Ohio State junior forward Kaleb Wesson gets back on defense during the Buckeyes’ exhibition game against Cedarville Oct. 30. Ohio State won 95-52. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Managing Editor for Multimedia
In the second half of his first game as a Buckeye, DJ Carton looked to hit Kaleb Wesson in the post.
The entry pass landed softly into Wesson’s hands, lobbed past a Cedarville defender over the right shoulder of the junior forward to set up a resounding two-handed dunk –– Wesson’s most emphatic finish of the night.
It wasn’t the pair’s only connection, and the Buckeyes’ best returning player and most highly touted freshman played off each other with a level of ease that may foreshadow a dynamic inside-outside tandem for Ohio State as the season progresses.
“Definitely have a good connection there, have a good relationship,” Carton said. “He’s kind of a big brother to me, teaches me a lot of things on and off the court.”
Coming off a season in which he led the Buckeyes in scoring and rebounding, Wesson’s dominant 23-point, seven-board performance in Wednesday’s exhibition came as little surprise.
Still, shooting 9-for-11 from the field, including 3-for-4 from 3-point range, was impressive from the trimmed-down Wesson. He made 50 and 35 percent of his shots, respectively, from those areas a season ago.
After testing the NBA waters over the summer, Wesson’s production will likely be a fixture for the Buckeyes this year. A bigger question mark for Ohio State is just how much immediate impact the Big Ten’s No. 1 recruiting class will have on the court.
Rated the best of the bunch as the No. 34 player in the class, Carton’s play in the exhibition suggested he may have an answer.
Despite starting on the bench, Carton led all freshmen with 19 minutes, scoring 15 points and dishing out a team-high five assists –– a significant portion of both coming from a potent two-man game from Wesson and himself.
“Kaleb’s a special player, and I don’t wanna take too much of that because it’s easy to get Kaleb the ball, and he does his thing,” Carton said. “I think we’ve had a really good connection, and he works hard to get open, and I just do the easy thing and get him the ball.”
The 6-foot-1 guard found Wesson for a jumper just a minute before the dunk, and after a fast break dunk of his own, Carton caught fire with a little help from his teammate.
Wesson stopped Carton’s defender on a high ball screen, which the point guard used to get to the right elbow and drain a jumper.
The next Buckeye points were set up from a high-post back-down from Wesson, who promptly drew a double-team and kicked it to Carton, who splashed a 3 from a foot-and-a-half behind the line.
In a three-minute span in the second half, Carton and Wesson combined to score 15 straight points, which extended the Buckeyes’ lead from 17 to 29. It would grow to 43 by the end of the game.
The pair’s 38 combined points were just 14 fewer than Cedarville’s entire team, and they shot 76 percent on the night.
“That was something that we just kept going to. Part of it was because of how under ball screens they were playing and the threat that Kaleb is,” head coach Chris Holtmann said. “He’s become such a good shooter and has got just terrific touch, and obviously DJ, I thought made really good reads off of some of that stuff.”
Their individual success was a positive sign for the Buckeyes, but the manner in which they played off each other was even more exciting, reflecting a level of chemistry difficult to manifest in just a few months of practice time together.
Carton didn’t start over redshirt junior guard CJ Walker, but he played two more minutes in the exhibition. His big game may not bolster him into the starting lineup come Wednesday’s season opener against Cincinnati, but if he continues to show flashes, it will be hard for Ohio State to keep him off the court –– even more so if his relationship with Wesson continues to develop.
“I think we’re really good at communicating with each other,” Carton said. “What we see on the court, go about it in the game, and we jell with each other really well so I’m excited to keep playing with him and see what happens.”
