Story byPhil Harrison, Buckeyes WireMon, March 2, 2026 at 2:41 AM UTC·1 min readThe Ohio State basketball team has been going through seemingly the entire season without a signature win. Now it has a couple of them in the past week to help boost its NCAA chances, the latest of which was against top-ten Purdue, which amounts to the best win of the year. The Buckeyes wrestled control of the game midway through the first half and never looked back in a rather dominant 82-74 win in front of the home crowd inside Value City Arena. As is always the case, it takes two teams to dance for an outcome, and though OSU played at a high level, Purdue may not have brought its best, at least according to head coach Matt Painter. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPainter met with the media in Columbus following the loss and had plenty to say about both teams, and we love to hear what the opposing head coach says about the Scarlet and Gray after going toe-to-toe.