Andre Wesson's long career that was cut short

COLUMBUS, Ohio – As the final seconds ticked off the clock in Ohio State’s road game against Michigan State, there was no way that Andre Wesson could have known that this would be his last game donning the Scarlet and Gray.

Wesson, who had played 127 games as a Buckeye in his four-year career, expected to play at least two more games in the upcoming Big Ten and NCAA tournaments, but the rapid-developing situation brought on by the COVID-19 virus created a whole new reality. Like most seniors in the college basketball landscape, Wesson would not be able to take the court with his team in the postseason, and a career that spanned two coaches, many wins and many moments of toughness was cut short.

“Bar none, in our coaching staff’s top-five toughest dudes we’ve ever coached,” Chris Holtmann said about Wesson during the postgame of his last home game at Ohio State.

Mentioning Wesson’s toughness was one of the first things Holtmann noted about Wesson during the senior day festivities, and it could not have been more fitting. Wesson was a player that dedicated his efforts to the defensive side of the court, and in doing so, he did not lack bruises and battle scars.

Wesson, a local kid who played his high school basketball at Westerville South, came in with the 2016 class. Playing his first year under Thad Matta, Wesson got to be part of the end of an era in Matta and the beginning of one with Holtmann.

As a freshman, Wesson would appear in 29 games for the Buckeyes, who were still finding themselves as they stumbled into a 17-15 record. Wesson, in just over 11 minutes per game, would tally 2.3 points on 36.5 percent shooting from the field.

In his extended minutes in the years to come, Wesson would improve along with the Buckeyes as a whole.

In the first year under Holtmann, the Buckeyes would explode onto the scene, securing a 25-9 record that was highlighted by an impressive second place finish in the Big Ten. Wesson would make marginal improvements to his stat line, but the first double-digit scoring game of his career would come in a big win at Purdue. Wesson would drop 13 points in the contest.

Wesson’s junior season would be his jumping off point, as his playing time would inflate to 30 minutes per game. He would pour in 8.6 points per game to go along with 4.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. Wesson would also start in 34 of his 35 games.

Outside of his toughness, Holtmann focused on Wesson’s work ethic, which was apparent in Wesson’s efforts to improve his shot. In each year, Wesson would improve his shooting percentage, and the culmination of this work would be a 46.2-percent shooting percentage his senior season.

Wesson would also put up a career high 9.2 points and shoot a career best 42.2 percent from the 3-point line in his final season.

With the cancellation of the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments, the senior will never get to display his improved play on the postseason stage. To teammate CJ Walker, the pain of not being able to send off Wesson the right way stings.

“For a senior who had to dedicate everything to this team, he does a lot for us, and might not be able to play again, that hurts,” Walker said about Wesson after the cancellation of the Big Ten tournament. “You want to have a ring. You want to end the season the right way, which I feel like we could’ve done with this team.”

Wesson, who last spoke to the media between the announcements that the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments were cancelled, understood the decision to cancel the Big Ten tournament, but he was still holding out hope to play in the NCAA tournament.

While that hope was not answered, the abrupt conclusion to the season and Wesson’s career calls for reflection. While Wesson was never the go-to offensive weapon on a given roster, he became a glue guy for Holtmann, and he was the kind of player that every program needs in order to turn around for the better.

“It’s hard for both coaches and players when they take over a program – the transition when you take over a program,” Holtmann said to Wesson on senior night. “I’m telling you there’s not one day that went by that we as a coaching staff didn’t say, ‘You know what, we didn’t recruit him’ – we tried to recruit him to Butler, ‘but maybe we didn’t recruit him to Ohio State, but Andre Wesson, he’s our guy. He’s our guy from day one.”