Chris Holtmann hadn’t yet had a chance to dive deep into the film. The head coach had only just left Ohio State’s locker room after Saturday’s 73-68 loss to Illinois when he began responding to the inevitable questions in the press conference about how his team’s offense went scoreless for the final three and a half minutes.
He said he believed the Buckeyes “pressed” on several occasions that ended with subpar looks and Duane Washington Jr. – who accounted for five of the last 10 shots, all of which missed – had “forced a couple” of shots. He also, however, thought Ohio State had some looks he felt comfortably with his guys taking.
“We're probably having a different conversation if Duane makes that 3 coming to his left that's a pretty clean look. It's a clean look. Do I have a problem with that? I think it was a pretty clean look,” Holtmann said. “Do I have a problem with Kyle (Young’s) look? Not really. I thought we missed E.J. (Liddell) a couple times there, and they really collapsed on him when we did get him the ball. But you make one or two of those, it's a different deal.”
The Young look that Holtmann had also called a “really clean one?” It was a 3-pointer with 1:51 left and Ohio State up by three.
Needless to say, the fourth-year head coach probably wouldn’t have said he loved Young launching from behind the arc in post-game interviews the previous seasons. But now, things are different. Different for both of his starting forwards, in fact.
As the season has progressed, it has become increasingly evident that the Buckeyes have no problem with either Young or Liddell taking open shots from behind the arc regardless of the point in a given game. The coaches trust the pair of starters in the frontcourt both to be smart about when to launch from 3 and to knock them down when given an opportunity.
In a sense, that’s not a surprise.
On numerous occasions in the lead-up to the season, Holtmann referenced an improved outside stroke from Young whom he said was one of the team’s four most efficient 3-point shooters, per the numbers they track in practices and workouts. The years-long effort to expand his game beyond doing the dirty work at the rim had seemingly led to him developing a jump shot that could stretch defenses out and turn Ohio State into a more dynamic offense. The next step for Liddell, too, was to extend his range. He came to Columbus as a willing and able shooter from mid-range but didn’t yet have the touch he wanted from 3-point range. Becoming a true three-level scorer was a focus for Liddell in the last offseason.
But for a while, those outside looks simply weren’t falling for either of them.
Young went 1-for-9 from behind the arc in his first 10 games of the season, showing reticence to fire from deep while lacking the efficiency Holtmann expected to see. Liddell wasn’t much better. He made 3-of-18 3-pointers in his first 11 games. After about a month, it seemed as though the outside jump-shooting probably wouldn’t become the threat Holtmann and his staff once hoped.
Then, seemingly randomly in the middle of the season, something flipped.
Young hit 3s in the first two games of the 2021 calendar year. Since then, he has made 8-of-16 shots from deep. Liddell, out of absolutely nowhere, sank four triples in his 26-point outburst in the 87-81 win at Illinois on Jan. 16. Including that game, the sophomore is 18-of-40 from 3.
Now, with the regular season over, they're both at 36 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Comparatively, Liddell shot 19.2 percent from 3 as a freshman and Young was at 13.8 percent in his first three years as a Buckeye.
Combined shot charts of E.J. Liddell and Kyle Young in 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. Credit: Synergy Sports.
Those jumpers, in the grand scheme of things, are only a small fraction of Ohio State’s output. They do, however, add a dynamic to the Buckeyes’ offense of forwards stepping outside that existed in a big way a year ago – with Kaleb Wesson raining 3s – yet this team didn’t know whether it would have this season. Plus, with Liddell hitting a triple with 3:43 remaining then missing one as time expired and Young trying a 3 in the final two minutes of Saturday’s loss, they’re the types of shots the Buckeyes won’t shy away from with the game on the line.
“We got open shots, but just stuff wasn't falling for us,” Young said, trying to explain what went wrong offensively down the stretch.
That comment, of course, was in part aimed at his own shot from 3.
Given what Holtmann said, he’d have the senior forward fire away again if he finds himself in a similar late-game situation with the ball in his hands and some space. They’ll just hope for a different result next time.
