Ohio State basketball: Who will be the leading scorer?

The Ohio State basketball team will lose both of their leading scorers from last year. E.J. Liddell and Malaki Branham are both moving on to the NBA and will be drafted in the first round next month. It’s still up in the air how high each of them will get drafted.

Now, the Buckeyes are in need of some scoring. They don’t have anyone from last year’s team who has scored at a high level. Really, there’s only one player on the roster currently who has played for the Buckeyes in the past that could be a candidate to fill this role.

That player is Justice Sueing. While Sueing has yet to get back to his career-high in points that he scored while he was at Cal, he clearly has the ability to score the ball when healthy. He should be fully healthy when the season starts and should be ready to score.

If Sueing ends up not being the guy to lead the charge offensively, it could be new transfer Tanner Holden. Holden averaged 20 points per game last season playing for Wright State. I don’t expect him to average that much while playing in the Big Ten, but he can still put the ball in the hoop.

I think that Holden or Sueing, whichever one ends up leading the team in scoring, could average about 17 points. I don’t see anyone on this team coming close to Liddell’s 19.4 that he averaged last season. Liddell was a really special player who could score from anywhere on the floor at any time.

I’d be surprised if someone else on this team leads them in scoring. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who leads them in scoring. If they don’t get enough balanced scoring from everyone on the team, they aren’t going to go far in the NCAA Tournament.