The lingering question was in the back of every Purdue basketball fan’s mind, optimist and pessimist alike – which was the fluke, the Boilermakers’ 29-point domination of #5 Virginia or the dismal 14-point Delany Week loss at Nebraska?

Even the most optimistic Purdue fan could see signs throughout the nonconference schedule that this year’s Purdue team was a defensive juggernaut with some severe offensive challenges, a team that shoots threes closer to the 17% Nebraska game mark than the 52% Virginia game mark.

This odd road game at Ohio (part of the football contract according to Neubert, which is apparently a thing) came at the perfect time to confirm every preconceived notion coming into the game. Either Purdue was every bit the flawed team of the pessimists, and only Mackey Magic can inject any life into this limp offense. Or…hey, even the best teams (Purdue’s been top 10 in Kenpom all year) have down games on the road in the Big Ten, lighten up wouldja?

Throw in a missing Matt Haarms due to a concussion sustained at Nebraska, and we were in for the ultimate hot-take session from Purdue faithful.

So what happened?

Purdue started slow, opened a 20-point lead at halftime (with Ohio scoring only 17 points), allowed a 15-1 Ohio run in the middle of the second half which saw their lead collapse to 7, and woke back up to seal a bounce back 69-51 road win.

The lesson: maybe some dumb coaching clichés are true. Teams are never as good as they look on their best day (tonight, best minute), or as bad as they look on their worst. It’s just super weird for those games/minutes to happen so close to each other.

Purdue looked to showcase Trevion Williams early, but Ohio’s defense held stout, forcing a handful of quick turnovers and missed shots in the paint. For the first 8 minutes, the game was so very uninteresting as Ohio kept within striking distance. It wasn’t quite enough to get worried, mostly because exactly nothing of consequence happened.

(Except for a Flex Glue commercial. More on that later.)

But Jahaad Proctor woke the game up. He hit a three off a baseline curl, picked off a pass leading to a fast break Hunter three, then hit an open corner three off an offensive rebound. Suddenly, Purdue’s offense was flowing after taking two games and 10 minutes off after the UVA game. The floodgates had opened, leading to a 20-point halftime lead driven by Proctor, Trevion, and Eric Hunter.

After Ohio’s aforementioned run cut the lead to 7, Purdue countered by, well, embracing the ugliness of their offense when shots aren’t falling. Attacking the glass gave Wheeler a bucket and Sasha some free throws, Proctor turned to his herky-jerky midrange game, and Trevion’s confidence in the post gave Purdue it’s rhythm back.

It also got Purdue’s defense active again – Ohio scored 10 points in the final 11 minutes after cutting Purdue’s lead into single-digits. 

Player of the Game

Purdue needs to run its offense through Trevion Williams this year, and I think they finally figured that out tonight. He scored 14 points on 6/11 shooting, with 4 rebounds and 3 assists offsetting his 5 turnovers and 4 fouls. But it’s not just the stats – he was the presence that helped attack the glass to slow Ohio’s run, and some well-timed gorgeous passes gave Purdue it’s offensive mojo back in the second half.

All that said, Eric Hunter is this team’s offensive engine. His three has become nearly automatic (except at Nebraska), hitting 4/5 tonight on the way to 18 points.  

The Good

• Nojel post passing and activity. Nojel had a fine line for his limited offensive game – 11 points on 5/7 shooting – but it was the way he attacked gaps that impressed me today. That, and this dunk:

• Hunter and Nojel containing Ohio’s Jason Preston. The sophomore Ohio guard had been enjoying a breakout season so far, averaging 17 points and 8 assists on 47% shooting. Tonight – 6 points on 2/8 shooting, 5 assists, and 5 turnovers. (He grabbed 10 rebounds, which kind of validates his game to me. If you’re having an off game and still grab 10 rebounds as a guard, you have my utmost respect.)

• Ohio’s extremely Mackey-like arena. Props to the designers, zero props to the subdued crowd.

• The ESPN announcing crew mentioning color announcer Robbie Hummel winning Team USA’s Player of the Year award as many times as they could. Shoutout to being proud of your friends but also making sure to give them enough grief publicly to make sure their heads don’t get too big.

• Trevion calming this team down makes me think of the Swanigan days again. It’s pretty cool to see Trevion so clearly pattern his game after Biggie (even wearing his number), and be able to see clear progress in that direction.

The Bad

• Protecting a lead. Purdue isn’t good enough to take its foot off the gas pedal, even against a team like Ohio. They sure didn’t against Virginia, and kept running the floor and pouring in threes as the reigning champs feebly tried to make any kind of run. Let’s try that strategy for the rest of the year.

• Expecting a nice easy second half closeout of a MAC team after opening a 20-point lead. Never have expectations like that while watching Purdue on the road.

• Bench scoring options continue to be missing from this team.

The Ugly

This section will be entirely about a Flex Glue commercial while the game was on ESPN News.

We need to discuss this, scene by scene.

[0:00] Every time I see Phil Swift’s face, I can’t believe he is the same species as all of us.

[0:20] He’s explaining…the concept of glue. See through glue. I mean, good on you for making it see through and glue, all at the same time. But we get it.

[1:00] I don’t own a pool. I barely own a tub. But I will admit…I kinda want the ability to glue things under water. You know, just in case.

[1:10] Ok, we really need to focus here.

“NOBODY WOULD BE CRAZY ENOUGH TO BUILD A BOAT OUT OF GLASS”, he screams while unnervingly holding a sledgehammer and wearing a hard hat and deranged smile.

Please look at this screenshot.

Phil Swift is Purdue Pete’s homicidal twin.

He then smashes glass with said sledgehammer, implying that sledgehammers are often problems that boats must overcome. Also, smashing anything in slow motion is incredible.

[1:20] “BUT I WOULD.”

Purdue Phil is watching you. And smiling. Always smiling.

[1:30] He has moved from selling Flex Glue to selling the concept of a clear glass boat, which I have to admit is a bold strategy. And I fell for it. I will be building a glass boat this winter.

[The top YouTube comment] “Flex Seal even fixed my parent’s divorce.”

RIP Hayden Fry

A 42-year football coaching career, 36 years as a head coach, and an eternity as the definition Iowa football. Fry established a culture of stability at Iowa, with only two coaches over the last 40 years. Also, look at the drip in every single picture of him. Condolences to all our Iowa friends on the loss of a true college football and Big Ten legend.