WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Musa Jallow entered Wednesday night's tilt against No. 3 Purdue having not scored since Jan. 4.
After watching Jallow in shootaround prior to the Big Ten's biggest conference game of the year, Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann decided his freshman guard needed a pep talk.
"I did grab Musa at shootaround. You don't ever want to talk to guys about shooting, but I said, 'Hey, I am watching you at shootaround right now, and you are not shooting the ball with confidence. When you go in tonight, shoot the ball. Let it fly. You have an open shot, let it fly. I want you to do that,' knowing that he might get one or two open looks," Holtmann said. "Obviously you don't anticipate that he is going to shoot like he did. I am really proud of him and happy for him."
After going scoreless in his last nine games, Jallow finished with 10 points against the No. 3 ranked Boilermakers, connecting on three of his four shots from behind the three-point arc. The Bloomington, Ind. native also contributed a steal, an assist and a rebound, with his father in attendance at Mackey Arena, as Ohio State upset Purdue, 64-63, snapping the Boilermakers' 19-game winning streak.
Jallow said after making his first shot of the game – a three-pointer from the corner – there was a sense of relief that came over him as he connected on his first field goal since a win over Iowa more than a month ago.
"About dang time," Jallow said with a smile on his face. "It felt good. I was working on it the last couple of weeks. If you're going to shoot it, you might as well shoot it with confidence and I knew I put the reps in and enough work to make them."
The boost on offense was especially needed for Ohio State, as the Buckeyes were without veteran guard and leading three-point shooter Kam Williams, who was suspended indefinitely on Sunday prior to a game against Illinois.
It wasn't just Jallow that provided a scoring spark, however, as Andre Wesson poured in a career-high 13 points in just his second career start in place of the suspended Williams.
The Westerville, Ohio native connected on 4-of-6 shots from the floor, including a three-pointer that banked in off the glass with 1:14 to play, giving Ohio State its first lead since the first half. Wesson hadn't scored more than three points in a game since Dec. 19, when he scored seven in a win over The Citadel, but he said the Buckeyes' coaches and teammates continued to have confidence in him, which influenced his game against the Boilermakers.
"They just told me to keep shooting," Wesson said. "They knew I was going to have some open shots and some chances to score, so just keep shooting."
Without the performances from Ohio State's unlikely heroes, Holtmann said he doesn't believe the Buckeyes would have been able to pull off the upset that puts them in the driver's seat to win the Big Ten.
"Anytime that you play a team of this caliber on the road, guys play pretty loose and confident," Holtmann said. "You have to, to beat a team of this caliber."
