Justin Ahrens has to find a way to engage more
Ohio State’s Justin Ahrens hasn’t scored since his three pointer at the buzzer to end the first half against Penn State now three games ago. He’s 0-5 in 34 minutes of game time.
— Patrick Murphy (@_Pat_Murphy) February 26, 2021
Duane Washington was fantastic for large stretches tonight, but one of the revelations this year has been the emergence of Justin Ahrens as a defense stretcher. As of late here, he’s had issues wiggling free for open looks, however. He went scoreless for the second game in a row and only managed to get up one look tonight.
It’s clear that defenses are now trying to take away any option he has at bombing away from deep, and it’s time to get back to the lab. Ohio State is a much better team when he can provide that one extra option out on the perimeter to open things up underneath. It also goes without saying that you want him to get as many open looks from beyond the arc as possible. That’s just not happening right now.
Look for the coaching staff to draw up some things for him to get more open looks in the flow of the offense going forward.