Ohio State basketball: Justin Ahrens falling out of rotation

Justin Ahrens started the year as the starting small forward for the Ohio State basketball team. He was out there to provide some much-needed shooting to the starting lineup. When Ahrens is on, he’s one of the deadliest shooters in the entire country from behind the arc.

The problem is, he hasn’t been deadly this season. He hasn’t even been close. His slide really started in the month of January and hasn’t subsided. After shooting 42.5% from deep last season, he has slumped to just 35.5% so far this season. To be honest, I’m surprised the numbers are that high.

Since the month of January started, Ahrens has hit just 14 of his 52 attempted three-pointers. That’s just 27%. He has since lost his starting spot and continues to slide in terms of playing time, only 32 total minutes in the last three games off the bench.

With Seth Towns out for the season and Justice Sueing likely out for the year as well, Ahrens will likely keep at least some playing time. The Buckeyes just simply don’t have that many wings. Eugene Brown will be starting at that spot now even though he’s more of a shooting guard.

We’ll probably see more of the three-guard lineup of Jamari Wheeler, Meechie Johnson, and Malaki Branham because of Ahrens’ struggles. Ahrens just can’t be out there if he’s not hitting his open shots. He doesn’t do anything else well enough to justify him getting playing time.

It’s unfortunate because he seems like a really nice kid. I wish the circumstances were different. But the Ohio State basketball team is fighting for a Big Ten championship. You have to play the players that give you the best chance to win games.

Right now, playing Ahrens doesn’t give Holtmann’s team the best chance to win. Unless Ahrens somehow breaks out of his slump soon, he might continue seeing a decrease in minutes.