E.J. Liddell Enters His Final Collegiate Postseason With a Heavy Burden of Carrying the Buckeyes

Losers of three of the last four games, pushing them down to a No. 6 seed in the Big Ten tournament and a current NCAA tournament seed projection hovering around No. 6 or No. 7, Chris Holtmann's basketball Buckeyes need to figure it out.

The pressure is magnified as Ohio State has yet to win a regular or postseason conference crown or advance to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament since Holtmann's arrival. 

If the Buckeyes are to make some legit noise in the Big Ten tournament and beyond, it seems impossible they can do it without all-everything forward E.J. Liddell leading the charge. 

Yes, true freshman guard Malaki Branham emerged as a legit top-tier sidekick over the course of the season but this is Liddell's team and nothing short of a Herculean effort will be needed from the Belleville, Illinois product for the Buckeyes to go where they haven't gone since the 2013 postseason under Thad Matta. 

Carried by Liddell and the since-departed Duane Washington, Ohio State recorded a Big Ten tournament championship game appearance and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament but things went south with the quickness as No. 15 Oral Roberts sent the Buckeyes home from the Dance early. 

For his part, Liddell averaged 15.3 points, 5.5 boards and 4.0 assists as Ohio State beat Minnesota, Purdue and Michigan in the conference tournament before Illinois took it down in the championship game but he shot just 31.6% from the field (18-of-57) and 26.3% from beyond the arc (5-of-19) across those four outings in four days. Exhausted heading into the Illinois matchup, Liddell scored a modest 12 points on 3-of-16 from the field (18.8%) including an 0-for-7 from 3-point land in the 91-88 overtime loss. 

Liddell did bounce back after some rest ahead of the Oral Roberts calamity and promptly poured in 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting, grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out five assists in the 75-72 overtime stunner. 

Flipping the page back to the 2021-22 slate, Liddell's regular season performance proved worthy of Big Ten Player of the Year discussion and against the better competition on the schedule-to-date, he's also proved up to task. 

Liddell's points per game average against KenPom's top-30 is down about a bucket to his overall season-to-date but he's shot it better from the field and beyond the arc against better competition and his blocks per game jump off the page at 3.2 per night.

His production so far this season illustrates the confidence he has in being The Man for this team even in comparison to last season's success as option 1B alongside Washington Jr.

Yes, Liddell's averaging 3.5 more minutes per contest this season which has surely helped some of his per game stats but adding 2.1 points to his field goal percentage and 3.7 his 3-point shooting accuracy really stands out as he's been forced to take some shots he might not last season. 

He has a dozen 20-point games to his credit this season after eight last year and eight double-doubles so far this season compared to three last year. 

In Ohio State's loss to Michigan last Sunday, Liddell posted a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double but it frankly wasn't enough. He had just six points in the second half on only four field goal attempts though he did make six trips to the line in 18 minutes. The Wolverines outscored Ohio State by 13 points in that decisive second half and for Liddell not to be a bigger factor on offense simply can't happen.

All of that behind Liddell and his teammates, the time is now if the 2021-22 Buckeyes want to ensure this season ends with a more positive taste than last season. 

For Ohio State to make a run in the Big Ten tournament and more importantly, reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in the Holtmann era, it needs Liddell to wrap up his outstanding Buckeye career with an elite personal performance.