COLUMBUS, Ohio — Chris Holtmann always has six things he puts on every set of game notes.
The six things are personal to him, important to him both in life and in coaching, six things he can’t forget. The Ohio State head coach wasn’t ready to share each of them after his team’s comeback win against Indiana Monday, but one of those things stood out as particularly relevant: stay in the moment.
It’s an adage that encourages him to be as present as possible, not to look too far ahead about what a game means long term, not to wallow or celebrate what had happened in the game prior.
Simply, it’s the ability to have a short-term memory, something Holtmann has built as the foundation of his program, something E.J. Liddell, Kyle Young, Justin Ahrens, Jamari Wheeler and Justice Sueing embrace and push out to the rest of the locker room: the day-by-day grind, the daily hustle no matter what happens the day before.
That never changes, just like that list of leaders Holtmann mentioned as the reason why Ohio State has not had a single losing streak this season, following up each of the Buckeyes’ seven losses with a win.
What does change is the cast of characters that make that response possible. And for the majority of Monday’s game against the Hoosiers, Liddell wasn’t the answer.
He was struggling to get to his spots, failing to find consistent offensive looks, not being the dominant Liddell that Big Ten teams had seen all season long. Ohio State was forced to delegate, something Holtmann challenged his players to find a way to do after the Iowa loss Saturday: find a way to win outside the playmaking abilities of the star forward.
It’s the role Malaki Branham is continuing to work his way toward, a freshman who describes himself as someone who’s always looking to make the right play.
“I’m not really a guy that forces up a bad shot,” Branham said. “I just kind of read the game. It’s kind of slowing down for me.”
It’s what Holtmann loves about Branham: his high maturity level, calling him the most mature freshman he has ever coached, seeing an increased IQ and feel for the game grow each time he takes the court.
Taking the ball with less than 20 seconds to go in regulation trailing by two, Branham put that IQ and feel to work.
He was switched onto Parker Stewart off a ball screen, driving to the hoop, getting a double-team of both the Indiana guard and forward Trayce Jackson-Davis. He switched hands, moving toward the middle of the paint, getting the attention of Race Thompson, who began to step back off Liddell.
“I saw E.J. I saw him wide open. And I threw it to him,” Branham said. “And I knew he was going to make the right decision, which he did dunking. I was just trying to make the right play.”
For a player who had been getting to his spots all night, leading the team with 27 points on an efficient nine makes on 13 tries, Branham knew he had to delegate, getting it back into the wide-open hands of Ohio State’s lifeblood, ferociously slamming it down and changing momentum for good.
In five minutes of overtime, Branham took back control of the offense, putting down two of Ohio State’s four field goals and assisting Wheeler’s 3-point make that gave the Buckeyes the lead for good.
“We’ve just needed every minute from him and his ability to play make and have ball skills, make reads and get to his spots,” Holtmann said. “With our team this year, sometimes Cedric (Russell) can do it, we have other guys that can do it sometimes. He certainly can do it at the highest level right now.”
Even before the season started, Liddell saw that level of potential in Branham, calling him a “bucket-getter” from the moment the two met and watching a player that continues to improve and see the game slow down.
Holtmann wants that progress to continue as long as he’s able to, knowing the amount of minutes and the amount of weight he’s put on Branham: a player he describes as a “young guy with young legs,” being asked to do way more than he’s done earlier in the year.
But to the head coach, Branham is someone who’s embraced short-term memory, the daily hustle, not wallowing in the past or not looking too far ahead.
In Branham, Holtmann sees a player who stays in the moment, a player who has helped Ohio State bounce back from each of its seven losses this season.
“That’s a sign of maturity: ‘I’m not blaming anybody else, I’m accepting accountability, I’m going to find a way to get better, I'm going to work at it,’” Holtmann said. “It’s a great sign of maturity.”
