On a night when the Buckeyes needed an edge on both ends of the floor, Justice Sueing rose to the occasion.
Sueing played an integral role in both the Buckeyes’ offense and defense throughout their 83-79 win over Penn State. Head coach Chris Holtmann pointed to the Hawaiian native’s all-around play as a reason for the team’s success Wednesday.
“He made big plays tonight,” Holtmann said Wednesday. “His activity across the game was really important for us.”
The California transfer provided some scoring relief for leading scorer and sophomore forward E.J. Liddell — capitalizing on five of his seven shot attempts for 13 points.
However, Sueing’s greatest impact wasn’t seen on the offensive end but rather on the glass and on the defensive end of the floor.
Sueing led the Buckeyes with 10 rebounds, tying his season high.
On the defensive end of the floor, Sueing stuffed the stat sheet — finishing with two blocks and five steals on the night, both of which are season highs.
Pointing to his versatility, Sueing said he looks to make an impact every time he takes the floor.
“I’m most prideful of just being able to do everything, my versatility,” Sueing said. “Coming onto the court, I know I can do a lot, whether that’s offensively or defensively. So I just really try to do everything I can to try and help my team win.”
His biggest play of the night also came on the defensive end, as Sueing picked the pocket of Penn State sophomore forward Seth Lundy — who led the Nittany Lions with a game-high 26 points — with the game knotted up at 79 and just more than a minute to play.
“We saw that Lundy had the hot hand, he had it throughout the entire game, and we knew that at that position he was gonna try to get a shot off,” Sueing said. “He turned away from me and then came back, exposed the ball a little bit, that was just enough for me to get a hand on it and take it the other way.”
As Sueing played his first two seasons of his collegiate career in the less-physical Pac-12, Holtmann pointed to physicality as a key aspect that he needed to improve heading into Big Ten play.
On Wednesday, Sueing put together his best game as a Buckeye from a physicality standpoint, prompting Holtmann to point to his work ethic as a reason that he’s been able to adjust to the more physical style of play in the Big Ten.
“I’m just really proud of Justice, the way he’s gotten better and improved and continued to improve. That doesn’t happen if you’re not committed to getting better,” Holtmann said. “We knew his adjustment was going to be one that was going to take time. He’s going to continue to go through ups and downs getting used to the best league in the country.”
The former Golden Bear agreed with the sentiment that the style of play in the Big Ten tends to be more physical and he’s been determined to adjust his game to fit the new style.
“It’s just about adjusting and being persistent, coming in everyday just trying to get better,” Sueing said. “I feel like I’ve adjusted pretty well, going forward I’m just gonna continue to get better really.”
Although Sueing has settled into his conference, he has also recognized the difficulty of winning in the turbulent Big Ten.
Even with Penn State sitting near the bottom of the conference standings, Sueing said that the team is always excited to pick up a conference win no matter the circumstances.
“Everyone is excited; it’s hard to win in the Ten, it’s hard to win period in college basketball,” Sueing said. “We celebrate every win, regardless if it’s by a couple points like tonight or if it was by 20 or 30. We always are looking to improve, of course, but as long as we come out with a win today as we did, coach is happy, we’re happy.”
