Men’s Basketball: Freshman E.J. Liddell stars on senior day

Andy Anders
Fri, 06 Mar 2020 05:19:43 +0000
Basketball, Men's Basketball, News, Sports, alonzo gaffney, Andre Wesson, Big Ten, Big Ten conference, Big Ten conference play, Big Ten Play, Buckeyes, buckeyes basketball, Buckeyes men's basketball, c.j. walker, Chris Holtmann, cj walker, conference play, D.J. Carton, DJ Carton, Duane Washington Jr., E.J. Liddell, E.J. Liddell Illinois, E.J. Liddell Ohio State, EJ Liddell, EJ Liddell Illinois, EJ Liddell Ohio State, Fighting Illini, Illinois, Illinois basketball, Justice Sueing, justin ahrens, Kaleb Wesson [and 19 more]

Ohio State freshman forward E.J. Liddell flexes in celebration after a putback dunk against Illinois. Ohio State won 71-63 March 5. Credit: Cori Wade | Assistant Photo Editor

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.”

The numbers for Liddell against the Fighting Illini knocked out his season averages with a jaw-breaking right hook.

He nearly tripled his scoring average of 6.2 points per game, successfully tripled his rebounding mark of 3.5 and even finished with two assists, well above his average of 0.4.

Liddell’s scoring mark tied a career high and his rebounding broke another.

Liddell said it took time for him to adjust to his job on the team, and that he was inspired to play harder in the absence of junior forward Kyle Young, the normal starter at power forward. Young suffered a high ankle sprain against Maryland Feb. 23.

“[It’s been about] me embracing my role, going out there, playing as hard as I can since Kyle isn’t here,” Liddell said. “I’m gonna try and pick up some of the energy that he brings.”

Holtmann said the Young injury forced the team to hand Liddell more minutes — he tied a career high with 26 Thursday — and proved the coaching staff’s confidence in the youngest player on the team, by age, was justified.

“It’s really been about five week where we’ve all sat in here and said, ‘Here he comes,’” Holtmann said. “He has moments. Maybe he gets two quick fouls and I gotta pull him in the first half, but we felt like that.”

Even Ohio State head football coach Ryan Day has noticed Liddell’s strides. Holtmann said the New Hampshire native entered the Buckeye locker room following the win, and during a brief speech to the team, pointed out Liddell and said “I see you getting better.”

With 18 seconds left in the game, Holtmann pulled Liddell aside and delivered the freshman a short message that summed up his night.

“He said, ‘It’s moments like these we live for,’ and he said I played my butt off, and they need more of that,” Liddell said. “He said I’ve been practicing as hard as I can and it’s paying off in the game.”