COLUMBUS, Ohio –– It’s been nine months since Ohio State men’s basketball hit the hardwood for a real game following COVID-19 catastrophe last March, but the Buckeye offense came out operating at midseason capacity early on Wednesday.
No. 23 Ohio State (1-0) began its season opener against Illinois State (0-1) on a red-hot 22-0 run, hitting eight of its first 13 attempts in the first six minutes of the game to help propel the Buckeyes to a big 94-67 win at home.
"We set a really good tone with how we wanted to play early. You don't ever expect to get out to that kind of lead," Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said after the game.
The Buckeyes cooled off considerably to end the first half, but bounced back with an even more prolific final 20 minutes to score 52 points on 50 percent shooting, as five Buckeyes finished in double-digit figures scoring.
Five different Buckeyes scored during the 22-0 game-opening run, including freshman forward Zed Key and freshman guard Eugene Brown, but it was redshirt junior forward Justice Sueing who led the way for Ohio State early and often on the afternoon.
Sueing, who sat out last season after transferring to the program from Cal, finished with 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting, including a 3-point attempt. Sueing started the game 8-for-8 from the field, and didn’t miss until the 11:23 mark of the second half.
"He's that versatile wing-forward that is really valuable in today's game," Holtmann said about Sueing.
The 6-foot-7 wing finished at the rim with dunks on back-to-back possessions six minutes into the second half to help push the Ohio State lead to 25.
It was the Redbirds that came out showing signs of rust after a long layoff since last year, as Illinois State missed its first 10 shots to start the game, and finished out with 38.6-percent field goal percentage on the day.
However, two different 7-0 runs by Illinois State following the Buckeyes’ opening burst allowed the Redbirds to walk into the locker room down only 17 points at halftime.
Ohio State sophomore forward E.J. Liddell, who made the first start of his career on Wednesday, scored the first five points of the game for the Buckeyes with a dunk and an and-one on the inside, and continued to impress on both sides of the floor throughout.
Liddell, who scored in double figures six times as a freshman last season, finished with 16 points to go along with a block, two steals and three assists. Nine of Liddell’s points came in the second half.
Ohio State’s starting backcourt, consisting of redshirt senior guard C.J. Walker and sophomore guard Duane Washington, struggled to find a rhythm for much of the day and combined to hit on just five of their first 17 attempts. However, the pair finished strong with 22 total points between the two of them.
Thirteen different Buckeyes saw minutes for Ohio State on Wednesday, with 11 players scoring points.
Sophomore guard Antonio Reeves led the way for Illinois State with 17 points for the Redbirds.
Ohio State returns to the Schottenstein Center this Sunday for a noon tip against UMass-Lowell.
