After suffering a disappointing upset loss at Illinois on Thursday where they had trouble with turnovers, the Buckeyes looked to get back on the winning track as they hosted 16th ranked and conference leading Purdue. Today was the annual breast cancer awareness day which has been re-branded from ‘Think Pink’ to ‘Play for Kay’ in honor of former North Carolina State women’s basketball coach Kay Yow who passed away in 2009 after her third re-occurrence of breast cancer. The big game and the important cause being supported today helped draw approximately 8,800 fans to the game, the largest crowd of the season.
The game opened exactly as expected for a matchup of two top 20 teams as Ohio State and Purdue went back and forth for the first 9 minutes of the game. Neither team could build more than a three point lead and with eleven minutes left in the half the Buckeyes lead 22-20. The Boilermakers defense had been harassing the Buckeyes all half and really clamped down at this point, keying an 11 to 2 run that game Purdue a 31-24 lead with just under six minutes remaining in the half. OSU finally got their offense going again but they couldn’t come up with defensive stops and Purdue went into halftime leading 37-31.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
