Emotional senior day for Buckeyes in loss
OSU shooting went cold late as squad fell in fourth straight game.
Standing near center court, CJ Walker did everything he could to hold back the tears. Moments later, Kyle Young was facing the same situation.
Throughout, standing along the baseline several feet from his Ohio State teammates, Duane Washington Jr. was doing the same thing.
It was the end of senior day at Value City Arena, an evening that saw the No. 7 Buckeyes host No. 4 Illinois with a chance to end the three-game losing streak. Ohio State had enjoyed six days to prepare after a discouraging loss to Iowa the previous Sunday and, after a sluggish opening few possessions, finally settled in, rallied and held a 68-64 lead with less than four minutes to play when it all ground to a halt.
Ten missed shots to close the game later, Illinois had closed on a 9-0 run and emerged with a 73-68 win. Washington had taken five of those shots. And as his senior teammates said their goodbyes, he could hardly watch.
Occasionally aimlessly wandering the baseline, Washington spoke to no one as Walker and Young spoke to the crowd. Occasionally, he pulled his jersey over his face. At other times, he clenched a white towel in his fist, or used it to likewise cover his face. At one point, Washington and Walker shared an embrace while a video played on the scoreboard.
When it was done, he went directly to the locker room as some of his teammates hugged or otherwise tried to share the emotions of the moment. What Washington was feeling internally is known only to him. To coach Chris Holtmann and his seniors, though, it was clear.
“He’s fine,” Holtmann said. “He’s just disappointed. He wanted to win for his seniors. He was disappointed. I don’t know what reaction you want a young man to make after the game. He loves CJ. He lovesKyle. That was probably part of it. He was so emotional because he
wanted it so bad for those guys.”
Buckeyes bench tightens
Holtmann went with a tighter, nine-man rotation than has been the norm this season.
All five starters played at least 28 minutes while Justin Ahrens played 22 minutes off the bench. Otherwise, Zed Key played for seven minutes, Musa Jallow for six and Seth Towns for five. Among those three, Key finished with four points and the other two were scoreless.
Freshmen Meechie Johnson Jr. and Gene Brown, rotation players who had been toward the end of the bench, did not see any playing time.
For Ahrens, it marked his first game with multiple threes since he was 3 for 7 in a Feb. 18 win against Penn State. Since that game, Ahrens was 0 for 2 in the loss to Michigan, did not attempt a three in the loss at Michigan State and 1 for 2 in the loss to Iowa.
Against the Fighting Illini, Ahrens was 2 for 7.
“I thought he was aggressive,” Holtmann said. “One he probably could’ve late there, I thought he played with necessary aggressiveness and guys were screening to get him open. One he probably could’ve fed there late to E.J., but I liked his aggressiveness.”
Justice Sueing battles
When the Buckeyes weren’t making shots early, Sueing was doing his share of the heavy lifting. Of the first 15 missed shots of the game, Sueing had rebounded five of them. He would finish with 15 points and eight rebounds in 34 minutes despite dealing with a groin injury.
“I thought he was active, active on the glass,” Holtmann said. “I thought he did some really good things. Just focus on him playing to his strengths. He is battling this groin injury that has limited his practice significantly. Getting him healthy and get him playing to his strengths. I thought his effort on the glass was really good. Defensively he can continue to grow.”
The Nuthouse returns … sort of
Although there will be a limited number of fans at the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments, the Buckeyes closed out the regular season in front of families and a few close friends due to Big Ten policy. That didn’t stop Ohio State from welcoming in seven senior members of the official student section, the “Buckeye Nuthouse,” for one final game.
All seven were perched in section 110, somewhat diagonally behind the Illinois bench area. When he saw them shortly before tipoff, Holtmann acknowledged their presence.
“Love them,” he said. “We just loved having them there. I love those guys and those guys have been, the Nuthouse, we desperately missed them, particularly in these last three home games. I loved seeing them there. We’re so grateful they took the initiative to get over here. It means a lot to them. We love the Nuthouse. Appreciate them. We love those seniors that have committed a lot of time to come over here and support us and give us great energy.
“I wanted to go hug every one of them. Just couldn’t do that, they were up there pretty high.”