Justin Ahrens thought Chris Holtmann was joking.
He hadn't played in the entire first half of Ohio State's game against Northwestern on Wednesday and hadn't played more than seven minutes since January, but Holtmann pointed to him as halftime ended and told him to enter the game.
"It was a double-take when I told him he was going in," Holtmann said on Wednesday. "He kind of looked at me. I think he said, 'Now?' And I said, 'Yeah. Start the half.'"
Ahrens responded by providing energy off the bench, scoring four points, including finishing a dunk on a back cut where Kaleb Wesson found him for the easy bucket. He played just seven minutes in his team's 14-point win, but after the game Holtmann credited Ahrens with providing a spark.
Holtmann even said he had considered starting Ahrens, but decided to keep Musa Jallow in the starting five.
"I just felt like he was really engaged, honestly, on the bench in the first half," Holtmann said after Wednesday's game. "I just felt like he was really engaged. And when you're a coach and you see a guy who hasn't played a whole lot and he's engaged in the game, what he's telling you is, hey, I'm fully invested in what we're doing right now.
"And when it's February, you want dudes that are fully invested in what you're doing. You want guys that are fully invested in the growth of the team. That's what you're looking for. And if you're not fully invested, then I'm probably not going to give you a nod there. And he is, and that's why he got the nod. And he responded well."
Fast forward three days.
Holtmann apparently saw enough from Ahrens in those seven minutes to insert him into the starting lineup alongside Luther Muhammad, Keyshawn Woods, Andre Wesson and Kaleb Wesson for the Buckeyes' game versus Maryland on Saturday. Without C.J. Jackson, who was out with a shoulder injury, Holtmann chose to go with the 6-foot-5 shooter from down the road in Versailles.
Ahrens didn't just start. He played a career-high 27 minutes and dropped nine points, hitting 3-of-5 3-point attempts, though Ohio State lost, 72-62. That shouldn't surprise anyone given his shooting prowess entering college, and the day before his first start, he made sure people would know he's comfortable firing up shots.
"If you guys don't know me yet, I'm as confident as ever," Ahrens said on Friday. "So, you know, any shot I take I think is going in."
He's a freshman, and he's never complained about playing time or even shown hints of unhappiness, but that hasn't diminished his confidence.
After hitting one of his three triples, Ahrens raised his finger to his mouth, effectively shushing the Maryland crowd at the Xfinity Center. The Buckeyes trailed by six points at the time. It wasn't exactly an attempt to ingratiate himself with the Terrapin faithful, but Holtmann loves confidence. That's why he recruited Luther Muhammad, Duane Washington Jr. and DJ Carton.
For a team bereft of offensive consistency, Ohio State can't rely on the freshman to score too much, but he has a shooting stroke that the group has missed at times.
Kaleb Wesson, C.J. Jackson and Luther Muhammad each average at least 37 percent from beyond the arc, but all of them have been relatively inconsistent and, more importantly, are focused on other things on offense. Wesson, at 6-foot-9, 270 pounds, is the team's post presence. Jackson runs the offense as the point guard. Muhammad gets shots more off the bounce and by moving around than spotting up from 3-point range.
Andre Wesson and Musa Jallow have improved from deep, but they aren't overly consistent. Duane Washington Jr. was supposed to be one of the team's best shooters, but he has struggled to find a consistent stroke, shooting 33.3 percent from behind the arc.
Ahrens, while developing all his other skills, already knows how to do one thing well: Shoot. He needs to develop physically, improve on defense, become more athletic and make smarter plays, but he already has a solid shot. With Kyle Young becoming more healthy, Ahrens might not remain in the starting lineup for a long period of time, but his nine-point, four-rebound performance versus Maryland should earn him more minutes.
Still, he has to make significant strides to become the player he hopes to be. Even though Ahrens had a largely successful 27 minutes on Saturday, he also committed a costly foul on a 3-point attempt that sent a Maryland player to the line late in the second half.
But for a young player who was considered a redshirt possibility before both he and Holtmann decided against it, Ahrens' positives certainly outweighed the negatives. Now, he needs to build on the performance – quickly. Just four regular-season games remain, and Ohio State needs an upset. And all of a sudden, he might play a role in whether that happens or not.
