Through the first seven games of his final season at Ohio State, Kyle Young was admittedly unhappy with his performance.

Entering Wednesday’s contest against Rutgers, the senior forward was averaging just 5.7 points per game, shooting less than 40 percent from the floor, and lacking the usual energy that Chris Holtmann expects on both ends of the court.

It all peaked in an unexpected benching for Young against Purdue, where he and Holtmann shared the sentiment that he needed to step up as his senior season moved forward.

Since then, the Massillon native has returned to the form most are used to seeing.

Young scored 17 points in Ohio State’s 80-68 win over Rutgers and led his team on the glass, pulling down 12 rebounds, including five huge ones on the offensive end.

"On the offensive rebounds, I don’t know how many offensive rebounds Kyle had, but he was a big factor in that,” sophomore forward E.J. Liddell said.

That energy on the boards couldn’t have come at a more critical time.

Down 48-32 after a Ron Harper Jr. three-pointer with 15:38 remaining, the Buckeyes appeared hopeless and on their way to 0-2 in the Big Ten.

But Young and Ohio State were far from dead.

Using that work on the boards and a newfound physicality on the interior, Ohio State slowly pounded its way back and tied the game up with 4:53 remaining following a Young post score and a Duane Washington Jr. floater.

Almost all of that production took place in the paint. In their 33-13 run to tie the game, the Buckeyes scored 20 points either via the paint or at the free throw line.

“We like getting to the paint a lot,” Liddell said. “And we felt like whoever scored more paint points and whoever got more offensive rebounds and rebounds in general was gonna win the game. So I just felt that we stressed that before the game. That was the gameplan.”

C.J. Walker tossed Young a lob to extend Ohio State’s lead to six with 3:40 remaining and the Buckeyes were on their way to the improbable victory.

Beyond a few Washington three-pointers early in the second half, Holtmann and company attacked Rutgers’ bigs inside with a steady dose of Young and Liddell, who finished with 21 points.

"Not going away from that kid, that's for sure," Holtmann said of Liddell. "He's a gifted offensive player."

After Scarlet Knights’ starting center Myles Johnson picked up his fourth foul early in the second half and fouled out soon after, Rutgers had zero answer defending the rim. Johnson ended up playing just 15 minutes and his absence cost Rutgers massively.

Ohio State collected a season-high 12 offensive rebounds and outworked Rutgers 45-25 on the glass, while outscoring Steve Piekell’s team by a combined 30 points in the paint and at the free throw line.

“When their big man fouled out, I kinda grinned inside, but I didn’t grin out loud," Liddell said. "That was just another opportunity to go in the paint and dominate in the paint-- all of us."

Musa Jallow had multiple second efforts. Liddell was dominant on the glass. Seth Towns played a very important six minutes, grabbing two offensive boards and scoring twice. But without Young, Ohio State wouldn't have a chance to make the comeback it did.

Perhaps this team has discovered its identity in its work down low-- it handled UCLA on the inside on Saturday and would not have secured the win over Rutgers without its relentless performance on the glass.

This was a full-team effort from the Buckeyes in their toughest matchup and most inspiring victory of the young season.

Even more than that, it was a much-needed performance from Holtmann’s only four-year senior.

“I talk to Kyle all the time," Liddell said. "Me and him talk about keeping our confidence levels up. Me and Kyle are great friends and he wants me to be honest with him when he isn’t doing something confidently.”

This is the Kyle Young Ohio State was looking for entering Big Ten play.