Ohio State basketball: Malaki Branham carries Bucks vs. Nebraska

The Ohio State basketball team hadn’t played a game in three weeks. The last time the Buckeyes were on the court for a game was way back on December 11th against Wisconsin. That long layoff clearly played a factor in their game against Nebraska and was almost too much to overcome.

With a career-high 35 points from freshman Malaki Branham, the Buckeyes beat the Cornhuskers 85-79 in overtime. No one else was able to help the freshman, which was a shame. He had almost half of Ohio State’s points, shooting 13-19 from the field and 6-10 from three.

E.J. Liddell was simply abysmal shooting-wise in this game. He had no rhythm and couldn’t score the ball at all. It looked like he didn’t have his conditioning. He was only 2-14 from the field and scored just 10 points. When your best player plays so poorly, it’s hard to win the game.

Turnovers and a lack of free throws also hurt the Buckeyes. They had a whopping 16 turnovers in this game and only shot 14 free throws. Nebraska, on the other hand, had 23 free throw attempts and just 8 turnovers themselves. They didn’t hurt themselves.

It was a gutsy performance down the stretch though from this team. They looked like they were going to lose late, but a couple of big shots and two free throws from Liddell sent this game to overtime. After that, it was all Buckeyes in the extra period.

Jamari Wheeler was also big in this game. He had 16 points and made four of his five three-pointers, including two in overtime. He really helped steady the team down the stretch. Without him, this team doesn’t pull away in overtime.

This is the type of win that should give this Ohio State basketball team a ton of confidence. They were rusty, didn’t have their best player shoot particularly well, and it didn’t matter. They still found a way to win a Big Ten game on the road. It was a gutsy win.