COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State junior forward E.J. Liddell and freshman guard Malaki Branham each earned All-Big Ten honors on Tuesday.
Liddell earned first team honors for the second consecutive season. He became the 18th Buckeye to earn conference honors multiple times and the first to be named first team in back-to-back years since Jared Sullinger in 2011-12.
This season, Liddell is averaging 19.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 2.6 assists per game. He has scored in double figures in every game, eight double-doubles and 12 games of 20 or more points.
Liddell is the only player in the country with averages at or above 19.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 2.5 assists.
Branham was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in addition to third team honors.
The freshman is averaging 13.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while shooting over 49% from the floor.
Branham is one of five freshman and one of only two from a Power 5 school to have multiple 30-point games this season. He has scored in double figures in eight consecutive games.
He is the eighth Ohio State player to earn the honor as the league’s top freshman. He joins Jim Jackson (1990), Greg Simpson (1993), Michael Redd (1998), Greg Oden (2007), William Buford (2009), Jared Sullinger (2011) and D’Angelo Russell (2015).
Branham is also the first Buckeye rookie to earn All-Big Ten honors since Russell in 2015.
Liddell also earned All-Defensive Team honors while Branham earned All-Freshman Team accolades.
With Liddell and Branham’s selections, Ohio State now has 76 total All-Big Ten honorees (27 forwards, 32 guards and 17 centers).
Justin Ahrens was named Ohio State’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honoree. The senior, averaging 5.3 points per game, is six threes away from the top 10 in program history.
The No. 6-seed Buckeyes open Big Ten tournament play Thursday at 9 p.m. against the winner of No. 11 Penn State and No. 14 Minnesota.
