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MEN'S BASKETBALL: FRESHMAN E.J. LIDDELL STARS ON SENIOR DAY
Illinois men’s basketball had cut Ohio State’s lead back to three with under five minutes to play, and Ohio State appeared destined for a shot clock violation and a continued swing of momentum to the Fighting Illini.
But not if freshman forward E.J. Liddell had anything to say about it.
With one second to shoot, Liddell received a pass in the post, turned and faded away for a jumper that fell after twice hitting the rim.
Thursday was Senior Night for the Buckeyes, but it served as the coming out party for the first-year Liddell in a 17-point, 11-rebound, one-block performance that pushed No. 19 Ohio State to a 71-63 victory over No. 23 Illinois.
“His offense and defense were critical,” Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said. “He was phenomenal. And now we’ve gotta see if he can keep doing that.”
His buzzer-beating act wasn’t the only play Liddell made that brought the capacity Schottenstein Center crowd to its feet.
With the game tied at 51, sophomore forward Luther Muhammad missed a transition layup that would’ve given the Buckeyes their first lead since they were up 40-39 nearly seven minutes prior.
Liddell slammed back the miss and flexed in an ESPN camera, drenched from a thunderstorm of applause.
“It was a big momentum swing when I got the dunk, but we just stayed together the whole game and played our butts off the entire game,” Liddell said.
Less than three minutes later, Liddell swatted a shot from Illinois sophomore guard Alan Griffin, and followed it with another high-energy celebration.
Redshirt senior guard Danny Hummer said Liddell has sent a few of his shots into the bleachers during practice.
“I saw the whole thing coming,” senior forward Andre Wesson said. “He just got up. Sounded like a gun went off when he hit it. It was a great play, great athletic play. You see it all the time from E.J., he’s just super athletic.”
Just before the blocked shot, he knocked down two crunch-time free throws.
Liddell capped off a night in which he led the team in rebounding and finished No. 2 in scoring with an offensive rebound and stickback that iced the game at 67-60 with 58 seconds to play.
“I didn’t want to have my guys go out on a bad note in their last home game,” Liddell said. “I was more motivated, and I feel like everyone was more motivated, to get a win for these guys on senior night.”
Entire article: https://www.thelantern.com/2020/03/...all-freshman-e-j-liddell-stars-on-senior-day/
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