Ohio State basketball's Zed Key shows off full arsenal in blowout of Charleston Southern
Zed Key made Charleston Southern look like Duke.
On this night, that was a good thing for Ohio State. After the big man scored a career-high 20 points in last year’s home win against the No. 1 Blue Devils, Key put together arguably his most impactful game since to help lead the Buckeyes (2-0) past Charleston Southern (1-1), 82-56, on Thursday night at Value City Arena.
Collectively, the Buckeyes did plenty to power their way past the overmatched Buccaneers. But it was Key who set the tone by scoring and hitting the glass early and often, helping Ohio State build an insurmountable lead even as Charleston Southern settled in during the second half.
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In 21 minutes, Key scored a game-high 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Freshman Brice Sensabaugh added 14 points, West Virginia graduate transfer Sean McNeil had 13 and Justice Sueing finished with 11 points.
Key’s 13 points and 10 rebounds by halftime made him the first Buckeye to notch a first-half double-double since Kaleb Wesson had 11 points and 11 rebounds in a win against UMass Lowell exactly three years prior. It also gave him his fourth career double-double and second in as many games to start the season after scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in Monday’s season-opening win against Robert Morris.
"Obviously I like raising the roof," Key said. "It gets the crowd into it. It gives the team energy. All that, just hard work and effort and it tells the other team, we’re here setting the rules."
After Charleston Southern’s Tahlik Chavez hit a contested jumper over Isaac Likekele to open the scoring on the first possession of the game, Ohio State immediately got going behind Key. He pulled down a Justice Sueing miss and dunked the ball, raising the roof for the first time as he headed back up the court.
It wouldn’t be the last, and the remainder of the first half felt like a Key bingo card. On Ohio State’s next possession, he tipped in a Sean McNeil 3-point miss. On the next, he dunked again and raised the roof. Two possessions later, his offensive rebound led to a Sueing drive and an 11-0 run for the Buckeyes as they scored on their first five possessions leading to a Charleston Southern timeout only 3:52 into the game. By that point, Key had 3 points and three rebounds.
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By the time Key got his first breather of the game, Ohio State led 23-6 with 11:12 to play and he had posted 13 points and six rebounds. He checked out of the game after scoring through contact, firing off his “finger guns” celebration while sprawled on the floor and then hitting the free-throw for the three-point play.
The Buckeyes wouldn’t have a possession without an offensive rebound or made field goal until the 10:42 mark when Tanner Holden lost the ball out of bounds on their 12th possession of the game. The lead reached 20 points when Roddy Gayle took a pass from fellow freshman Brice Sensabaugh and scored on a fast break to make it 27-7 with nine minutes to play, and still the lead would continue to grow.
Key returned to the game with 6:12 remaining in the half and the lead at 34-11 needing only four more rebounds to notch the double-double. He got the final one with 2:01 to play, and the Buckeyes took a 46-22 lead into the break after shooting 51.5% (17 for 33) from the floor, holding the Buccaneers to 29.0% (9 for 31) shooting and outrebounding the visitors 25-14.
The only real blemish during the half for Ohio State came in the final 2:20 when it turned the ball over three times on four possessions. During the second half, though, they nearly played Ohio State even as the Buckeyes outscored the visitors 36-34.
"I don’t want to focus too much on the negatives, but the reality is I thought we had some really careless possessions offensively and defensively in the second half," coach Chris Holtmann said. "We just didn’t play as well. Give Charleston Southern credit. They played great in the second half. We’ll look at both (aspects)."
Charleston Southern, which won its opener against Division II foe Toccoa Falls College on Monday, was picked to finish last in the 10-team Big South Conference in the league’s preseason poll. The Buckeyes are off until Wednesday, when they host Eastern Illinois at 7 p.m. in a game televised by the Big Ten Network. It will be their final tune-up game before heading to Hawai’i for the Maui Invitational.
The only thing missing from Key's night? After going 2 for 3 from 3-point range against Robert Morris, he did not attempt a 3-pointer against the Buccaneers.
The Buckeyes were without third-year wing Gene Brown III, who missed his second game of the season with a concussion but could return next week, and walk-on guard Colby Baumann, who sprained his ankle against Robert Morris.
The announced crowd of 8,409 is the smallest in Value City Arena regular-season history since at least the 2005-06 season, surpassing Monday's opener with Robert Morris (9,141).
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Zed Key's big night powers Ohio State past Charleston Southern
