COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State dominated No. 2 Purdue on Sunday in the Buckeyes' interim coach's debut, a day after the NCAA Tournament selection committee selected the Boilermakers as the favorite to take the No. 1 overall pick. , won 73-69. Seeds during March Madness.
Bruce Thornton scored 22 points and Jamison Battle added 19 points as Ohio State (15-11, 5-10 Big Ten) completed a comeback in Jake Diebler's first game as head coach.
Chris Holtmann was fired Wednesday after several disappointing seasons. The Buckeyes were in trouble, losing nine of their past 11 games.
Diebler became the second head coach since 1996-97 to defeat an AP Top 10 team in his Division I coaching debut, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Purdue (23-3, 12-3) was trailing by 7.5 points, according to ESPN BET.
Ohio State played hard from the start, leading 35-30 at halftime and leading by 12 points six minutes into the second half.
With the Boilermakers closing in on the game, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before Zach Eady took over, but that didn't happen.
Lance Jones made a 3-pointer for Purdue, tying the score at 65 with 1:39 remaining. But Battle made a jumper and two free throws with 34 seconds left to cut Ohio State's lead to 69-65.
Eadie's easy dunk cut the lead to two points with 16 seconds left. The Boilermakers then fouled Thornton, who went to the line and made both foul shots, nearly putting the game over.
Eadie had 22 points and 13 rebounds, marking the Purdue star's 58th career double-double.
Purdue had won nine straight games and 16 of its past 17 games. The most recent loss was on January 9th.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.