No. 19 Buckeyes Power Past Purdue, 77-66 – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb 23, 2002%^$
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%^$Post Game audio:
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Head Coach Jim O’Brien
%^$ Purdue Head Coach Gene Keady
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By RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer%^$
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Gene Keady knew his Purdue Boilermakers were in for a%^$long night.%^$
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Boban Savovic, rebounding from one of the worst games of his career, led a%^$first-half rally as No. 19 Ohio State beat Purdue 77-66 on Saturday.%^$
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The loss dropped the Boilermakers to 12-17 – the most losses in Keady’s 22%^$seasons at Purdue.%^$
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“This team has a bunch of good kids that have the inability to guard%^$people,” Keady said.%^$
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Ohio State (19-6, 10-4) remained a notch behind Indiana in the Big Ten race.%^$The Hoosiers, 10-3 in the conference, play at Michigan State on Sunday.%^$
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“We haven’t talked about Indiana, about putting pressure on anybody else,”%^$Ohio State coach Jim O’Brien said. “We have talked about controlling what we%^$can control. We have absolutely no say in what any of the other teams do, other%^$than the ones we play. If we win the games we’re playing and it’s good enough,%^$then great.”%^$
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Savovic shot 1-of-4 from the field and had seven points, three turnovers and%^$no assists in 31 minutes as the Buckeyes lost 63-57 at No. 24 Indiana in a%^$battle of Big Ten co-leaders Wednesday.%^$
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Savovic had 13 points, two assists and no turnovers in the first half%^$against Purdue as the Buckeyes righted themselves from a lethargic start. He%^$finished with 16 points.%^$
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“Against Indiana, I tried to do too much. I made too many mistakes,”%^$Savovic said. “Tonight, I just played my game.”%^$
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Savovic left immediately after the game to pick up his parents at the%^$airport. They were flying in from Yugoslavia. His father has never visited him%^$in Ohio.%^$
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“It’s going to be great to see them,” Savovic said.%^$
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Brian Brown led the Buckeyes with 18 points, and Brent Darby scored 15 and%^$Sean Connolly 11 for Ohio State, which came home after going 1-3 on the%^$Buckeyes’ longest Big Ten road trip since 1949.%^$
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“It seems like we’ve been gone a long time,” O’Brien said.%^$
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Keady expected Ohio State to relish the chance to return home for the first%^$time in three weeks.%^$
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“It’s fun to be home after four games in a row on the road,” Keady said.%^$”Of course they’re going to be focused.”%^$
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Purdue’s Willie Deane, leading the Big Ten in scoring with 17.6 points a%^$game, was limited to 12 points as he battled foul trouble most of the night.%^$Darmetreis Kilgore scored 15 points, Rodney Smith 11 and Joe Marshall 10.%^$
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Purdue (4-11 in the Big Ten) has lost six of its last seven and went winless%^$in road Big Ten games (0-8) for the first time since 1966.%^$
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Barring a run through the conference tournament and earning an automatic%^$berth in the NCAA tournament, this will be only the second time a Keady-coached%^$Purdue team hasn’t played in the NCAA or NIT tournaments. His previous worst%^$season – and the only other time the Boilermakers didn’t make it into the%^$postseason with him on the sidelines – was a 15-16 record in 1988-89.%^$
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The Buckeyes missed their first five shots and also had two turnovers while%^$remaining scoreless for the first four minutes. Purdue led 5-0 at the outset%^$and was still ahead 28-21 after John Allison’s short bank shot with 6:18 left%^$in the first half.%^$
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The Buckeyes, however, scored 15 of the half’s final 19 points with Savovic%^$leading the way with seven points.%^$
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Savovic opened the surge with a layup and then hit two free throws to start%^$a 10-0 run. He later added a 3-pointer.%^$
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The Boilermakers went scoreless for more than 5 minutes, missing all six of%^$their shots from the field with two turnovers.%^$
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Brown hit one 3-pointer and Darby added two more as Ohio State opened up a%^$50-37 lead in the first 6{ minutes of the second half. The lead never dipped%^$below nine again.%^$
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Darby said he planned to watch Indiana’s game at Michigan State.%^$
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“I’ll go to church,” Darby said. “I won’t pray for anyone to lose.”%^$
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Ohio State, which is 15-1 at Value City Arena this season, hit 13-of-23%^$3-pointers.%^$
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“That’s the first time we’ve faced a zone defense in a long time and our%^$guys did a good job of attacking their zone,” O’Brien said.
