MEN'S BASKETBALL: HOT SHOOTING SHOWS HEALTHY JUSTIN AHRENS COULD BE CRUCIAL FOR OHIO STATE
All January Ohio State had trouble scoring and knocking down consistent 3s –– problems that are especially deflating for a team whose leading scorer needs the ball down low in a physical Big Ten conference.
But this is February, and Justin Ahrens is coming alive.
Hampered by a back injury at the start of the season, the sophomore forward’s recent uptick in minutes reflect a player who’s back to relative health –– and he’s making the most of his opportunities.
“He’s not felt healthy, really through December. We saw it in practice,” head coach Chris Holtmann said. “He’s added weight, he’s getting healthier. He’s practicing better. He’s been on the scout team the last three weeks and been able to come in and still play 15 minutes a game and understand how we’re doing things.”
Ahrens scored 12 points on 4-of-5 from 3 against Northwestern this past Sunday –– his most points since a 29-point outburst against Iowa a year ago.
The rare Ahrens sighting may have slipped under the radar as yet another aberration during an otherwise disappointing season, if it weren’t for his encore performance against Indiana Sunday.
The night before the noon matchup, Ohio State freshman guard D.J. Carton announced he would be temporarily stepping away from the program to deal with ongoing mental health issues.
Without their third-leading scorer, the Buckeyes would need a boost on the offensive end to dispatch of an Indiana team they lost to three weeks ago.
Ahrens answered the call to action, knocking down three straight long-range bombs in the second half during a stretch that blew the lid off the Schottenstein Center and all but started the busses for the Hoosiers.
“You can’t leave Justin. He’s gonna kill you,” junior forward Kaleb Wesson said. “That’s what he did today –– he hit shots for us and that was big.”
The 6-foot-5 wing finished with 11 points in 14 minutes, and with 23 total in the past two games, Ahrens has scored six more than his previous 10 performances combined for the Buckeyes.
The added scoring from Ahrens, who had been averaging just over three points per contest entering Saturday, is especially essential for a Buckeye team that hasn’t gotten consistent shot-making out of two of its shooting guards.
Sophomore guards Duane Washington and Luther Muhammad combined to shoot 3-for-17 against Indiana, and Muhammad has scored in double digits just once since mid-December.
Muhammad hasn’t shot better than .333 from the field since Dec. 21, and Washington has shot around 34 percent from the field in his past 10 games.
“Duane still took some quick ones –– some bad ones –– without probing the paint today,” Holtmann said. “I thought Luther took one or two.”
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