Big Ten Basketball: Early takeaways after first week of 2020-21 season

Inferring the end result of Ohio States’ small ball

The inaugural seven days of the 2020-21 season did nothing to improve Ohio State’s image in the eyes of the Associated Press. After Wednesday’s victory over Morehead State, the Buckeyes improved to 3-0 on the season. With victories of 27, 10, and 33 points, they won the rebound battle by 10,10, and 11.

With 6’10 / 220 center Ibrahima Diallo logging just seven minutes per game, the responsibility of scoring on one end and defending the paint on the other falls on 6’8 senior Kyle Young and 6’8 freshman Zeb Key. Having only had to deal with Johni Broome as the only opponent over 6’9, who only shot one for six Wednesday night, the Buckeyes have managed to weather the storm so far.

The way they have weathered the storm is through the scoring performance of their 6’6 forwards Justice Sueing (17 ppg), and 6’6  EJ Liddel (13.5 ppg). Sueing and Liddel are also their second and third leading rebounders.

So, while they are small, they have been getting the job done in non-conference play. When they start playing Big Ten teams and going up against, Luka Garza, Kofi Cockburn, Hunter Dickenson, and Zach Edey, the ceiling is capped for the Buckeyes even if they do not necessarily lose to all those teams.