Notebook: Late-game Ohio State issues flare up against Boilermakers

COLUMBUS — Ohio State freshman forward Brice Sensabaugh found himself in a familiar situation. The do-it-all pure scorer had the ball in his hands in the final minute of regulation Thursday night against top-ranked Purdue.

He got the first taste of that kind of pressure during the Buckeyes’ Big Ten opener against Rutgers. At the time, Sensabaugh’s potential game-winner was denied in the paint by Scarlet Knights center Cliff Omoruyi.

Ohio State ended up pulling out the win over Rutgers in controversial fashion, but Sensabaugh got another chance at ending things before the buzzer in Madison Square Garden against North Carolina on Dec. 17. And he delivered with a mini pump fake and make from 10 feet out.

Except, the Buckeyes allowed two inbound passes — with a UNC timeout sandwiched in between — and a buzzer-beating Pete Nance jumper that forced overtime. From there, the Tar Heels completed their comeback.

Now, back to Thursday night in The Schottenstein Center. Another play was drawn up for Sensabaugh, the three-time reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week.

But, because of a poor spacing and a plowed-through screen, Sensabaugh was swarmed by a Boilermaker double-team and couldn’t even get a shot off before the horn, resulting in a 71-69 victory for No. 1 Purdue.

“The last play was like a little set action we run to get a three,” Sensabaugh said. “I came off the screen and I was kind of expecting the aggressive double switch. And I saw it. I mean, it was good defense. I give them credit for that. So I couldn’t really get it off.”

The sequence provided another valuable experience for Sensabaugh, who has the makings of an NBA first rounder. Sensabaugh has averaged 19 points and six rebounds per game in his six starts, turning heads across the Big Ten.

He’s yet to get his game-winner, though.

And the No. 24 Buckeyes, somewhat similarly, are still searching for more end-of-game consistency.

On-ball pressure, including full-court press, continues to pose issues

Ohio State struggled with UNC’s on-ball pressure in the second half and overtime of the CBS Sports Classic. UNC turned to a full-court press that gave the Buckeyes fits and a played a significant role in Ohio State committing 16 turnovers, off which the Tar Heels scored 27 points.

Here, freshman point guard Bruce Thornton was trapped. He had nowhere to go, so he passed the ball to Wright State transfer Tanner Holden. Unable to break the press himself, Holden gave possession back to Thornton, who pushed up the floor while being smothered by UNC guard R.J. Davis. Thornton’s desperate heave past half court soared over the head of Sean McNeil and was intercepted.

Less than a minute of game time later, Justice Sueing and the Buckeyes were called for a five-second violation. Thornton was draped by a pair of Tar Heel defenders, and McNeil didn’t come back to the ball quick enough. Ohio State experienced great difficulty in breaking the UNC press and, even when it did, it was occasionally left with no choice but to hurry on offense.

A full-court press also spelled doom for Ohio State Thursday night against Purdue. Following a Zach Edey layup that brought the Boilermakers within one point of the Buckeyes, head coach Matt Painter called a timeout. Thornton then delivered an inbound pass to Sueing, who was instantly pressured by guard Braden Smith and forward Caleb Furst. Sueing panicked and tried to bounce a pass back to Thornton, but Boilermakers guard Ethan Morton was there for the steal.

“Just not a good pass from me,” said Sueing, who did finish with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting. “Should have took my time maybe a little bit longer. But that was the first thing I saw open was Bruce. Happened to get a hand on it, and they ended up getting the possession.”

Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann added: “Yeah, we gotta get better at it. I gotta get him more comfortable with that. That’s not on Justice, that’s on me. I gotta get him more comfortable in those situations. So that one’s on me.”

The Buckeyes came into the week second nationally in KenPom offensive adjusted efficiency. But if teams keep ramping up the full-court press against Ohio State, and the Buckeyes don’t get better against on-ball pressure, that ranking is going to drop — and Holtmann’s squad is going to continue to have difficulty closing out games.

Zed Key suffering shoulder sprain, Bruce Thornton being under the weather affected rotation

Ohio State center Zed Key was supposed to be a huge part of Thursday’s game against Purdue. As much as it was always going to take a team effort to slow down Edey, Key was going to be the primary player defending the Boilermakers’ 7-foot-4 star and National Player of the Year Candidate.

So when Key suffered a left shoulder sprain less than four minutes into the first half, Ohio State’s game plan had to change. All of a sudden, the Buckeyes were forced to make more rotational plays in the post, trapping Purdue even more than Holtmann and his staff intended.

Felix Okpara stepped up admirably, as the freshman center eclipsed the 30-minute mark after not playing more than 19 minutes in his first 13 games at Ohio State. He chipped in five points, five rebounds, three blocks and two assists. But Holtmann explained that Key, due to his strength, would have been able to move Edey “off his spot a little bit more” than Okpara.

So that factored into how much help the Buckeyes had to provide inside, which, in turn, affected their rotations for defending the 3-point line (more on that below).

What’s more, McNeil twisted his ankle around the 13:43 mark of the first half. While completing a 3-point attempt, his foot landed on the foot of Purdue guard David Jenkins Jr.

McNeil was sidelined for more than eight minutes of game time, but he was able to return to action, unlike Key. Even without both of them, the Buckeyes created their largest lead of the game: a 12-point advantage.

What altered Ohio State’s lineup in the second half was the fatigue of Thornton, who Holtmann said had been under the weather this week.

Thornton checked out with nine minutes left in the period and didn’t hear his number called again until there were 74 seconds remaining. In the meantime, Holtmann was rolling with the lineup of Roddy Gayle Jr., Sensabaugh, Sueing, McNeil and Okpara.

“I just felt like defensively we had some good matchups,” Holtmann said. “And I felt like we were scoring the ball enough.”

Associate head coach Jake Diebler added Friday: “We’ve had a lot of different lineups, but we got a lot of belief in a lot of different guys.”

Purdue drilled season-high 13 3-pointers, most Ohio State has allowed this season

Ohio State had been good at defending the 3-point line all season. Even after allowing 13 triples to Purdue — a season high for the Boilermakers — the Buckeyes are still 26th nationally in opponent 3-point percentage (28.9%), according to KenPom.

The only other team to make double-digit 3-pointers against Ohio State this season was San Diego State during the Maui Invitational.

“They made a lot of a lot of threes tonight,” Sueing said. “I think that was that was the biggest takeaway. A lot of it probably from offensive rebounds. We’ll look at film and figure out how they got that off. But they forced us into a lot of rotations.”

Sueing explained that the strategy was to shrink the floor but also to rotate well to Purdue’s shooters. That didn’t go exactly to plan. He’s right, though, the Boilermakers’ 16 offensive rebounds helped, considering the Boilermakers finished with 16 second-chance points.

Purdue came into the matchup 302nd nationally in 3-point field goal percentage (30.5%). They outperformed that clip, converting 13-of-31 attempts (41.9%) from long range. Freshman guard Fletcher Loyer, who was 0-of-6 from the field in the first half, knocked down a trio of 3-pointers, including the game-winner, in the second period.

“We knew they’d shoot it better than what they had,” Holtmann said. “They’ve got good shooters, and we were just a little bit slow on a couple rotations. They made some tough ones, but some of that we’ve got to clean up. But give them credit, too. They made shots.”