Ohio State has found its shooting threat.
After a solid few years with both George Washington and Minnesota, senior forward Jamison Battle has settled in with the Ohio Stats Buckeyes in his fifth year.
Wisconsin Head Coach Greg Gard said Wednesday in the Badgers’ 71-60 win over the Buckeyes that Battle has always been a challenge to guard but that he’s become much more versatile this season.
“Jamison has made himself into a really good player, one of the better shooters in the country,” Gard said.
Battle is putting up the best numbers of his college career, averaging 17.5 points on 47.5-46.5-90.9 shooting splits in just 31.2 minutes, the least he’s played per game in a season.
The Robbinsdale, Minnesota, native said postgame Wednesday that he’s played in a lot of Big Ten games after spending two years with Minnesota and joining Ohio State this year.
After giving up another game late against the Badgers, Battle addressed the issue of needing to finish games better.
“We’re still learning, we’re still growing,” Battle said. “There’s still a lot of young pieces on this team and there’s older guys on this team who have experience, and I think that’s on me to show that experience.”
And his experience is showing — he leads the league in both 3-pointer percentage and 3-pointers made with 51 and ranks in the top 20 nationally in both categories. He’s currently on pace for roughly 98 threes, which would be the most single-season 3s he’s made by a large margin.
The Minnesota transfer has always been known to be a great shooter from beyond the arc, but this season, when threes haven’t been falling, he has truly developed a pump fake and attack.
Perhaps this is more of head coach Chris Holtmann’s offense but Battle is cutting at a much higher rate than before, using off-ball down screens to hit jumpers from the free throw line extended.
Not to mention he has become much more aggressive this season — Battle is using his size on smaller guards to take them to the basket, absorb contact and finish, or he’ll shoot turnaround jumpers using his height advantage.
Since former lights-out shooter Justin Ahrens left the program, the Buckeyes have searched for another highly efficient shooter to take his place — they have seen both Malaki Branham and Brice Sensabaugh go one-and-done to the NBA but Battle is much older and has developed much more experience to go out and perform on a daily basis.
Ohio State missed the NCAA Tournament last season but the way Battle is working with the young sophomore backcourt of Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle Jr., they could be in the mix in 2024.
As the Buckeyes enter the meat of conference play, including three ranked opponents on the schedule, they will look to Battle's shooting now more than ever.
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