Ohio State Basketball: A look at great finish of sophomores, freshman

This past season sophomores and a freshman were integral in pulling the Ohio State basketball team out of a rough stretch and finishing strong.

Ohio State basketball coach Chris Holtmann has to be pleased with the way sophomores and a freshman played down the stretch. Here is a look at how each performed late in the season, beginning with the Buckeyes’ second leading scorer.

Sophomore Duane Washington was a consistent scorer all season averaging 11.5 points per game. However during the late season run when Ohio State won 9 of 12 games he became a more rounded player.

At times he would take over running the offense for C.J Walker, who logged a lot of minutes after D.J. Carton left the team, and did so effectively. Washington proved he was more than just a scorer.

Luther Muhammad also stepped his game up. Like Andre Wesson and Kyle Young their first couple of years, Muhammad was content to play strong defense and do the dirty work.

Late in the season he was more aggressive on offense and gave the Buckeyes another scoring threat.

In an eight game stretch with Ohio State winning six, Justin Ahrens shot 15-25 from behind the arc. He showed the potential of being a serious scoring threat if he can improve on the things coach Holtmann wants him to so he can average more than 10 minutes of playing time per game.

The improvement of freshman E.J. Liddell down the stretch was very impressive. Once he made it through the first half of the Big Ten schedule the light bulb came on and he realized he could play with the older forwards.

I can’t wait to see how he plays as a sophomore after performing so well late in the season.

It was impressive how the younger players performed when it looked like Ohio State was destined to have a losing record in the Big Ten. That has to make Chris Holtmann feel pretty good about his team heading into the 2020-21 season.