Key, Russell surprise Duke in leading OSU to win
When they prepared for Ohio State, the Duke Blue Devils saw E.J. Liddell and a host of wild cards.
By the end of Tuesday night’s showdown at Value City Arena, the nation saw the rest of the roster as aces. Liddell played his part, but the Buckeyes stormed back from a 15-point secondhalf deficit, closed the game on a 12-0 run during the final four minutes and dethroned newly anointed No. 1 Duke 71-66 thanks to a pair of breakout performances and some high-level defense.
When asked what stood out on the scouting report for Ohio State, junior Duke forward Wendell Moore Jr. provided what seemed to be an inadvertent backhanded compliment for the Buckeyes not named Liddell.
“How many wild-card guys they have,” he said. “They have a guy every night you don’t expect them to score that many points, and he does that night. For them, it can be any guy. It’s not just E.J. Liddell.”
On this night, there were two.
Second-year center Zed Key went toe-to-toe with Duke sophomore Mark Williams and scored a career- and game-high 20 points despite giving up nearly five inches to the former five-star prospect who had the Buckeyes in his top five before picking the Blue Devils. And Ohio State’s backcourt spark came from seldom-used guard Cedric Russell.
A transfer from Louisiana, Russell had made one field goal entering the game in 23 minutes of playing time through the first six games. Against the nation’s top-ranked team, Russell was perfect on three 3-point attempts and scored 12 points to help key Ohio State’s comeback.
“I think in a lot of ways, Ced and Zed were the difference,” Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. “We need some production on the perimeter. Cedric had a look in his eyes. He wanted to stay aggressive.”
Key was 8 for 15 from the floor, drew five fouls and saddled Williams with four of his own. He set new career highs for shot attempts and makes while playing more (26:59) than he’d ever played. Together, Key (9 points), Russell (9) and Liddell (4) scored 21 of Ohio State’s final 28 points during the final 13 minutes.
Holtmann rode a lineup of Key, Russell, Liddell, Justin Ahrens and Jamari Wheeler for the final 5:50 of the game. That lineup had never played together prior to that point, and it closed by outscoring Duke 16-4.
“We were prepared for Key also,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We knew that he, back to the basket, multiple dribbles, that they go to him. He did a good job against us. He had really a
good game, very methodical and powerful.”
Liddell got his, too.
He scored 14 points and tied a career high with 14 rebounds for his second double-double of the season, and his free throws with 1:03 remaining gave Ohio State the lead at 67-66.
Then, after a pair of Duke misses, he buried a tough, fadeaway jumper to push the lead to three points with 15 seconds to play.
“E.J. finishing the game the way he did, I told him at halftime, ‘Nobody out here is better than you. Be that guy in the second half,’ and … the dude’s an absolute warrior,” Holtmann said.
The recruiting rankings would indicate otherwise. Duke’s starting lineup consisted of five players who were all ranked higher nationally in their individual recruiting classes than Ohio State’s highest-rated player, Malaki Branham, who was the No. 38 prospect in the 2021 class according to 247Sports.com. Liddell was 44th in his class.
It didn’t matter when the Buckeyes and Blue Devils got into the guts of the game. Ohio State forced Duke to miss its final six shots and the Blue Devils connected on just one field goal in the final seven minutes. Duke shot 22.6% (7 for 31) from the floor after halftime.
Russell iced it with his final free throws, and when the game ended the Ohio State students — some of whom had started camping out at 6:30 a.m. Monday — stormed the court and mobbed the Buckeyes. Holtmann said his first concern was for the safety of the Blue Devils, but once they were in the clear his focus turned elsewhere.
“I hope the students enjoy it well into the morning,” he said. “Safely, but well into the morning.”
No doubt they did.