Three things we learned from Ohio State basketball’s win over Illinois State

The Ohio State basketball team opened its 2020-2021 season Wednesday in blowout fashion vs. Illinois State. Here are 3 things we observed.

Don’t be fooled, points will be hard to come by in the blocks

The Buckeyes got 28 points from the combination of E.J. Liddell and freshman Zed Key. That’s great, but it was against an Illinois State team that didn’t provide much resistance at the rim.

Don’t be fooled.

Liddell will get engaged on the blocks and Key might develop into a nice player, but neither has the size or leaping ability to be a force down low that teams have to account for. Also, the 6-foot, 10-inch Ibrahima Diallo has length, but still lacks the girth and physicality to be much of an option down there.

Truth be known, Kyle Young might be the best answer in the post and he too is going to have a problem elbowing his way past the size that will come with conference play down low.

That means this team is going to have to score a lot of points from the wing and guard spots, then hope to be competitive in the paint and get what it can, when it can.

[lawrence-related id=41123]

Next … Depth looks good