Brice Sensabaugh sets new Ohio State freshman scoring mark after Iowa
The approach, Brice Sensabaugh said, wasn’t all that different from any of his first 18 games at Ohio State. Go out, try to score as much as possible and help the Buckeyes find a way to win.
It just looked a little different this time. With an offense sputtering, a team in the grips of an unprecedented losing streak and a need for someone to grab the reins and take over, the freshman forward continued what is becoming a special season and scored a career-high 27 points on only 12 shots to power Ohio State to a 93-77 win against Iowa on Saturday afternoon.
It wasn’t just that Sensabaugh led the team in scoring. It was that, from the opening whistle, he seemed dead-set on shaking off the molasses that had been poured over what had been the nation’s top-rated offense only two weeks prior.
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“I feel like I did a better job hitting shots today,” he said. “Calming down and seeing the ball go in a few times early fueled me a little bit. I’ve been trying less and less to force stuff and let the offense play out and find pockets in the defense and take those shots they give us. Take what the defense gives.”
The box score shows that he was 10 for 12 from the floor, 4 for 5 from 3-point range and perfect on three free-throw attempts. The 13,630 inside Value City Arena saw a freshman playing with an edge that, alongside a breakout all-around performance from Isaac Likekele, allowed Ohio State’s offense to once again resemble the form it had showed before losing five straight games by 19 total points.
Sensabaugh’s best scoring effort was buoyed by his best shooting performance of the season.
“He’s a tremendous shot-maker,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “You’ve got to make him play defense, but he scores in a variety of ways from everywhere. It’s not just a 3-point shooter or driver. He’s got a terrific mid-range game. It’s kind of a lost art, but he’s as good as anybody I’ve seen in that area.”
It has also put Sensabaugh into a new echelon in the Ohio State record books. Starting with a Dec. 17 overtime loss to North Carolina at Madison Square Garden, when he scored a team-high 22 points, Sensabaugh has led the Buckeyes in 10 straight games.
The previous record, held by Michael Redd during the 1997-98 season, was nine games. From Nov. 22-Dec. 22, Redd averaged 24.1 points while shooting 56.3% (80 for 142) from the floor and 42.9% (21 for 49) from 3. During his past 10 games, Sensabaugh is averaging 20.6 points, shooting 52.7% (78 for 148) overall and 46.2% (24 for 52) from deep.
“He plays with a tremendous amount of confidence,” McCaffery said. “He plays at his pace. Chris (Holtmann) does a good job going with him and building that confidence in him.”
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This most recent performance nearly skidded off the runway before taking flight, however. By the time the Buckeyes had attempted their first shot, Sensabaugh had already turned the ball over twice and had another coming in quick order. Sensabaugh had three turnovers in the first 81 seconds of the game before nabbing an offensive rebound and scoring on the put-back for Ohio State’s first points of the game.
Sensabaugh said afterward he was trying too hard to be aggressive.
“He was really, like a young kid, wired early,” Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. “I saw that in him and I love that. Now, the three turnovers early were just a byproduct of him being really amped and ready and wired to play. Once he settled down I felt he could be effective and he was phenomenal.”
With 333 points through 19 games, Sensabaugh is 57 points behind JaQuan Lyle for 10th-most for an Ohio State freshman in a single season. His average of 17.5 points per game trails only Redd (21.9, 1997-98) and D’Angelo Russell (19.3, 2014-15) in program history.
It stands to reason that Sensabaugh will remain a primary option, if not the primary option, in the offense as the season progresses. But it also a near certainty that, playing against Big Ten teams, Sensabaugh is going to have off nights where others will have to assume the role of primary scorer. The Buckeyes have had mixed success in that area this season, but the freshman said he hasn’t felt the weight of needing to carry the offense.
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“We haven’t been really been doing anything too differently,” he said. “Just attacking practice every day super focused and with a great mindset and positivity. Obviously it’s just one win, but our work is going to pay off eventually. Things like this are bound to happen when you work like us.”
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