Branham becoming a scoring threat for OSU

Malaki Branham has played his way into the spotlight with a pair of prolific performances to power Ohio State to wins.

But it’s the game sandwiched in between, the one in which the Buckeyes sputtered to a season-low 51 points and suffered a 16-point loss at Indiana, that provided the most evidence yet that the freshman has arrived. On Jan. 6, Branham finished with a team-high 13 points but needed 13 shots to get there inside Assembly Hall.

The attempts weren’t falling at a high enough clip to give Ohio State a chance at the win. But Branham was getting to his spots, which was more than could be said for most of his teammates that night.

“I think even though some of those shots didn't go in against Indiana, the game is slowing down for him a little bit,” acting head coach Jake Diebler said after Sunday's home win against Northwestern. “He's figuring out how to get more shots off, and he's staying more aggressive, playing with a little more force and physicality than he started off with.”

In Ohio State's three games since returning from the 22-day COVID-19 pause, Branham has averaged 24.0 points and earned at least a share of back-to-back Big Ten freshman of the week honors.

More importantly, he's emerged as the legitimate consistent scoring threat Ohio State has been searching for to compliment go-to guy E.J. Liddell. Against the Wildcats, Liddell had a career-high 34 points and Branham scored 24.

“Even the other night at Indiana, I thought he showed against their physicality some really nice things,” Northwestern coach Chris Collins said. “He's kind of become that second guy now, which makes them very dangerous. He and E.J., you get two guys who get 58, it's going to be really tough to beat.”

In what would be the last game before a 22-day Covid-induced pause, Branham went scoreless for the first and only time this year. It didn't prevent the Buckeyes from pulling off a dominant, 73-55 win against Wisconsin on Dec. 11, but it certainly provided some extra motivation for the freshman.

To that point in the season, Branham was averaging 6.3 points per game. He had attempted six total free throws, making them all, and was 5-for-15 (33.3%) from 3-point range. As he put in 5 a.m. workouts while the program was shut down, his personal trainer, Jason Dawson, emphasized these numbers to him, especially the free-throw total.

In his three games since the season resumed, Branham has attempted a team-high 20 free throws and hit 18 of them. He's also gone 8-for-16 (50.0%) from 3. He is now second on the team in scoring at 10.4 points per game, behind Liddell's 20.1 mark.

“Indiana, some of the shots were going in and out, but the coaches told me to keep being aggressive,” he said after the Northwestern game. “I tried to just do the same thing in this game.”

But the game against the Badgers still gnaws at him. He'll get his chance for redemption Thursday night. He knows that, in addition to holding him scoreless in their previous meeting, Wisconsin forced him into a season-high four turnovers in a season-low 14 minutes. His name was not mentioned once during that postgame press conference.

Now, he figures to be the No. 2 guy on Wisconsin coach Greg Gard's scouting report. It'll be another adjustment, but Branham has shown the ability to adapt along the way.

“Our belief in him and all our young guys, that transition is challenging, but he's starting to emerge as an offensive weapon,” Diebler said. “Guys are going to game plan a little more for him now, but his consistency in practice is what's setting us up to have success.” ajardy@dispatch.com @Adamjardy