So far, Indiana has played 20 games. Five more games remain on its regular season schedule, and then whatever awaits in the postseason follows. In head coach Archie Miller’s estimation, none of the Hoosiers’ opponents – either past or upcoming – will match Ohio State in a certain area.
“They're the most physical team you'll play all year,” Miller said. “If you're not ready to handle that on both ends of the floor and match it and stay with it throughout the course of the game, that's how they'll beat you.”
As it turns out, the Hoosiers weren’t ready to handle it. The Buckeyes laid it on them, beating Miller’s team, 78-59, just a little over an hour after the NCAA’s selection committee revealed Ohio State is already viewed as a No. 1 seed in March Madness.
Calling this Ohio State squad physical isn’t new. Miller isn’t the first coach to point it out. Plenty have noted it, and for obvious reasons.
E.J. Liddell grew up wanting to play football for the Buckeyes, and the 6-foot-7, 240-pound sophomore seemingly plays hoops with the same mindset at times. Kyle Young’s energy and willingness to fling his body around the court and into bigger guys have defined his collegiate career. Zed Key’s sole purpose on the court at times seems to be to sink his hips as low as he can and knock his backside into a defender who probably has the height advantage but perhaps doesn’t deal with contact as well as the freshman. Even CJ Walker, the fifth-year point guard listed at 6-foot-1 and less than 200 pounds, gives Ohio State physicality at the point of attack – or “bite,” as head coach Chris Holtmann described it.
Yet one guy – a 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward from Honolulu named Justice Sueing – stood out Saturday among the rest in the eyes of Miller.
“I just really feel like Justice Sueing, people don't understand how big and how strong and how underrated he is for what he does for their team,” Miller said. “Their 3, 4 and 5 can really hammer you with their post-ups, their off-the lane game, their offensive rebounding. To me, that's where we got a little bit knocked back. Our guards had a hard time with Sueing to start the game off the dribble and off the glass.”
Sueing’s first offensive possession ended with him cleaning up a Young miss for a putback of his own. The next trip down the court, he managed to grab another offensive board after Liddell’s errant jumper from the paint was a tad long, though his follow-up layup rimmed out.
Regardless of the second shot not going through the rim, Holtmann liked what he had seen from the get-go of what turned into a 16-point, 10-rebound outing – especially after what happened the prior game.
Five days ago, Sueing went scoreless. His 17 minutes against Maryland consisted of three missed shots, zero free-throw attempts, three rebounds, an assist, two steals and three fouls. Not good enough, and he knew it, saying he simply “didn’t perform.”
“Listen, he was disappointed the other night with probably not playing as much as he wanted to play and probably not playing as well as he wanted to play,” Holtmann said. “He didn't blame anybody. Didn't blame anybody. Just came back ready to work. We addressed those things with him. I think that's a sign of a really good player. He knew he had to play with a little bit more motor on that end, and when he does, I think he's really effective.”
Sueing added: “I just came in and I just really played my game. My teammates and my coaches always boost me, get me back in the right headspace.”
On Friday, Holtmann impressed the importance of hitting the offensive glass the next day against Indiana to his team, citing slipping numbers in that area. Its offensive-rebounding rate versus the Terrapins was the lowest of the season (15.2 percent) and the rate against the Spartans two games beforehand was the third-lowest (17.6 percent). Sure, he wanted Liddell, Young and Zed Key to heed those words, but he specifically intended for Sueing to listen to him because “it plays to his strength.”
Sueing, effectively the small forward in the Buckeyes’ starting five, has shown a knack for getting after it on the glass. Unlike Young and Liddell, he often has a size advantage when it comes to his individual matchup. As the player who Holtmann says tested out internally as the team’s best athlete, when his energy level is high – a point of emphasis by the coaches – he can impact games at a high level on the boards.
Saturday was one of those days.
Within the first two minutes, Sueing grabbed two offensive rebounds. By the end of his 33 minutes, he had snagged three more to tie with Key for a team-high five, playing a key part in Ohio State’s best offensive rebounding rate of the season against a high-major opponent (41.4 percent). He has now recorded double-doubles in three of his past five games.
“It's something that I bring to the game, so I continue to do it and I'm going to keep doing it if it's going to help my team win,” Sueing said.
That’s a theme both of the season and, specifically, the run of nine wins in 10 games Ohio State is in the middle of right now.
Sueing’s willing, and more importantly able, to contribute in any number of ways. When Walker and Jimmy Sotos went down the injuries in January, he filled in as a point guard. Sueing hasn’t led the Buckeyes in scoring in a game in nearly two months, but he’s third on the team with 10.4 points per game. Ohio State brought him in as someone who can get to the rim and draw fouls, which he did on Saturday five times without committing a single foul. He has become more adept with getting his hands on balls defensively, recording 10 steals in the past six games. And, of course, he’s gotten on the glass a great deal recently.
The redshirt junior pointed to that versatility as his best asset.
“Just the fact that I feel like I can bring, whether it's offensively or defensively, just anything to the game that the coaches need or that my teammates need for us to come out with a win,” Sueing said. “Today, it might've been rebounding. Other nights, it might be scoring, defense, defensive assignment, it just goes on. As long as we're winning, that's a skill that I'm good with.”
And it’s a skill his coaches and teammates are good with, too.
Holtmann has, at times, stated his desire to see Sueing to be both more assertive and consistent while playing harder this season. Little by little, that’s happening. Saturday’s double-double in the beatdown of Indiana was the latest step.
Though Sueing has rarely been the sole guy the Buckeyes can point to and say, “He’s the main reason why we won today,” his in-season growth and contributions as a physical yet smooth-playing forward over the past couple of months have boosted Ohio State to the point where it has become a legitimate top-five team in the country.
“He's got to keep working, keep a positive mindset,” Holtmann said. “I think if he does that, he'll continue to grow because he's a talented kid. It's not going to be perfect every night for him. He'll have other nights where he struggles. But I think if he has that approach, he'll keep getting better because of who he is as a kid and a player.”
