Justin Ahrens shoots past tough stretch, powers Ohio State to Maryland win

Justin Ahrens is not a particularly prolific poster when it comes to social media. He has a TikTok account but has never posted a video, hasn’t utilized his Twitter account since Oct. 26 and has posted just one message to Instagram this year.

That was on New Year’s Day, and the Ohio State senior posted a few photos of himself in action with a caption: “Manifesting my dreams & minding my business” with a checkmark emoji.

At the time, the Buckeyes were finally poised to emerge from a 22-day COVID-19 layoff that cost them three games. Their last time out, Ahrens had gone 1 for 4 from 3-point range in a 73-55 home win against No. 17 Wisconsin. It was only the second time through the first 10 games he had failed to make multiple 3-pointers in a game. He was shooting a career-best 43.1% (25 for 58) to that point.

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Justin Ahrens: 'Feels like the whole fan base is against you' during shooting slump

Go back one game, and through nine games Ahrens was at 44.4% and on his way to a potentially record-breaking season. Instead, what has followed is more than a month of staring into the abyss and trying to translate good practice effort into game results.

But as shot after shot clanged off the rim, in arenas in Indiana, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Purdue and even at home, “minding my own business” was growing harder for the Ohio State senior.

“It’s frustrating,” Ahrens said Sunday afternoon. “It feels like the whole fan base is against you when you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing.”

Ahrens’ comments came moments after the announced crowd of 15,912 and the uncounted millions watching at home on national television were unequivocally in his corner. For the first time since his 5-for-10 effort against Towson on Dec. 8, Ahrens shook off the shooting slump that had taken hold and went 4 for 7 to help power No. 16 Ohio State past Maryland, 82-67.

The challenge is to get back to shooting at a high level on a consistent basis. But after that nine-game stretch that saw him connect on 9 of 42 (21.4%) of his 3-point attempts, Ahrens could breathe a little easier after facing Maryland.

“Obviously when you’re not making shots that’s, my job,” Ahrens said. “There’s no excuses. Nobody wants to hit those shots more than I do. To have my teammates believing in me throughout that stretch when I really couldn’t get anything to fall, and my family, that helped me to stay with it.”

He credited teammates E.J. Liddell, Jamari Wheeler and Malaki Branham for helping keep his spirits and confidence high. To get out of his own head, Ahrens said he played video games. He relied on his faith in God and the support he gets from his extended family.

During this game, the fans helped. Ahrens made his first 3-pointer with 10:12 to play in the first half, less than two minutes into his first appearance of the game. His second came with 1:12 left in the half, and when he drilled another with 12:39 to play in the second half, the applause continued to grow exponentially.

Coach Chris Holtmann said he could feel that, just like he felt the weight of expectations on Ahrens’ shoulders during his recent stretch.

“He’s got a lot of fans, and I believe this, that watched the game today and were thrilled for Justin Ahrens,” Holtmann said. “That’s what I believe is out there in Buckeye Nation. I’m sure he’s had people that have been frustrated with him like they are with me, but I know he had a lot of fans who looked at that and said, ‘We’re happy for that kid, because we know he struggled.’ ”

Throughout the stretch, Holtmann and his assistant coaches have praised Ahrens for his approach. That has been a constant since his arrival at Ohio State four years ago when he was the nation’s No. 249 national prospect according to 247Sports.com. He is 14 3-pointers shy of reaching the top 10 in the Ohio State record books, and his career 40.0 3-point shooting percentage currently sits fifth-best.

There is a large enough body of work that indicated Ahrens was due to break out at some point. The longer it dragged on, the more frustrating it grew.

“I’m a shooter,” Ahrens said. “When I’m not making shots, I feel like I’m almost useless out there. I’m one guy that coach said I can be out on the court and not hit shots and still have a positive impact on the game with a bunch of different things, my communication, my rebounding, talking on defense, a lot of little things some guys don’t bring to the floor. Staying with it each and every day was the main thing for me to get through that stretch.”

During the last few days, Ahrens said assistant coach Ryan Pedon pointed to three areas where he was still impacting the game even if shots weren’t falling: toughness, defense and rebounding. After the Purdue loss, a game in which he played a season-low 11 minutes and finished with 3 points, Holtmann said Ahrens was the same, vocal leader in practice.

He repeatedly called him a “pro’s pro” for his mindset.

“Most kids, when they have a bad game and if you lose, they come in and they don’t have the same spirit that Justin had,” Holtmann said. “His spirit has not waned through this stretch. He’s been disappointed, but his work has not waned.”

This game doesn’t guarantee anything going forward. Some teams will hug Ahrens defensively and refuse to allow him open looks, and there will be more games where shots just won’t fall. That’s the life of a shooter playing in the Big Ten.

But this was a pretty clear reminder that Ahrens still has the chance to be a significant factor on an Ohio State team with lofty postseason goals. When the Buckeyes play at Rutgers on Wednesday night, he’ll get a chance to build on this performance.

He’ll approach it the same way he’s done the last 101 games.

“I’ve learned in the last few weeks to brush it off,” he said. “There’s a lot more games to be played. You can’t sit back and dwell on every mistake you make. If you keep doing that, you’re going to keep making more mistakes.”

Time off leads to energized performance by Buckeyes

Ohio State was not supposed to have a week in between games. Thursday’s tipoff against Iowa was postponed when the Hawkeyes first had mechanical issues with their plane and then were unable to fly to Columbus during the week’s winter storm.

The next day was not a fun one for the Buckeyes.

“We practiced really hard these last two days,” Holtmann said. “I was really hard on them two days ago. A part of that was probably I was just ready for a game. I’m concerned about these consistent layoffs that we’ve had. We can get out of shape pretty quickly.”

Key said Thursday was a strange day but one that helped pave the way for a dominant win Sunday.

“We wanted to play Iowa,” he said. “Due to the weather and some unforeseen circumstances, we couldn’t. It's tough. You’re getting read to play, game day, the game is postponed. It’s definitely tough, but the guys are always ready to play. Definitely had some built-up energy ready to go.”

Purdue loss referenced at halftime

On the scoreboard, the Buckeyes held a comfortable lead as they headed into the locker room. Ohio State had shot 61.5% (16 for 26) through the first 20 minutes and led, 42-29.

In the locker room, Holtmann had two challenges for the Buckeyes, and they directly related to their last time on the court. Down nine at No. 6 Purdue last Sunday, Ohio State was outscored 8-0 in the opening minutes of the second half to create a deficit that was ultimately too much to completely overcome.

So, yes, that was mentioned.

“We told them that,” Holtmann said. “We reminded them of our first four minutes at Purdue. We didn’t have any offensive rebounds, which was disappointing. They had seven defensive rebounds. Those were the two points we really hit on at halftime. We needed better force to the ball and what kind of urgency were we going to come out of the halftime with.”

Ohio State took that 13-point lead and grew it to 18 points thanks to a pair of Ahrens free throws at the under-16 media timeout. That came with 15:37 left, and Ohio State was ahead 53-35.

During the second half, Ohio State outrebounded Maryland 21-16 and finished with seven offensive rebounds — three from Liddell and two apiece from Kyle Young and Key.

“Coach Holtmann said we have to get more offensive rebounds,” Key said. “We have to crash the glass a lot harder than we were doing. The team took that to heart. We came out in the second half, rebounded a lot more. Offensive rebounding is big for us.”

E.J. Liddell, Ohio State playmaker

For a fifth straight game, Liddell finished with at least three assists. For the second time in that stretch, he also dished out five assists. And for a second straight game, he did not have a turnover.

During those five games, Liddell has had 19 assists and seven turnovers. He now has 57 assists, behind just Jamari Wheeler’s team-leading 66.

“What we’ve seen of late is him grow in that area,” Holtmann said. “This year we’ve said, you get a defensive rebound, you push it. Now sometimes he’s turned it over, but more times he’s gotten something good out of it. It’s important for him. I think we play a little faster that way, but it allows him to showcase a bigger part of his game. It’s a small part: What the NBA people said they wanted to see from him, they didn’t say we want to see a bust-out guy. I think it helps.

“It can’t hurt with having five assists and no turnovers.”

Liddell is putting up a statistically rare season.

Zed Key and E.J. Liddell: mistaken identity

As Ahrens finished his press conference, Key remained and a team spokesman told reporters they could direct more questions to the remaining player.

He called Key “E.J.,” which led to a chuckle from the sophomore. When a reporter pointed to Key and called him the player of the year, he smiled and said, “Maybe I’ll start shooting jumpers now, since I’m E.J.”

He hasn’t shown it in games yet, but Key has been developing a jumper that is looking more consistent during pregame warmups.

Bill Hosket, Michael Redd among captains on hand for game

When Ohio State’s game with Nebraska scheduled for Jan. 22 was postponed, the Buckeyes lost their opportunity to recognize their former team captains during their annual event.

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During the Maryland game, 15 former Buckeye captains were recognized during a timeout. Here’s who was able to make it this time:

Gene Millard (1957)

Dick Furry (1960)

Bill Hosket Jr. (1968)

Denny Meadors (1969)

Rick Smith (1979)

Ron Stokes (1984-85)

Tony White (1989)

Jamie Skelton (1994)

Michael Redd (2000)

Terence Dials (2004-06)

J.J. Sullinger (2006)

Matt Terwilliger (2008)

Aaron Craft (2014)

By the numbers

• Ohio State is now 9-3 against Maryland when scoring at least 70 points. The Buckeyes are winless in six games where they don’t score at least 70.

• Maryland entered the game tops in the Big Ten in free throws made (338) and is second in free throws attempted (449). Both teams made 11 free throws, but Ohio State attempted 17 compared to 16 for Maryland.

• The Buckeyes finished with six turnovers. It marked their fifth straight game in single digits. During that stretch, Ohio State is 4-1 and averaging 7.0 turnovers per game. In the process, the Buckeyes have climbed to No. 70 nationally in turnover percentage.

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State basketball: Justin Ahrens breaks through in Maryland win