Just three days after its worst performance of the season, the Ohio State offense had its best against Northwestern in a scintillating 95-point effort.
But it was not all Liddell thereafter. Freshman guard Malaki Branham, who led Ohio State in scoring in each of the past two games entering Sunday during Liddell’s slump, hit four of his five first-half shot attempts to finish with 13 points in the first 20 minutes. Branham logged more minutes than any of his Buckeye teammates in the first half, and he shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line as well.
Branham and Liddell combined to score 34 of Ohio State’s first 51 points by halftime, and the duo connected on 75 percent of their shots. No other Buckeye had more than six points in the first half, but Zed Key, Cedric Russell, Meechie Johnson, Jamari Wheeler and Kyle Young collectively missed just a single shot.
“I felt a little bit more in shape, honestly,” Liddell said. “Still trying to get back into the definite shape I was in before the pause, because that was a pretty long break – no games and whatnot. But I came into this game with the same mindset, honestly. A lot of people were doubting me after two bad games this past week, but truthfully I just kept my head up and just kept playing with confidence and doing what I had to do.
Even a 45.8 percent clip as a team in the second half could only sink the Buckeyes to a full-game average of 56.9 percent shooting, which is the second-best figure Ohio State has posted all season. The performance stood in stark juxtaposition to the Buckeyes’ effort in Bloomington, in which Ohio State shot its lowest percentage of the year amid its worst scoring night of the year.
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