Men's Basketball
Turner Conducts Comeback Over No. 6 Purdue, Hot-Shooting Hummel
By Brandon CastelWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Coming off the team’s first loss of the season Saturday at Wisconsin, Purdue junior Robbie Hummel put on a show for the ages in the first half Tuesday, as he scored 29 points against Ohio State (12-5, 2-3 Big Ten) in the first 20 minutes.
The 6-foot-8 forward knocked down eight shots from behind the arc in one of the most incredible first-half shooting performances of the season, but as Hummel and the sixth-ranked Boilermakers (14-2, 2-2) learned, it’s not how you start, but how you finish.
Despite trailing by 12 points at the half, on the road, in one of the most hostile environments the Big Ten has to offer, the Buckeyes rallied for a 70-66 win behind 23 second-half points from star Evan Turner.
“This is the best win (of my career), by far,” Turner said of his first win at Mackey Arena.
“The past few years we played here, we always felt like it was a different arena, a different environment and sometimes we felt like it just wasn’t fair here. Tonight we felt that way again, but we got this win.”
After losing their first three road games to start the Big Ten schedule (Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota), the Buckeyes found themselves down by 13 points with under seven and a half minutes to play and it felt like the game was all but over.
Except it was never over for Turner and his teammates as they closed out the game on an incredible 25-8 run that included a stretch of 14 straight points by Turner, who was playing in just his third game back from missing a month of the season with two fractured vertebrae.
“I just came out and said we can win. I knew I needed to make some plays but we just needed to keep fighting,” said Turner, who finished with a career-high 32 points to go with nine rebounds and three assists in 40 minutes.
“We kept believing; we kept fighting. We got irritated and frustrated but we never really panicked. We always believed.”
After playing 19 minutes of 1-3-1 zone in the first half, Thad Matta and the Buckeyes went almost exclusively with man-to-man defense in the second half as they asked junior defensive specialist David Lighty to stick with Hummel for the last 21 minutes.
“I knew Dave was tired and I just kept asking him to stay with it,” Matta said after the game.
“That was the thing, just trying to get a hand in his face and challenge him because in the first half he got a lot of open looks.”
With the 6-foot-5 Lighty mirroring his every move, Hummel scored only six points in the second half and missed all three of his attempts from long range.
“I think he ran out of fire,” said Turner, who roomed with Hummel when the two played together in the World University Games last summer.
“Honestly, hitting nine threes, I think that’s good enough for a game. You had your time of the year. If he came out to hit 15 threes, that’s just unheard of, but mostly Dave did a terrific job guarding him," Turner said.
Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter asked his defensive specialist to do the same against Turner at the other end, but senior Chris Kramer was not nearly as effective in shutting down the 6-foot-7 point-forward down the stretch.
“Kramer didn’t play much in the first half and we honestly did a better job when Kramer wasn’t in there,” Painter said after Kramer played only seven minutes in the first half with two fouls.
“He really struggled defending, but you have to give credit to a guy like Evan Turner for getting a guy in foul trouble.”
And for capitalizing.
A 73 percent free throw shooter on the season, Turner stroked nine of his 10 shots from the foul line against Purdue, including six in a row down the stretch to seal the victory for Ohio State.
“Evan getting to the rim and making plays that way was huge,” Matta said.
It was an unlikely suspect, however, who started the run for Ohio State to close out the game.
After sitting on the bench for the entire first half, senior Jeremie Simmons hit one of the biggest threes of his entire career to make it 58-48 with just over seven minutes to play in the game.
“I was very pleased with what Jeremie did, he did a very good job of doing what he’s supposed to do and he was good defensively tonight as well,” Matta said.
Lighty followed that shot with a three from the corner and center Dallas Lauderdale knocked down a free throw to make it a six-point game at 58-52.
Turner took care of the rest. He carved up the Boilermakers for 13 points over the final three and a half minutes, including a pull-up three-pointer from the top of the arc that tied the game at 62 with just over two minutes to play.
Up next the Buckeyes will host Wisconsin Saturday (8 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network) at Value City Arena in Columbus.
Games Notes:
-The Buckeyes outscored Purdue 41-25 in the second half after being outscored 41-29 in the first half.
-Not to be lost in Turner’s performance was the play of William Buford. The sophomore shooting guard scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half to keep the Buckeyes in the game despite Hummel’s hot shooting.
-Turner scored a career-high 32 points on 11-of-21 shooting. It was the most points scored by a Purdue opponent since Iowa’s Jeff Horner scored 32 on Feb. 1, 2006.
-Robbie Hummel shattered his career-high with 25 points in the contest. It was the most points scored by a Purdue player since Carl Landry scored 35 against South Alabama back in 2005.
-Hummel scored 29 first half points, equaling the total score by the Buckeyes over the half.
-OSU big man Dallas Lauderdale held Purdue center JaJaun Johnson to just four points and five rebounds in 36 minutes. Johnson scored 27 points on the Buckeyes last season in Columbus.
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