Ohio State Proves America Wrong
It has been a crazy week for Ohio State hoops. First, they lost to Wisconsin, who was on a four-game losing streak on Tuesday night, and then, on Wednesday morning, fired head coach Chris Holtmann.
There was a ton of drama and emotion around this Buckeyes basketball team this week, and if you thought the first part of the week was rough, wait until Sunday when they welcome the number two team in the country, Purdue, into their home arena.
Of course, Ohio State was supposed to get run up and down the floor against Purdue. Every team in the Big Ten has done it to them all season, so why wouldn't the best team in the conference and all of college basketball do it to them?
Ohio State's interim head coach Jake Diebler had one of the toughest tests ever after taking over the job on Wednesday, but that didn't stop him and the team from capitalizing and proving America wrong.
Ohio State started slowly, like usual, and I thought Purdue would smoke them. Still, Purdue let them hang around in the first half, and Ohio State took that opportunity and ran, having an incredible finish of the first half, and they carried all the momentum over into the second half.
Ohio State controlled most of the second half until late when Purdue kept cutting the lead down to two to three points, but the Buckeyes stepped up big time and ensured they wouldn't let Purdue take control of the game. Ohio State would get the win 73-69, and who would have ever thought that after the week they just had?
We often see a team respond very well when there is a head coaching change in the middle of the season. Ohio State is no different. I have no idea how Ohio State's culture was under Holtmann, and maybe the players just needed a new change of scenery from their leader.
Was it an impressive win by Ohio State, of course? But let's not say Diebler should be the head coach next season. Ohio State will need to hit a home run for their next head coach, and Diebler isn't precisely that. Diebler does deserve a ton of credit for the win over Purdue, and hopefully, this builds off more wins down the stretch.
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