Jake Diebler has found something this Ohio State basketball team has been lacking for a good portion of the season: consistent offensive production from the bench. This production is particularly coming from redshirt sophomore guard Taison Chatman.
Thursday night, in Ohio State's dominant 82-62 win at Maryland, Chatman reached double figures in scoring off the bench for the third game in a row with 10 points on 50% shooting, and he dished out 3 assists in 20 minutes. He was ejected, however, after a scuffle at the end of the game with Maryland's Elijah Saunders, which is certainly not ideal, but his actual play on the court has given the Buckeyes a big boost offensively.
In the last three games, Chatman is averaging 11.7 points at a 66.7% shooting clip and 70% from three in 18 minutes of action. He's now slid into the primary backcourt option off the bench behind Bruce Thornton and John Mobley Jr. after this stretch of consistent play.
Through the first 14 games Chatman played in this season, he scored a total of 27 points and only saw double digit number in minutes in two games. He now looks fully healthy, is making plays at a high level, and has shown no lack of confidence when it comes to scoring the basketball.
Ohio State's biggest weakness in their losses earlier in the season and at the start of Big Ten play was not getting much help offensively from the bench. Most notably in their losses to North Carolina and Nebraska, both one-possession losses, they got no points from the bench in either of those games.
Overall, Ohio State ranks 350th in College Basketball in bench points per game with 12.6 per game. They've now gone three consecutive games with double-digit points from the bench, 13 vs Penn State, 21 at Wisconsin, and 19 at Maryland, with Taison Chatman accounting for 66% of those points from the bench.
It's been announced that Chatman won't receive any suspensions for his altercation at the end of Thursday night's game. That's good news as Ohio State will need him on Sunday when they host Michigan with a chance to add a big-time signature win.