Injured senior was obviously missed
Without Kyle Young, the No. 2 seed team got outmatched in upset.
The last time Ohio State came to Mackey Arena, Trevion Williams feasted. The Purdue center flirted with a
triple-double, finishing with 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in a seven-point win against the Buckeyes back on Dec. 16.
Friday, Williams was in Indianapolis with his teammates as the Buckeyes faced Oral Roberts on his home court. Exactly one week prior, his elbow to the head of Ohio State’s Kyle Young in a Big Ten tournament quarterfinal at Lucas Oil Stadium sent the senior sprawling and, eventually, into concussion protocol.
Young wasn’t with the Buckeyes when they played the Golden Eagles on Friday afternoon. Without him, No. 15 seed Oral Roberts scored a stunner, a 75-72 overtime upset of No. 2 seed Ohio State.
The outcome wasn’t shocking given how the game progressed. Ohio State only led for 15:19 of the game and never by more than eight points as the Golden Eagles continually beat the Buckeyes to loose balls, to second-chance opportunities and eventually to victory.
For large stretches, Oral Roberts simply outplayed Ohio State. Throughout, it was clear what sort of impact Young could potentially have made against a nimble, athletic team that can spread the floor and lean on a pair of stars for big plays.
“I’ve said this: This team misses Kyle more than any team that I’ve been a part of,” coach Chris
Holtmann said Friday. “It certainly missed his versatility today at the 5 because of how they play. “We knew that coming in. We knew there were going to be some matchup problems with
how they play, but there’s a reason why Kyle didn’t play today. He wasn’t ready to play. He wanted to play, but he wasn’t ready or cleared to play.”
When — or if — Young might have been able to return for a deep NCAA Tournament run will never be known. His future plans are unclear as well: The NCAA is allowing everyone who wants to return next year the option to do so, and Ohio State will recruit the senior for a fifth go-round.
But his absence manifested itself in more ways than just Young’s hustle, his 8.6 points or his 5.5 rebounds per game. Ohio State took 43 of its 67 shots from two-point range and 20 of them were layups or dunks. Its other 23 shots — 34.3% of its shot attempts — were pull-up or mid-range jumpers, and the Buckeyes made 43.5% of them (10 for 23).
Without Young’s offensive capabilities on the court, Oral Roberts was able to provide extra help off of players such as Duane Washington Jr., E.J. Liddell and CJ Walker, making driving the basket more difficult. At this point of the season, Ohio State didn’t have enough playmakers on the court to make the Golden Eagles pay.
“The biggest thing was they were not guarding a couple of our guys and really crowding things and making driving lanes and post-ups difficult,” Holtmann said.
“Then we missed some open looks that we’ve made.”
Liddell finished with a team-high 23 points on 10-of15 shooting. Washington had 18 points but, after making his first four shots, would go 3 for 17 the rest of the way. Buckeyes not named Liddell combined to go 19 for 52 (36.5%) from the floor.
One game removed from a season-high 22 points in the overtime loss to Illinois in the title game of the Big Ten tournament last Sunday, Justice Sueing scored 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting. Graduate transfer Seth Towns, who had played 70 minutes in his last three games, could only go for 12 in this one. Neither looked like themselves, as Towns has dealt with a knee injury and Sueing a groin injury.
“Seth was struggling all week with his knee and his back,” Holtmann said. “Justice, I think has been battling his injury, and I give him a lot of credit. He’s really been battling well. You’d have to ask him if it bothered him today. I didn’t think he moved like he typically moved last week, but that might’ve been a by-product. There’s no question he’s battled at an incredible rate with his groin injury. Today he looked a little hobbled.”
Those two, plus an invisible offensive game from Musa Jallow, who in 32 minutes attempted three shots and made one, helped make life even harder on a night when Washington’s shot wasn’t falling. Adding a healthy Young to the mix would have certainly lessened the demands on the likes of Sueing, Towns and Jallow.
“We’re hoping Kyle gets back healthy in a timely fashion,” Holtmann said. “I know he’s hurting for his teammates. I know he would’ve loved to be out there, but certainly it was the right decision to hold him out.”
Police contacted after Liddell receives threats: Ohio State officials have reached out to police about threatening and insulting social media messages Liddell received following the Buckeyes’ loss on Friday.
Ohio State associate athletic director for communications Dan Wallenberg told The Associated Press he contacted police on Saturday morning about the threats.
Liddell revealed on his
Twitter feed he received threatening messages. He posted images of the messages, including one that said “I hope you die I really do.” Other messages included racist insults.
“Honestly, what did I do to deserve this?” Liddell posted on Twitter. “I’m human.”
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said the language used against Liddell “is appalling and will not be tolerated.”
“To the few of you who have chosen to inappropriately rail against our players on social media, stop,” Smith said. “Hate and derision have no place in Buckeye Nation or in civil society. If you cross the line and threaten our players, you will be hearing from the authorities. That I promise you.”