Ohio State senior forward Justin Ahrens (10) shoots from behind the arc during the Ohio State-Maryland game Sunday. Ohio State won 82-67. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Heading into No. 16 Ohio State’s Sunday matinee against Maryland, Justin Ahrens found himself in a tough spot.
Ahrens entered the bout with Maryland hitting just nine of his last 39 3-point attempts over the course of the last eight games. But, Ahrens turned it on in a big way for the Buckeyes Sunday — hitting 4-of-7 3-point attempts en route to a 14-point performance.
Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said he was pleased to see Ahrens find his stroke after a difficult stretch.
“[I’m] thrilled for Justin because I know he’s been putting in his work,” Holtmann said. “He gave us a great lift and he’s a pro’s pro so I expected that he would snap out of this.”
It was clear from the jump that Ahrens had found his stroke as the senior forward drilled his first 3-point attempt off of a skip pass from graduate forward Kyle Young to push Ohio State to a double-digit lead with 10:12 to go in the first half.
Ahrens said seeing that first attempt fall was huge for his confidence going forward against the Terrapins.
“It always feels good to see the first one go down as a shooter,” Ahrens said.
Sophomore forward Zed Key said he and the rest of the Ohio State squad were excited to see the captain knock down his first shot of the day.
“When that first one went down, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, he’s back’,” Key said. “It was a good night for him.”
The Versailles, Ohio, native’s hot start didn’t end there as he hit his next two attempts from beyond the arc.
Behind that solid start from the field, Ahrens said he felt himself get into a groove from deep — something that has escaped him over the adverse stretch.
“Once you see it go through the hoop, you almost feel like you get into a rhythm,” Ahrens said. “It felt really good.”
Ahrens’ 14 points are the most he’s had in a game since Dec. 8, 2021, against Towson and his first double-digit performance since that same game.
As Ahrens saw his efficiency dip in recent weeks, he said he felt he was letting down the Ohio State fan base with his poor play in that stretch.
“It’s frustrating because it feels like the whole fan base is against you when you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing,” Ahrens said. “For me, it was just taking it one day at a time, just being an everyday guy like I have been for all four years here.”
Although Ahrens had struggled mightily since the turn of the calendar to 2022, Maryland interim head coach Danny Manning said the team’s approach to Ahrens’ shooting ability was unchanged.
“He’s a great shooter, we knew that going into the game,” Manning said. “You’re not going to make every shot that you take, but we didn’t guard him any differently.”
Through his struggles, Ahrens saw role reduction as the senior forward was moved to the bench with freshman guard Meechie Johnson Jr. taking his starting spot against Purdue Jan. 30 and Maryland Sunday.
Holtmann said Ahrens took the change in stride and pointed to his character as a glowing aspect of his importance to the team.
“You would have never noticed any difference in Justin Ahrens the next time we came to practice,” Holtmann said. “He was the loudest, the most energized, the best talker in practice. That is a mature kid.”
As Ahrens has put that rough stretch behind him with Sunday’s performance, he said his approach never changed despite his difficulties shooting the ball.
“I haven’t really had a stretch like that in all four years here, where I just couldn’t get a shot to fall. So I knew it really wasn’t anything I was doing, I was working just as hard as I always have,” Ahrens said. “Just to be able to trust that and fall back on that was big for me.”
