Stunned Jake Diebler reacts to Ohio State basketball beating Purdue in 1st game since Chris Holtmann firing

The Ohio State basketball program fired Chris Holtmann last Wednesday due to the team having a stretch of disappointing seasons leading the way for interim head coach Jake Diebler taking the reins. However, his first game at the helm was against arguably the best team in the country in the Purdue Boilermakers Sunday, but it didn't matter as they pulled off the upset, 73-69.

Before the miraculous win, the Buckeyes had lost six of their last seven games, leading people to believe that it would be an easy win for Purdue, especially after firing their head coach. At the end, it was a mistake to underestimate them as the Ohio State basketball team played exceptionally well as Diebler called the them “a resillent group” according to ESPN.

“What a resilient group,” Diebler said. “We have some great young men in there who came together at a high level in the last few days in a way that I don’t know that any of us fully anticipated that level we could get to in a short amount of time. They deserve so much credit. I’m so very happy for them and proud of them.”

Diebler's “emotional” win to Purdue after firing of Holtmann

Chris Holtmann next to the Ohio State logo

Diebler was candid to the media after the game about his coaching, even saying in some instances that maybe he was doing it “too hard.” He was approached by a member of the Ohio State basketball coaching staff and asked about it during the game, but the interim head coach admitted that he was nervous before the contest according to Sports Illustrated.

“I'm tired right now, I feel like I coached really — probably too hard in a couple instances,” Diebler said. “One of the guys on our staff comes up to me and is like, ‘Are you OK?' I'm like, ‘Yes, I'm fine, I'm fine.' He said, ‘Well you look a little flushed.' Well, I'm hot and I've been coaching hard. But, I was nervous going into this game. Just full transparency, I was nervous, absolutely.”

While upsets happen quite often in the world of college basketball, one in this type of situation is a rarity where a team that is projected to be the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament is defeated by a program that just fired their head coach. There is no doubt that it was an “emotional” time for Diebler after the game.

“I don't wanna get emotional right now,” Diebler said. “I had to take a moment just to thank God there after the game. That made me emotional. Then going through the line, I was fighting it, I was fighting it. Then my wife made it to the court and then my parents — it was trouble after that.”

Diebler's history with the Buckeyes before becoming interim head coach

Diebler has been a part of the Ohio State basketball staff technically since 2014 where he was a video coordinator according to The Columbus Dispatch. He would leave the role to be an assistant coach for Vanderbilt until he came back in 2019 where he joined Holtmann's staff.

His family also has ties to the Ohio State basketball program as the interim head coach's brother in Jon Diebler played for the school from 2008-2011 and was very successful. He became the university's leader all-time in made three-point shots with 374 makes.

Adding on to the nervousness of Jake Diebler was Buckeyes guard Bruce Thornton who led the team with 22 points. He said to the media after the game that his coach was excited to be out there and even saw his “hands shaking” at one point in the contest.

“He was excited, man,” guard Bruce Thornton said of Diebler. “His hands were shaking at the first media timeout.”

The Ohio State basketball team looks to build off this monumental win as they are 15-11 on the season, but are 5-10 in the Big 10 conference. Their next game will be Thursday, Feb. 22 against the University of Minnesota.