Moments that Mattered: Jake Diebler remains undefeated against Purdue, winning 82-74

The Ohio State men’s basketball team (18-11, 10-8) faced Purdue (22-7, 12-6) Sunday afternoon, which was about as close to a do-or-die game as it could possibly be without mathematically being a do-or-die game. With three games remaining, Ohio State came into Sunday’s game desperately needing to pin a big-time, quality win on its resume. Neither Penn State nor Indiana would be that (as far as the analytics are concerned), so a win for the Buckeyes felt mandatory.

Purdue, on the other hand, just lost at home to Michigan State on Thursday night, and came into Sunday’s game 1-2 in their last three games.

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The visiting Boilermakers got a pair of three-pointers from sophomore guard C.J. Cox in the first few minutes, which helped give Purdue an early 16-9 lead after seven minutes of play. Ohio State was getting good looks on its end, but John Mobley Jr., who entered the game shooting 40.8% from three, missed each of his first three three-point attempts early in the game.

Purdue went on a scoring drought for 2:26, and in the meantime, Ohio State got baskets from Mobley and A’mare Bynum to bring it back within a point, 16-15, with just under 11 minutes remaining in the first half.

Mobley had a good 20-second stretch late in the first half that felt like it gave the Buckeyes some momentum at the time. Trailing 19-16 with 8:17 remaining in the opening stanza, Mobley buried his second three-pointer of the game from the far side of the floor to tie the game at 19.

Then, 20 seconds later, he stood in and took a charge from Purdue’s 260-pound Australian center, Oscar Cluff. The whistle went against Purdue, and kept the game tied, 19-19, with 7:57 remaining until halftime.

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Mobley’s three was the beginning of what would turn into an 11-2 run for the Buckeyes, as Ohio State took a 30-24 lead over Purdue on another Mobley three with 3:28 remaining in the first half. Mobley was freed up by a huge screen set by Ivan Njegovan, as Fletcher Loyer ran directly into…

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Publish date : 2026-03-01 20:49:00

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