggest keys to the game turned out to be the Buckeyes’ ability to defend the three-point line. The Boilermakers only managed three made shots from beyond the arc and it helped to limit their offense.

Chris Holtmann was replaced by Jake Diebler. He had been an assistant on Holtmann’s staff before getting promoted to the interim role for the end of the season.

Gene Smith pushes back on idea of lacking fan support for Ohio State basketball

Outgoing Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith doesn’t think that the basketball team lacks fan support. In fact, it’s an idea that he addressed and pushed back on while speaking to the media following the decision to let go of Chris Holtmann.

“We have to have expectations consistent with reality. There are going to be games throughout the year where you’re going to you’re going to have eight or 10 [thousand fans]. You guys seem to forget that conversation from like 10 years ago. The reality is that’s going to happen. It happened during the Thad Matta years. Go back and look at the numbers that were in the eight and 10,000 fans periodically throughout the season,” Smith said.

“However, to your point, there’s got to be six, seven or eight games, where we’re close to that sell out, or at the sell out. We haven’t had, that to your point. That’s really what you’re talking about. It hadn’t died on the vine. But at the end of the day, we need to get better and we need to win. And my advice to Ross [Bjork] is simple: Product, place, price. That’s marketing. And you gotta win.”