Ohio State Basketball: With wire to wire win Buckeyes even Big Ten record

The Ohio State basketball team got off to an early lead against Purdue and never looked back. With the win the Buckeyes are now 7-7 in Big Ten play.

For the second game in a row the Ohio State basketball team took an early lead and held it to the end. Unlike in the victory over Rutgers, this time the Buckeyes didn’t let the Purdue Boilermakers get back in the game and pulled away to a 68-52 victory.

Ohio State went up 3-0, took a 6-3 lead and led 29-29 lead at halftime. After stretching the lead to 34-20. Purdue never made a serious challenge the rest of the game.

That wasn’t for lack of effort though as the Boilermakers played strong defense, they just couldn’t get shots to fall.

Here is a look at the leading scorers for both teams.

Kyle Young led Ohio State with 16 points, Kaleb Wesson had 13 and Luther Muhammad 11. The leading scorer for Purdue was Evan Boudreaux with 17 points and Jahaad Proctor scored 15.

Quick takes on the win.

You never have to worry about Kyle Young and Luther Muhammad giving great effort on defense, but to have them becoming scoring options will bode well for the Buckeyes going forward.

Duane Washington’s stats won’t blow you away (7 points and 2 assists) but he is rounding into a terrific combo guard. He is beginning to understand his role and is often making good decisions, whether to shoot from outside, create his own shot or distribute the ball.

If the sophomore continues progressing as he has, Washington will be a key player down the stretch and in the NCAA Tournament.

Last but not least the upper-classmen have to be commended. The Wesson Brothers, Young and C.J. Walker scored 17 of the first 18 points for the Buckeyes tonight when points were hard to come by.

More importantly, you can see how the veterans have bonded and the younger players want to follow their lead. As a result, the Buckeyes have really seem to gel, and at the right time.

Ohio State has now won five of six games but will have another difficult battle Thursday going on the road to play Iowa. The Hawkeyes are 17-8 and 8-6 in Big Ten Play.