Life’s ultimately just a matter of perspective.
Head coach Chris Holtmann, seeing E.J. Liddell not living up to his potential in the first half of Ohio State’s 90-85 win at Notre Dame, had what he described as a “really honest, heart-to-heart conversation” with the sophomore forward that was admittedly “pretty one-sided.” The reason Holtmann thought they needed to chat was simple: “We need him to be good for us if we're going to be good.”
Liddell, however, experienced it a little differently. To him, it was more of a lecture than a conversation.
“Excuse my language for my mom: Coach chewed my ass at halftime,” Liddell said.
The ass-chewing, as it turned out, worked.
He tallied only two points in 14 first-half minutes, missing all five shots from the field, including both 3-point attempts, while also grabbing six rebounds. Liddell came close to flagrant foul territory with an elbow toward Juwan Durham’s head early in the second half and got rejected at the rim by Prentiss Hubb with 15 minutes in the game remaining, but he locked in down the stretch.
Liddell hit six of his seven final shots, including three of his team’s final five buckets, to aid the Buckeyes’ comeback from a double-figures second-half deficit. To those watching the 6-foot-6, 238-pounder work down the stretch, he didn't look much like an underclassman. He was physical, confident and both took and made shots when they counted most.
“He responds in those moments, and man, I was proud of him,” Holtmann said.
Ohio State’s coup de grâce came with a little less than a minute remaining in a three-point game.
The Buckeyes needed points to make it a two-possession game, and Liddell got the ball at the top of the 3-point line with the shot clock at eight seconds. He planned to give it back to CJ Walker, but Cormac Ryan prevented the pass. So with three seconds remaining on the shot clock, Liddell turned to the basket, took a couple dribbles to get himself inside the free-throw line, stepped back and drained a fadeaway midrange jumper as the buzzer sounded.
Kobe!
Liddell, who developed an efficient mid-range game because of his idol and shouts the name of the Los Angeles Lakers legend every time he tries a fadeaway, put the Buckeyes ahead by five points. The bucket gave him a career-high 19 points on the night to go along with 12 rebounds, marking his first double-double of the season and second in his career.
“Duane (Washington Jr.) just was yelling, ‘Shoot it,’” Liddell said. “I looked up at the last second and saw it was two seconds on the clock. I just felt like that was a huge momentum swing for us in the final minute.”
Liddell catching fire down the stretch wasn’t the only reason the Buckeyes won, of course. Not by a long shot.
Washington’s deep 3-pointer with 2:48 remaining to answer a Hubb triple and put Ohio State ahead by three points was massive. Walker made four important free throws in the final 17 seconds to clinch the win. The defensive prowess – including on Notre Dame’s last possession – and seven points from Musa Jallow in his return to the court after missing two games with Achilles soreness can’t go overlooked. Justice Sueing added 16 points, and Jimmy Sotos banged a triple to continue a seven-point run that led to Ohio State retaking the lead.
A bunch of contributions from a number of Buckeyes went into the second-half comeback. But Liddell’s was especially important to see simply given what his team needs from him going forward.
Ohio State has to be able to rely on him in clutch moments just like it did on Tuesday. He’s not just a role player anymore. He’s legitimately one of the Buckeyes’ best players, and he played like that versus Notre Dame. Liddell scored in double figures just six times as a freshman, and he’s now done so in all four games to kick off his second season in college.
“I do think E.J.'s quickness, his offensive versatility, his ability to block shots and impact the game as he continues to get in game shape and game fitness, he was tremendous in the second half. Tremendous,” Holtmann said.
In 17 second-half minutes, here was his line: 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, 3-for-3 from the foul line, six rebounds, one block that looked as though he attempted to deflate the basketball with his palm and one steal.
So, yes, "tremendous" sounds like an apt description for how he played in the game's final 20 minutes.
“He's a terrific player,” Holtmann said. “And as a sophomore, he's got to be consistently a pretty good player for us night in and night out if we're going to be good. I thought he responded with some real grit and determination. I'm sure those conversations will happen again.”
Conversations or ass-chewings, he’s correct that they won't go away – especially if they lead to results like these.
