Ohio State junior guard Jr. (4) takes a shot at the basket during the Ohio State-Purdue game on Jan. 19. Ohio State lost 65-67. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Despite a slow start to his junior season, Ohio State junior guard Duane Washington Jr. has found his groove in January.
Coming off a sophomore season in which he increased his scoring but lowered his efficiency, Washington opened his junior campaign by shooting 34.8 percent through his first nine games. Since a 1-of-9 performance in a loss to Northwestern Dec. 26, 2020, the Michigan native has delivered on more than 44.8 percent of his shots for nearly 17.7 points per game.
Having coached Washington all three seasons he’s been a Buckeye, head coach Chris Holtmann pointed to a key few aspects that makes Washington an effective member of the team.
“What we’ve seen in these last string of games is a consistent, efficient Duane Washington,” Holtmann said Jan. 13. “When you get an efficient, consistent Duane Washington, he is what I’ve always believed and that is a very good player. He is a very good player when he plays like that.”
Washington has scored in double figures in all six games since that loss to Northwestern and has only shot below 40 percent from the field on one occasion — against Illinois in which he shot 3-of-10 from the field.
The junior has also dialed in from beyond the arc, connecting on 45.8 percent of his 3-point attempts in the last six games — compared to the 33.3 percent he shot in the first nine games.
Washington has not only upped his efficiency as a scorer but has also surpassed career highs as a playmaker in that stretch.
The Buckeyes have been without their two primary ball handlers in redshirt senior guard C.J. Walker and senior guard Jimmy Sotos in their previous three games, thrusting Washington into a facilitator role in addition to his scoring burden.
Although never reaching five assists in a single game prior to this season, Washington has excelled in his new role — producing two of his career-high assist totals in his last three games including six-assist performances in games against Northwestern and Purdue.
Following Ohio State’s 81-71 win over Northwestern Jan. 13, junior forward Justin Ahrens credited Washington for his improved court vision.
“I feel like he’s done a really, really good job of seeing the floor,” Ahrens said Jan. 13. “Credit to him for handling the ball the way he has been and reading certain situations.”
Washington’s focus on distributing the ball did not happen overnight. Instead, the guard said he reflected on his play throughout the offseason and wanted to do whatever the team needed him to do.
In the 2020-21 season, Washington has set new career highs in points and assists in a game.
“If they ask me to score 20 points, I’ll go out there and try my best and hopefully do so. If they need me to pass 10 assists then I’ll try to go do that as well,” Washington said Oct. 2, 2020. “My freshman and sophomore year, I was just kinda fixed on this scoring deal — that was my main goal. I’m wired to do that, that’s what I’ve been doing my whole life.”
Washington has improved his average assists from 1.4 per game in the 2019-20 season to 2.9 this season.
In spite of his six assists and 6-of-9 shooting from deep in his last outing, Washington and the Buckeyes fell 67-65 to Purdue at home.
Washington preached a message of moving forward and getting better after the loss — a sentiment he communicated after Ohio State’s loss to Minnesota as well.
“My job is to bring us together — whether it’s positive talking, we watch film, going hard in practice, talking to the coaches and just expressing that it’s going to get tougher but we’re a good team ourselves,” Washington said Jan. 3. “Every experience we go through we’re going to learn from.”
